ISPs in Washington

How to find Internet providers in Washington to keep your business connected
By Emmet McMahan WA 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 geographic region.
 

A small business should consider a separate web hosting company to maintain its website instead of using the web space from its Internet service provider in Washington. 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 ISPs in Washington 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. Washington broadband providers have the fastest connections small business owners in Washington can generally afford. Washington cable providers also offer high-speed cable Internet access.

Locate Internet service providers in Washington that offer cable access to small businesses

ISPs in Washington 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.
Try: Time Warner Cable is one Washington high-speed Internet provider that provides business class service. This ISP will allow you to scale your website according to size, traffic and functionality. Cox's business division offers Internet service solutions for businesses of all sizes and allows you to customize your service with many additional options.

Find Internet services in Washington 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.
Try: Qwest offers DSL connections along with many other Internet services for small businesses. EarthLink offers a range of services for businesses of different sizes and features symmetrical DSL, which allows you to upload as fast as you can download.

Check out the access packages from a local ISP in Washington

A rural business may have to depend on small, local Internet service providers. Washington ISPs frequently offer wireless DSL service for these businesses.
Try: Accel Net offers business class internet services in western Washington from Enumclaw to Granite Falls. Washington Broadband in Yakima has a consumer class of service for individuals or small businesses and a carrier service for larger businesses.

• 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 Washington Internet service providers also offer multiple email addresses so that you can assign a separate one to each employee.
• Use a Washington ISP 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.