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Broadband is one of a businesses most important assets. What would happen if you lost internet at your business? How much money would you lose in terms of lost time and sales? That's why it's important to get your broadband right.
For a business, there are so many different internet connectivity options to choose from. These options include:
Choosing between these can be a difficult task, especially with the copious amounts of jargon in the telecoms industry. Hopefully this guide gives you more information about leased lines, and will help you decide is they're right for your business.
In essence, a leased line is a dedicated fibre broadband connection that runs between your business and your nearest fibre broadband connection. This fibre connection provides you with unparalleled bandwidth and speeds of up to 1Gbps. It's the fastest, and most reliable form of business broadband connectivity on the market today.
Leased lines use the same technology as fibre broadband. Instead of sharing this fibre optic connection with other premises and business in your vicinity, you have it run directly to your business. An unimpeded, uninterrupted and truly dedicated connection.
As you can see from our simplified diagram, your leased line will totally bypass the regular broadband network. It uses fibre optic cables to give your business it's own broadband connection; helping improve your connection. Leased lines are an alternative to the traditional fibre broadband connectivity methods. They're much faster and more reliable.
As you can probably imagine, having a dedicated fibre broadband line has a lot of benefits, including:
The list above are the main reasons that businesses change over to a leased line. But not ever business needs a leased line. In our 30 years in the industry, we found that the businesses who use leased lines are larger business with lots of simultaneous internet users; or those who rely very heavily on their broadband. Hospitals, hotels, animation studios, large offices etc.
It all depends. For most businesses, a leased line is 'overkill'. Leased lines are the 'pinnacle' of broadband. They truly provide the most reliable, and fastest, broadband speeds. However, they are more costly than traditional broadband.
Before upgrading, ask yourself these questions:
How much do I rely on my broadband?
If you rely very heavily on your broadband connection, then a leased line is a great solution. Because they're dedicated, they have an uptime of over 99.9%. They suffer from significantly less outages than traditional broadband, which is ideal for businesses who are uploading heavy files, or who use their broadband 24/7 - hotels or hospitals, for example.
Do I suffer with poor broadband?
We're based in Somerset, so many of our customers are located far away from their nearest fibre cabinet. This means that poor, unreliable and slow broadband is an issue for their business. However, with a leased line, you bypass the network and unlock incredible speeds - no matter your location. It's common that rural businesses suffer from poor speeds that hamper their business efficiency - and with our Government approved voucher scheme, you can get up to £2,500 off your leased line installation costs.
How many people use my internet daily?
As I say, for most SMEs, a leased line is overkill. However, bigger businesses (with 80+ employees in a single site) may wish to invest in a leased line. This is because it provides them with a more reliable data connection, which will not be hampered by heavy usage of 80+ employees. Some bigger businesses even choose to have multiple leased lines (one for data and one for VoIP, for example)
What speed do I need?
Another thing to consider when deciding on a leased line is your speed. Most businesses, especially in more urban locations, can benefit from fibre to the cabinet, or even fibre to the premises, broadband. And we find that many people looking to upgrade their speeds may be able to do so without the expense of a leased line. Get in touch and we can run a free line check for your business, to let you know the kinds of speeds available.
What is my budget?
Leased lines are more expensive than regular broadband connectivity. All those benefits, come an obvious cost. If you've decided that your business really needs a leased line, then there are steps you can take to reduce costs. That starts with the £2,500 off using our Government approved voucher scheme. You can also control your costs by controlling your 'pipe speeds'. You can set your monthly budget, and then the speeds to match. If you find that the speeds aren't enough, then you can just increase them.
Hopefully this article has been helpful and has provided you with some information to get you started on your leased line decision.
Business leased lines are a great tool for businesses looking to improve their speeds or internet reliability. But they're not for everyone. Chat to a member of our team today for a free, no obligations chat about your broadband, no upsell, just advice. Call 01934 882200 or email sales@commsplus.co.uk
