ISPs in Illinois

Guide to ISPs in Illinois

How to find IL Internet service providers to keep your business connected
By Emmet McMahan

Illinois Internet service providers, or ISPs, connect subscribers to the Internet in exchange for a fee. A national ISP will allow access to customers in much of the nation while a local ISP limits its customers to a specific geographical region.

A small business should consider a separate web hosting company to maintain its website instead of using the web space from its IL internet service provider. Businesses with high-traffic sites may require a large national company that can provide mirroring and redundant connections for their websites.

The first consideration in deciding which of the IL ISPs to use is the type of access you want:

1. Dial-up access is the slowest connection using a telephone line. You must dial in to the ISP, and frequently you'll have a limit on the amount of connection time you have.

2. Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL, access is available through the phone in most areas. DSL is faster than a dial-up connection and usually allows dedicated access.

3. Internet service providers in Illinois with cable access have the fastest connections that small business owners in Illinois can generally afford. Illinois cable providers also offer high-speed cable Internet access.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Locate Illinois business ISPs that offer cable access ISPs in Illinois that provide an always-on cable connection are frequently the best deal for small businesses. Some national ISPs offer packages tailored to the size of your business.

I recommend:  Charter Business offers several packages for businesses and features a cable connection with a downstream rate of up to 16 Mbps. Conway is an Illinois high-speed Internet provider that provides a premium business Internet package using cable. It also sells additional IP addresses, email address and web space separately.

Find ISPs in Illinois that offer DSL service for your business Many ISPs design DSL packages for business owners throughout much of the nation. Businesses can bundle multiple services together, such as Internet and web hosting, to get a better deal from the ISP.

I recommend:  AT&T offers a package that combines DSL, VoIP, web hosting, networking and wireless Internet. You can determine if your specific location is in a service area by providing the telephone number of your business on AT&T's website. Speakeasy offers a range of DSL technologies aimed towards small businesses including ADSL, ADSL2 and SDSL.

Check out the access packages from local ISPs in Illinois A rural business may have to depend on small, local Internet service providers. Illinois ISPs frequently offer wireless DSL service for these businesses.

I recommend:  Mount Vernon Net provides wireless Internet solutions to businesses in southern Illinois and offers web hosting and design services. Cyber Broadcasting in Coal City has its own networks for individuals and small businesses. It also leases lines to larger companies as a dedicated carrier solution.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Check your ISP's terms of service for website size limitation if you plan to have a large website. You will also need to ensure that your ISP permits commercial websites if you wish to have a website for your small business. Most Illinois Internet service providers also offer multiple email addresses so that you can assign a separate one to each employee.
• Use an Illinois Internet service provider with a Tier 3 rating or better, especially if you are running a small business. The tier rating establishes the ISP's proximity to the Internet and generally how fast its access will be, all other things being equal. Tier 1 ISPs are linked directly to the Internet; Tier 2 ISPs lease their connections from Tier 1 ISPs and so on.