• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Beanfield Logo

Beanfield

Vancouver Internet Provider

  • Commercial
    • Dedicated Internet Access
    • Wide Area Network
    • Managed Network Services
    • Hosted PBX
    • Multi-Path Internet
    • Colocation Services
  • Residential
    • Residential Internet
    • Home Phone
    • TV Packages
  • About Us
    • About Urbanfibre
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Support

Editorial Team

The shocking cost of slow internet

June 16, 2022 by Editorial Team

And how you can claim your work hours back.

Imagine you’ve just hailed a taxi, and your driver insists on going 20km under the speed limit — even if there’s no traffic. Of course, you’d be frustrated. They’re driving up the fare and making you late, for no discernible reason! This lost time and money is noticeable because you’re physically in the car, but what other limits are impacting your productivity and aren’t so obvious? What about the speed of your network connection?

But you’ve had very little internet downtime, you’re almost always online, so surely this allegory is a bit dramatic…right?

Don’t get us wrong: uptime is important. But just like your metaphorical taxi is technically always moving, the slow speed is what costs you money and time. A study by OnePoll suggests that slow internet speeds amount to up to 38 hours of lost productivity hours per employee, per year.

This is less obvious, but very real inefficiency. Let’s look at the chart below to put this information into perspective for your business:

Company SizeLost Productivity Hours Per Year
1-538–⁠190 (4.75 weeks)
5-25190–⁠950 (23.75 weeks)
25-50950–⁠1,900 (47.5 weeks — one full-time employee)
50-1003,800 (95 weeks — almost 2 full-time employees).

These numbers spell a very real anchor on your team’s productivity, especially when considering the worldwide cultural shift to online collaboration tools as a result of the pandemic. Cloud services like Zoom, Google Docs, Dropbox, and the connectivity requirements for these services are held back by low upload and download speeds.

Unfortunately, the damage isn’t limited to productivity hours, either. Internet lag and interruptions almost certainly have an effect on employee morale. I’m sure you’ve experienced the frustration yourself: a slow-loading webpage, or awkward sound delays in a video call on Zoom or Google Meet. Of course these breaks in focus take a toll. Nobody enjoys playing a game of “is the loading bar even moving…?” while trying to get things done.

So, is there anything you can do to claim back these lost productivity hours? Luckily it’s not all doom and gloom, here are two things you can do right now:

1) Switch to a fibre optic solution

Over fibre optic cables, data literally travels at the speed of light. You will instantly feel the difference in switching from a less-efficient technology. As a bonus, fibre optic cables aren’t vulnerable to electrical interference, unlike their copper counterparts.

2) Check your agreements

Let us let you in on a little secret: many providers are bound by their service level agreements, even us here at Urbanfibre. If your provider isn’t supplying the promised speeds, you may be entitled to some compensation.

In short: a slow internet connection may be costing you more than you’d think in terms of time and money, and looking into your options is definitely worth it. Switching to fibre optic can mitigate these issues but be sure to check your existing service agreement to see if you’re entitled to some compensation from your service provider.


Filed Under: Resources Tagged With: productivity, slow internet

What is an IP?

July 22, 2021 by Editorial Team

First off, IP stands for “Internet Protocol”. Internet Protocol is a set of rules that define how information is transmitted across the internet.

An IP Address (or “Internet Protocol” address) is a unique numerical identifier that is assigned to a network device.

IP Addresses uniquely identify a device which enables communication between devices or between connected networks. Without a unique IP Address your device would not be able to communicate with any other device on the internet.

Everything connected to the internet is a network device and has an IP Address: computers, servers, mobile phones and all those ‘smart’ devices like security cameras, doorbells, audio enabled assistants, televisions and even kitchen appliances that connect to the internet also have unique IPs.

There are two types of IP addresses in use, IPv4 (Version 4) which is older and IPv6 (Version 6) which is newer. All IP addresses are finite in quantity and with the massive and exponential growth in the number of connected devices in the world we have run out of IPv4 IP Addresses.

In 2017, IPv6 became the latest standard to ensure the web can keep expanding and new IPs can be assigned. While both types of addresses can communicate on the Internet, the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is still ongoing.

This is what IP addresses look like-

  1. IPv4: 216.58.216.164
  2. IPv6: 2607:f8b0:4005:805::200e
Dedicated_IP_Static_IP

Dynamic IP Address

Also known as a shared IP. A dynamic IP address is an ip address that is assigned temporarily to a device. If the device it is assigned to is not in use, the IP address can be re-assigned to a different device.

  • Dynamic IP address can change anytime
  • Generally are used for residential devices

Static IP Address

Also known as dedicated IP or fixed IP. When a device is assigned a static IP Address, the address does not  change.

  • Once assigned the dedicated IP address will remain unchanged
  • No one else can use your or your organization’s dedicated IP address

Key Advantages of using a dedicated IP address

  • Because it doesn’t change once assigned, a static IP address makes it easier to communicate with or access a network device (imagine how hard it would be for someone to find your home if the address changed all the time!).
  • They also make it easier to use certain internet applications like VoIP calling (Voice over Internet Protocol) or VPN access (Virtual Private Network access)

Filed Under: Resources Tagged With: dedicated ip, IP, shared ip

Footer

About Us

  • About Urbanfibre
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Business Phone Portal

Our Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Legal

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Legal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Acceptable Use Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Urban Communications Inc. · Log in

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Legal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Acceptable Use Policy