Fibre Broadband vs Leased Lines

An independent view

Increasing speeds, decreasing costs

Over the last few years we’ve seen broadband speeds increase and leased line costs decrease. There now seems to be an overlap between the two services. This raises the questions for many IT managers as to which service to opt for.

Which is best for businesses?

Well that depends on a number of things; how your businesses uses the internet, how many users you have and how critical the internet is to your operations. The final factor, which will probably have the greatest effect on the matter, is the cost differential between the services.

Before we explore these further it’s worth looking at the two types of technology.

Leased Lines

A leased line is a network connection, rented from a service provider, that connects two locations. Often these are an organisation’s premises and a network providers data centre. Speeds can go from 2Mbps (megabit per second) to 10Gbps (gigabit per second). Traditionally provided via a fibre optical cable, although with Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) this is changing, with either Layer 2 or Layer 3 protocols. A good leased line service will be uncontended, which means it isn’t shared with anyone else.

Fibre Broadband

A fibre broadband connection is a connection between two points, again usually a business premise and data centre or network node.

‘Up to’ Speeds

Maximum speeds for the three most popular technologies are:

Service	Download	Upload
Fibre to the Cabinet	80Mbps	40Mbps
Fibre to the Premises	330Mbps	30Mbps
Cable Fibre	152Mbps	12Mbps

Niche providers can deliver speeds up to 1Gbps. Usually a fibre broadband service is shared, or contended, with other users.

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Broadband Voucher Scheme

The UK Government has launched the Broadband Connection Voucher scheme. This programme offers grants of up to £3,000 for small to medium enterprises. The grant covers installation costs to deliver a higher speed Internet connection, and can be used for both leased lines and fibre broadband.

The Cost of a Leased Line

A question we get asked a lot is why is there such a large price difference between fibre broadband and leased lines? People see the costs of an up to 80Mbps fibre broadband service and compare this to a 10Mbps leased line service, for example, and wonder why a ‘slower’ leased line service would cost more.

It’s worth remembering that we aren’t really comparing apples with apples. That fibre broadband ‘up to’ speed isn’t a guarantee; it’s an estimate of what you’ll get in the best case scenario. A leased line speed delivers what it says it’s going to deliver, 50Mbps is 50Mbps 24 hours a day seven days a week. The cost of a leased line is based on four factors:

Location

Part of the leased line cost is based upon the distance between your premises and the service providers Point of Presence (PoP – an access point to the suppliers core network). The greater the distance, the greater the costs.

Bandwidth

As you’d imaging the more bandwidth equals more cost. What you may not know is that certain providers will make the cost of certain bandwidths more attractive. Always get a selection of speeds on your quote.

Competition

Are you based in the middle of a metropolitan city or in a remote rural location? Generally the more rural the fewer the number of suppliers, an therefore less competition fighting for your business.

Technology

There are a few new technologies that are helping drive costs down whilst keeping the same service standards. EFM (Ethernet in the First Mile), and GEA (General Ethernet Access) are two to look into.

Leased Lines, the Questions to Ask

There are three big questions to ask when deciding which service to opt for.

Internet Use

If you use your internet connection for surfing, sending email and uploading images to your website, the chances are that fibre broadband will be a great service for you. On the other hand, if you have remote workers or offices accessing your network via the internet, access the web for business critical applications, run video conferencing services or other higher bandwidth tools a leased line may be a better option.

Users

How many users do you have? More than 20? It maybe worth considering a leased line. Do you have employees or suppliers that access applications on your corporate network (for example email or shared storage)? A leased line will give them a better experience, and could improve productivity, when accessing your network.

What would happen if...

What would happen if you lost internet access? Would it be a pain but you’d carry on for a couple of days? Or, would your organisation lose money? If it’s the latter a leased line is definitely the right option. A good supplier will have a very good service level agreement in place, it could end up paying you if the connection goes down.

Contact our specialists on 01858 438 500 for more advice

Leased Line vs. Fibre Broadband: Conclusion

To compare these two services isn’t really valid. Both services have very different aims. If you have a larger number of users, or if your organisation will lose revenue if it loses the connection a leased line could be for you.

Another thing to consider is what else you can do with a leased line, to increase its utility. We often provide leased lines with bandwidth segmented to run other applications that don’t need access to the web. Remote real time backup and SIP trunks are two examples. Your leased line is then helping the organisation function better as well as providing high bandwidth internet access.

To finish off, if you are looking for a leased line connection, here are some good questions to ask your potential supplier.

SLA

Can the provider create a bespoke Service Level Agreement (SLA) for you? Your business is individual and that should be reflected in the service you sign up to.

Contention

Is the service really fully uncontended from your premise to the internet? A good supplier will be willing to put this in writing.

Skills

Does the supplier have the relevant networking skills to fix issues or are they simply selling another service provider’s offering? A great supplier will have the skills, usually Cisco accreditation, to resolve issues quickly if they occur.

Choice

If you contact a Tier 1 supplier the chances are that they will only provide you with the cost of their service. An independent supplier will be able to get better value by providing the costs from a variety of suppliers.