Everyday businesses rely on fast Internet access to consistently communicate and exchange data with co-workers, customers, and vendors. While a dial-up modem may be suitable for home use, your employees need quick, seamless access to the Internet and fast transfers of information.

The two most popular options for fast Internet access are T1 lines and DSL.

Small businesses turn to digital subscriber lines (DSL) to directly transport data over existing phone lines. There are different flavors of DSL available depending on if you want equal upload and download speeds (SDSL) or considerably faster download speeds (ADSL). For the fastest connections, you need to be located within 2-3 miles of the phone company's central office. Your local ISP can let you know if you qualify for the fastest service. DSL providers can't guarantee your connection will always be up and you may experience lag times if many users are online at once.

T1 lines provide fast Internet access - up to 30 times the speed of a 56 Kbps dial-up modem - for businesses with more than 50 employees. Fast Internet access providers can guarantee that your "always on" connection will be up 99.99% of the time as long as the computers are turned on. T1 lines allow equal downloads and uploads and you get full use out of the total bandwidth available. While hundreds of employees can use the same T1 connection at once, the speed and efficiency may be affected as the number of simultaneous users increase.