This section provides important information about office connectivity to the internet.
Internet Connection
- Each office requires its own dedicated connection to the Internet.
- Your office’s IP needs to be static during office hours.
- Offices with existing non-cable-based internet connection services should consider switching to cable service.
- Cable service offers higher down/up speeds as compared to other service options (e.g., T1, ADSL, ADSL2+, DSL).
- Cable service will prove to be a better value in a cost/benefit analysis.
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Minimum upload and download speed requirements at each office location may vary based on office acceptable use policies, the number of systems at each location and various use cases, etc.
- When deciding how much bandwidth is needed, 1 Mb/s download rate for each computer and 0.5 Mb/s upload per computer are our minimum recommendations.
- Larger offices are not expected to have an upload speed above 20 Mb\s.
- Offices using Voice over IP (VoIP) should consider setting up network-based quality of service controls to ensure office-based internet usage doesn’t affect the quality of the VoIP.
- Cloud 9 recommends, but does not require, that all offices have a secondary internet service provider. Speak with your local IT consultant for additional guidance.
- The primary and secondary service should not be using the same connection type.
- If using cable as the main provider, a Wi-Fi hot-spot from a cell phone carrier or DSL as the secondary service could be used.
- Cloud 9 does not recommend using VPN or any third-party connection to connect to the internet. Doing so may cause performance and/or printing problems.
Local Area Network
An office-hired IT consultant should:
- Assess office-based network hardware and its related physical connectivity. Over time, offices may move equipment and re-connect equipment (e.g., damaged or loose cables, misconfigurations, etc.). As a result, this can negatively affect the performance of Cloud 9 practice management software.
- Ensure the latest firmware updates are installed on all network equipment. Firmware refers to the operating system on a hardware device. Outdated firmware can result in odd and hard-to-troubleshoot user experiences due to faulty device code.