Are you ready to set-up an NBN connection for your business or for your home office? Before you choose a service provider and make that connection, take the time to evaluate what you need to do to switch with minimal disruption. Owners need to consider their business needs and the hardware they’ll require – everything from modems, routers, networking equipment and smart devices. Follow our guide to seamlessly set up your business for the NBN.
Choose the Right NBN Service Provider
Connection to the NBN network allows customers to choose their own providers, so it’s important to do your research and find out about the available plans that will suit your business needs. First, check with the NBN network that it is available in your area. Once the network is available in your suburb, you’ll have 18 months to find the best provider and plan to get going on your NBN set-up.
First, enter your business or home address into the NBN website to find out whether the NBN network is available in your area and the type of service: fibre to the premise, fibre to the curb, HFC (hybrid fibre coaxial), fixed wireless or satellite connection. Knowing this will give you a better idea of what to expect in terms of ease of connection and how well it will fit your business.
Before making your final choice, you’ll also need to think about speed, cost and equipment for your NBN connection. Also check whether you’ll need to go on a contract or manage the account month to month.
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Invest in the Right NBN Equipment
To be NBN ready, you need to invest in the right equipment. This will help you make a seamless transition to the new NBN network and ensure your office’s WiFi network’s speed and performance lives up to your expectations. According to figures from Ovum, getting started with an NBN set-up is seeing businesses invest more in their IT budgets, with 30% of businesses predicting a 6% increase.
Many new NBN customers have found the NBN connection box and modem/router supplied by service providers work well to bring the internet into the home or office but the router is sometimes failing to provide a solid WiFi network. To get around the problem, think seriously about a wireless mesh network.
One product that can help do that is the Google Nest WiFi 3 Pack, which has a base router that connects to the modem and two extra WiFi points designed to be positioned around the office. It is capable of AC2200 wireless speeds with dual-based functionality, to ensure fast connections that can support up to 200 devices at the same time.
Smaller spaces can be serviced by a router like the D-Link Taipan Ultra AC3200 WiFi Modem Router, which has an integrated VDSL/ADSL modem that’s ready for NBN set-up. It offers simultaneous tri-band connections – a 2.4Ghz and two separate 5Ghz – for combined speeds of up to 3200Mbps. There are also USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports so you can link printers and network hard drives, which can then be accessed across your business’s entire network.
Another affordable solution for businesses setting up the NBN is to create a robust WiFi network from your incoming NBN network connection. The Netgear Nighthawk AC2300 Smart WiFi Router 7000P has amplifiers under the hood and three external antennas to maintain coverage. It also has two USB ports and five Gigabit Ethernet ports (4 LAN and 1 WAN), so users can physically connect switches, printers, network drives and TVs.
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The Benefit of the NBN to Your Business
The NBN provides a reliable and fast internet connection that will have numerous benefits for your business. Teams will be able to run and access cloud services faster and more efficiently and you’ll have the security of having cloud backup for your vital data and customer information. The added speed and bandwidth should also make it possible to host your own onsite servers.
Another benefit of high-speed connectivity is you can link wireless security alarms and cameras and access the feeds from anywhere, as well as run powerful POS (point of sale) systems if your business handles money. With the right NBN set-up, employees will also be able to connect to your systems more seamlessly when working remotely and a high-speed connection to the NBN network will also support high-quality video conferencing – a new reality for many workers in 2020.
