“If I don’t use my full monthly ADSL cap, why should I upgrade to an uncapped ADSL offering?”
That’s a question that many businesses still ponder and there is no simple answer. For many, particularly for micro enterprises that only use Internet access for small email files and occasional web browsing, capped ADSL may be adequate. But not for very much longer.
Capped vs uncapped
Indeed, until MWEB introduced uncapped ADSL to the local market two years ago, all businesses that could not afford dedicated diginet connectivity learned to manage within the constraints of their ADSL caps – just as they had learned to cope with the frustrations of dial-up connectivity prior to the introduction of affordable (capped) ADSL.
Another reason why some businesses choose to remain capped is that if they run out of data on their capped package, most ISPs allow them to top up or, if they don’t want to top up, simply slow their connection to a crawl.
So yes, capped ADSL is useable, if inconvenient at times. And we won’t worry about the additional cost of topping up – until the bill arrives.
The reality is that the capped versus uncapped debate is somewhat like the famous 1981 quote that is attributed (rightly or wrongly) to Microsoft’s Bill Gates: “640K (of memory) ought to be enough for anybody”.
It was – back in the days before Windows. It certainly wasn’t within five years.
Set your business free with uncapped ADSL
Today, the greatest benefit of uncapped ADSL is that it has set businesses free to utilise the Internet in ways many had never imagined. And because there is never any need to top up, they know precisely what their Internet bill will be at the end of every month.
Many businesses are starting to take advantage of this freedom and it’s changing the way they do business. It enables them to truly harness the Internet as the incredibly useful and powerful business tool it is.
The Cloud is the future
And then there’s Cloud computing. Without uncapped ADSL, Cloud computing would simply not be possible.
Every day, more and more businesses are taking to the Cloud. They are revolutionising their productivity and controlling their expenditure with applications such as Hosted Exchange, Hosted SharePoint, Hosted CRM, online archiving, automatic online back-up, and much, much more.
Some are choosing to host their own email servers or websites. Many are opting to have their servers housed and managed by service providers in secure offsite data centres, which is not only more secure and convenient, but often less expensive than investing in and managing their own hardware.
Most are starting to send and receive larger data, voice, sound and video files; and smart businesses are encouraging their own people to download some of the myriad of educational and training videos that are freely available on the Internet that will enhance their skills.
In addition, many businesses are taking advantage of the cost savings inherent in VoIP (Voice over IP) technology; and the convenience of desktop, business-strength video conferencing.
None of this would be possible or feasible without uncapped connectivity.
So while a business can choose to remain capped, the business world is moving on without them.