Business NETWORK

What is the differences between Business Product and SOHO Product

Product performance & life-span

We have a customer bought mini network switch(SOHO use) for his office network, and he always complaint his network is not stable, a lot of unexpected fault caused by the network. After diagnostic, our team found that the SOHO network switch is working overheat and frequently hang. After long negotiation with principal, they rejects the warranty due to inappropriate use of the hardware. Until we replaced to business grade network product, and the problem is gone.

Most of the SOHO grade network product are built for micro sized network, it doesn't rigorous specification. It usually have limited network transfer capacity, lower tolerant of operating temperature, and it is not recommended for stress operation. Therefore, the hardware lifespan is much lower than the business grade product.

Business grade network is designed for operating under high network traffic, higher working temperature tolerant, higher fault tolerant and handling, and some product may operate under extreme environment. When we design a solution, we will consider all of the factors that may affect your business operation and choose the right product for the right project. The lifespan is much longer than SOHO product.

Warranty & Support

If you're currently using a SOHO level router, you might want to take a close look at the fine print in its warranty. Many of these low-cost routers explicitly exclude business use in the warranty, undoubtedly owing to the greater demands of a business network.

Even if the warranty doesn't exclude office use, be prepared for long wait times on hold if you need support. Unlike business-grade network hardware, there's no priority access and your call is probably being routed overseas.

Security Concern

No doubt, SOHO product security level is very low. SOHO product cannot upgrade its firmware so when the new standard deploy, it usually cannot comply with the cyber security concern. Business product firmware is upgradable so it will comply to the latest cyber security need.

Something inside the hardware

At the end of the day, most consumer-grade hardware is designed to be barely adequate for the needs being filled, because a router is a disposable commodity to most consumers. On the other hand, business-grade networking equipment is designed with the future in mind - a quality business network has more to offer, so your operations have room to grow.

The faster CPUs, greater amounts of RAM, and vastly more intelligent operating systems justify the higher costs, and pay off through consistently better performance across its extended lifespan.