The ways that businesses use data have changed drastically in the past few years. Video calling, cloud services, and file sharing are all eating up more bandwidth than ever before and this thrown a light on the inadequacy of some of the internet connections which UK businesses have been relying on.
Many of these businesses have now upgraded to a FTTC or FTTP line, but for the fastest speeds available a leased line is the best option. But what precisely are leased lines, and how might installing one benefit your business?
What is a Leased Line?
A leased line is a fibre broadband line, but unlike an FTTC or FTTP line, a leased line does not connect via a cabinet or exchange and is instead a direct connection from your premises, straight to your internet provider’s data centre.
A leased line is exclusively for your business to use and is not shared by any other users. This contrasts with home broadband which is often shared by as many as 50 users. Even standard business broadband lines are normally shared by up to 20 users. The number of users sharing a line is measured by a contention ratio. As leased lines are never shared, they technically have a contention ratio of 1:1.
What are the Benefits of a Leased Line Connection?
- Speed
One of the major advantages of a leased line connection is its speed. Leased lines are the fastest lines available on the open market. They far outstrip the maximum speeds of even the fastest FTTC and FTTP lines. - Service Level Agreements
The service level agreement (SLA) from your internet provider will be higher quality for leased lines. The minimum uptime will be higher and enquiries from business leased line customers are given priority over those from home users. - A Dedicated Internet Line
A major advantage of a leased line is that your internet connection is not shared by any other users. This means the connection is more reliable and you won’t see the same fluctuations in speed and reliability during peak times. Even during the busiest times of the day your upload and download speeds will remain consistent. Other internet lines such as FTTP and FTTC are sometimes shared by 20 or more other users. - An Improved Up/Down Ratio
Leased lines tend to have better ratios between upload and download speeds. This is useful for businesses as they tend to upload much more data than a home user. Services like video calling, data backups, and cloud services all require the uploading of a large amount of data. So, having a high upload speed makes these services more efficient and reliable to use on a daily basis.
What are the Disadvantages of Leased Lines?
While leased lines are very fast and very reliable, there are not the right choice for every business. Consider the following factors before committing to a leased line contract.
- Set-Up Time
Deploying a leased line is not a quick process. The physical installation can be time consuming as it entails the construction of a new circuit and potential building work. While the lead time for new FTTC and FTTP lines is normally around three weeks, whereas leased lines can take up to three months to be installed. When you work with Carden Telecoms, we always give you an estimate of how long it will take to install and set up your new leased line.
- Price
Although prices have dropped over time, leased lines are still much more expensive than other connection options like FTTP or FTTC due to installation costs as well as recurring monthly leasing fees. It is only worth investing in a leased line if your business actually needs the increased speed and service level.
When Would a Business Need a Leased Line?
Every business is different and so are their needs when it comes to their business broadband, however, from our experience leased lines are best suit to businesses that meet one more more of the following criteria;
- More than 20 users.
- Are heavily reliant on cloud services like Microsoft 365.
- Upload a lot of data as well as downloading it (for example, businesses which back up their data to the cloud or make a lot of video calls).
- Require a higher service level agreement.
- Expect their bandwidth usage to increase greatly in the near future.
When Does My Business Need a Leased Line?
This depends entirely on the size of your organisation and how you use the internet within your business. The more team members working at the same time, the more uncontended bandwidth will be required to make sure that no employee’s ability to access the internet for critical tasks is jeopardised.
It is worth considering what would happen to your business if the internet went down for a day. Are there still tasks your staff could occupy themselves with, or would they be staring at their screens, unable to work until the internet came back? The more dependent on the internet your business is, the more sense the reliability of a leased line makes.
The more high-bandwidth technologies (like VoIP or cloud services) your business uses the more important a high upload speed will be, which makes a leased line a good option.
Leased lines don’t have to be connections between your business and an internet service provider (ISP). In fact, if your business has multiple premises, you can connect these to each other using a leased line. This can make sharing data and collaborating between these premises much quicker and more efficient.
Need Help Setting Up A Leased Line Connection?
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of the benefits and advantages a leased line broadband connection would bring to your business. If you think one is the right choice for you, or would like to learn more about leased lines, our team can help.
As well as organising the installation and configuration of your new leased line, after it’s installed, Carden Telecoms provide comprehensive business telecoms support. Through access to the backend of the system, we can make adjustments to ensure that your leased line operates in the most efficient way for your business. We also offer ongoing leased line technical support and can schedule Openreach engineers to attend your site if there are any hardware related queries.
