Kosh has been providing managed IT services in New Mexico for over 15 years. Over these years we have formed many meaningful relationships in the technology sector across the state. In this article, we want to share with you our top picks for ISPs in New Mexico.
The best ISPs in New Mexico for businesses, in our opinion, are UPN (Unite Private Networks) in Albuquerque, Conterra Networks in Las Cruces, and FastTrack in the Four Corners area.
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We're often asked by local businesses which ISP to choose and these are the ones we recommend. We recommend these companies to our customers because they provide speed, reliability, value, and service with a smile. Just to be clear, this is not an affiliate article. Kosh does not get anything for making these recommendations, we just like them!
ISP Features to Look For
All three of our recommendations offer fiber optic internet connections. Fiber is more reliable and faster. In the chart below you can see the difference in speeds offered by three common mediums of transmission. In the chart the higher the number means the faster it is.
Medium | Upload Gbit/s | Download Gbit/s | Combined Gbit/s |
Fiber | 10 | 10 | 20 |
Cable | 0.035 | 1 | 1.035 |
DSL | 0.03 | 0.1 | 0.13 |
Actual speeds offered by providers vary and sometimes even if you purchase a certain speed you do not actually experience those speeds.
But even with the grain-of-salt view, fiber is much faster than the other internet options.
Japan breaks the world record for the fastest internet speed and it’s about 7.6 million times faster than what you probably have at home! It’s so fast, that you’d be able to download nearly 80,000 movies in just one second. Read the full article here.
Fiber Connection's Key Features
Upload and download speed synchronicity
You may have noticed that fiber connections have the same upload and download speeds. This feature is particularly important for businesses that utilize the cloud. When using a cloud or hybrid architecture, company files will be uploading all the time. If you have a slow upload speed then there may be a lot of waiting around for files.
A dedicated fiber connection
United Private Networks in Albuquerque offers "Dark Fiber". They connect your business to the internet via a dedicated and private fiber line. UPN says this gives the business "virtually unlimited bandwidth."
Conterra Networks in Las Cruces also offers "Dark Fiber" touting, "Our Dark Fiber networks allow for maximum flexibility, security and control by dedicating fiber strands for your applications."
What is Dark Fiber?
Dark fiber is a fiber optic line that is not being used, meaning no light is moving through the line...so it's dark. Fiber companies placed fiber optic lines and some of those lines are unused, so a business can basically rent that entire line. This once-dark fiber connection becomes a private fiber connection for your business.
"Lit Fiber" is when a fiber line is already in use transmitting data for other customers. It's a shared line.
Fiber and reliability
Traditional internet runs on copper cables. Copper loses signal strength from the outset and continues to deteriorate as the distance increases. Fiber-optic cables, however, can run nearly 25 miles without losing strength.
Fiber is more resilient than cable and copper lines. Plus, internet providers often bury fiber underground, protecting it from the elements. Unlike that of copper, which is strung up on polls and subject to temperature fluctuations, severe weather conditions, and moisture which can all cause a loss of connectivity.
Additionally, cable connections are at risk of interference from electronic and radio signals. Coax wires all go back to the cable company where disconnections and accidents can happen. Fiber is usually independent of the cable company, its equipment, and its termination points.
Customer service matters
Kosh has worked with all three of these companies on various projects. These are the companies we recommend when customers ask, "which ISP should I go with?" We've had great experiences when it comes to managing and executing on large projects. But crucially, we've also been pleased with the smaller, day-to-day communications with these companies.
We know that every company strives to provide great customer service but some companies gain a reputation for poor service. Comcast and Century Link are of course major internet providers but typically have very mixed customer service reviews. I personally used to have Xfinity (Comcast) and my experience with them was fine, but I know others who had issues. With that being said, we feel UPN, Conterra Networks, and Fasttrack are all a step up when it comes to better customer service. They tend to get it right more often than they get it wrong.
A note about adding a 2nd ISP
Some companies will need to have a fallback ISP. This is highly recommended if your business requires network connectivity to provide services - banking or healthcare to name a couple. A few things to consider when looking for your redundant Internet Service Provider are:
Get a different connection technology. If you have fiber from your primary ISP, then get cable or DSL for your 2nd connection.
Use a different company and make sure you're actually getting backup service that doesn't run on the same line as your primary service.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this communication is intended for limited use for informational purposes only. It is not considered professional advice, and instead, is general information that may or may not apply to specific situations. Each case is unique and should be evaluated on its own by a professional qualified to provide advice specifically intended to protect your individual situation. Kosh is not liable for improper use of this information.
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