Sometimes traditional ADSL broadband Internet connections just aren’t fast enough for some larger organisations, this is where Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) services start to come into play.

EFM mixes new technology with ‘old world’ copper in the first mile to the telephone exchange. EFM is important because it is the next step in the transition to fast, reliable and affordable Internet connectivity. Ethernet offers true un-contended, symmetric and guaranteed bandwidth with QoS (Quality of Service) for sure-fire VoIP or VPN performance. Speeds from 1Mbit/s to 20Mbit/s can be achieved over multiple copper pairs using EFM technology.

A Real Business Need
Some businesses need to send a lot of data; because they send a lot of mail, run a web site in-house, have lots of people working remotely using a virtual private network (VPN) or they are doing lots of off-site data backup/replication. ADSL services have relatively slow upload speeds. EFM services replace the ADSL connection with an Ethernet connection (like the one used on your network itself) to provide services of up to 100Mbit/s in both directions. Importantly, EFM services are symmetric whilst ADSL services are asymmetric.

Although at MBM we still offer excellent leased-line connections, EFM services are the future. They are fast, reliable and very cost-effective when compared to traditional leased-line.

We can, for instance, offer an up to 20Mbit/s EFM service from £300 per month. Increasing your upload speed by 25x could make an enormous difference to how your business operates. You could have more people working at home, you could open your internal systems to your customers and partners, you could replicate your data in real-time to our data centre for backup and redundancy reasons, you could use the connection for your telephone calls… the list goes on.

EFM is a really important technology. If your broadband connection is running out of steam, please talk to MBM’s technicians about EFM.  Call us on 01902 324494 or email sales@mbmltd.co.uk