Most small businesses in the Orlando area rely on Brighthouse Networks for Internet service. They have a small business package that is fairly affordable and provides decent speed to meet the needs of most. Larger businesses may be using T1 lines or Metro Ethernet solutions from other providers such as a Time Warner Telecom, Sprint (Embarq), Nuvox, Paetec, etc. However, these services are usually much more expensive and T1 lines do not compare to cable modems for download speed. If employees are trying to download large files, they will be waiting as much as 6 times longer than cable modem users.

With that being said, there are other alternatives for small businesses who do not want to use Brighthouse. DSL is always an option, but that technology is slowing dying and is being introduced to 3rd world countries. AT&T is now offering a service in select areas of Orlando called U-verse. U-verse works much like Metro Ethernet as it operates over fiber optic cable. Speeds are somewhat faster than traditional cable modems with download speeds up to 18Mbps. Pricing for this connection starts at $65 per month and can be bundled with other services such as television and phone services.

Verizon FIOS is a similar fiber delivered-product. However, it is not currently available in Orlando. FIOS offer much higher speeds than U-verse and is also a bargain. With speeds up to 50 Mbps, FIOS absolutely destroys speeds of traditional cable modems. They even have an example on their website. Pricing starts at $50 per month. This also can be bundled with other services such as television and telephone. Again FIOS isn’t available in Orlando (it does seem to be available in Tampa) but should be in the near future.

Over the next year, we will see Brighthouse finally compete with others for small business and residential broadband access.