Business Broadband vs Residential: Do You Need an Upgrade?
When a home broadband package is not enough and what business-grade options exist on CityFibre.
The Home Office Question
Millions of people now work from home full-time or in a hybrid pattern. For most, a standard residential CityFibre connection is more than adequate. A 900Mbps symmetrical line handles video calls, large file transfers, and VPN connections without breaking a sweat.
But there are situations where residential broadband falls short, and a business-grade product is worth the extra cost.
When Residential Is Enough
If you work from home as an employee, joining video calls and using cloud apps, a residential connection is almost certainly fine. CityFibre residential lines already offer symmetrical speeds and low latency, which is more than most office connections provide. As long as you have a decent router and your household is not saturating the connection during work hours, you will not notice a difference.
When You Need Business Broadband
Business broadband packages cost more, typically £40-£80 per month on CityFibre, compared to £25-£35 for residential. The extra money buys you things that matter when your livelihood depends on the connection:
- SLA (Service Level Agreement): Residential broadband has no guaranteed fix time. If your line goes down on Friday evening, the ISP might not look at it until Monday. Business packages come with SLAs guaranteeing a fix within a set number of hours (often 6-8 hours), including weekends.
- Priority Fault Repair: When you report a fault, business customers go to the front of the queue. CityFibre and the ISP treat business faults as higher priority than residential ones.
- Static IP Included: Most business packages include a static IP address as standard, and some offer blocks of multiple IPs. Essential if you host services, use IP-restricted VPNs, or need reliable remote access.
- No Traffic Management: Some residential ISPs throttle certain types of traffic during peak hours. Business packages guarantee unmanaged, unrestricted bandwidth at all times.
- Dedicated Support: Instead of a chatbot, you get a direct line to a UK-based technical support team who understand business-critical issues.
Who Should Consider It?
- Freelancers and contractors who cannot afford a day without internet. A missed deadline because your broadband was down costs far more than the monthly premium.
- Small businesses running from home with employees connecting remotely to your network.
- Anyone hosting services from their connection: a web server, NAS, security cameras accessible remotely, or a business phone system (VoIP).
- Traders and finance professionals where milliseconds of latency and connection uptime directly affect income.
Business Broadband on CityFibre
Several ISPs on the CityFibre network offer dedicated business packages. Zen Internet, Giganet, and IDNet are well-regarded for business-grade service. Vodafone also offers CityFibre business products in many areas. The underlying fibre is the same world-class infrastructure; the difference is in the service wrapper around it.
If you are unsure, start with a residential package. You can always upgrade to a business product later without changing the physical line. The fibre in the ground does not care whether it is carrying residential or business traffic.