TWC business class cable -- did we blow it?

[evillager]

Looking for some expert help here. I've gotten involved in trying to straighten out persistent Internet connectivity issues at a non-profit organization I'm associated with. Nobody in their management knows a thing about technology. (I'm no network engineer, but at least I know what a mbps is.)

Before my involvement, they recently bought Time Warner Cable's Direct Internet Access (DIA) service at 3 mbps down x 3 mbps up. It's $550/month. This is a dedicated (i.e. non-shared), symmetrical, 24/7 active monitored, all fiber-optic service capable of 10 gbps symmetrical down/up (but, just to be double-clear, we're only paying for 3 x 3 mbps).

Originally, they signed up for TWC's Business Wideband Service -- 50 mbps down x 5 mbps up. That's $299/month. That's regular cable -- i.e. shared, non-symmetrical etc. But they never used this; they switched to the DIA service before activation, so that's all we've experienced from TWC.

At peak usage times, we have about 30-50 users connected to our LAN; at any single moment, maybe 8-10 of them would be actively surfing the web, with perhaps 2 or 3 trying to watch short videos. No VOIP. No VPN. No e-commerce. No big file transfers (especially no time-critical uploads; uploads are 98% emails, with an occasional 100kb attachment). No critical business processes are going on here.

Assuming we have a good LAN (working on it), is there any good reason why the more expensive 3 mbps DIA service we now have is better -- for a group like us -- than a regular (i.e. 50 mbps, nominally 15x faster) business class cable service?

How about what we currently have vs. a 15 mbps down x 3 mbps up business class cable connection (which is, in my personal guess, probably more than we need)?

I can't for the life of me figure out why they bought what they did, or why TWC sold it to them. But I'm willing to be convinced if experts can tell me there's a good reason for it. Thanks in advance for any help.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Are they running their phones over it too?
Do they need the SLA of the symmetrical? (SLA means Service Level Agreement which basically means it's a 99.9% uptime connection, versus traditional broadband which is less reliable in theory).

30-50 users I'd probably want the 50/5 connection. Esp if some are watching videos. With a good higher powered business grade firewall.

[evillager]

Are they running their phones over it too?

Do they need the SLA of the symmetrical? (SLA means Service Level Agreement which basically means it's a 99.9% uptime connection, versus traditional broadband which is less reliable in theory).

30-50 users I'd probably want the 50/5 connection. Esp if some are watching videos. With a good higher powered business grade firewall.

Thanks muchly -- I appreciate the response. No, we have no telephones over the DIA connection, and, no, we absolutely don't need 99.9% guaranteed uptime. There honestly isn't a single penny riding on our Internet connection (and we're not even hosting a web site here -- the organization's web site is hosted by a separate provider).

Any hints for me on speed/consistency? -- i.e. is 3 mbps through this fiber DIA connection functionally equivalent to a faster specc'd package when you're talking standard business-class cable service? The DIA connection is extremely reliable and always on our subscribed speed.

Any questions I should be asking that I'm not, as I try to understand what we bought, and as I try to figure out what might fit us better? Again, any help is appreciated.

[YeOldeStonecat]

If you don't need the higher uptime, and you're not doing VoIP over it, I'd go for the less expensive and faster connection.
The 3/3 package will be easily swamped with 30-50 users. Esp if several are watching online videos.
Downstream is what counts...so the 50/5 connection will be much better for that larger network.