Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners lack knowledge about how the internet works, a new study has indicated.

Research conducted by Eclipse Internet revealed that almost one in five do not know whether their broadband deal has a data usage cap in place.

Meanwhile, 53 per cent of SME chiefs said they were unsure what high latency means and how it might affect their network connection. 

Latency refers to several kinds of delays incurred as data is processed – meaning connections with high latency are likely to receive an inferior customer experience.

Simon Harper, Head of Marketing at Eclipse said it is "worrying" that there is still confusion amongst some as to whether broadband connections are limited in any way.

"Usage caps and also the latency of the network that a company uses can impact on performance," he commented.

"With so many smaller companies making use of hosting services and cloud computing, it's vital that their connections don't hamper their use of important business applications."