Why should Small Businesses buy a Leased Line?
Why should Small Businesses buy a Leased Line? Over recent years, the standard broadband speeds are increasing with the introduction of Fibre in many areas throughout the UK. Some Fibre connections now offer speeds at over 1Gbps, so why would any business still need to invest in a Leased Line, which is much more expensive? Read on to find out more about these newer connections and why some businesses might still want to opt for a Leased Line!
Today’s newer Broadband Connections
As the fibre landscape in the UK continues to improve, the next band of ‘best in class’ connections have arrived, purporting to provide connection speeds of up to 1.8Gbps WITHOUT a Leased Line. That’s mind boggling speed!
Within the last 12 months, the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were calling 900Mbps the ‘ultimate broadband experience’ – so what’s better than ‘ultimate’?! I guess the answer is faster is always better when it comes to Internet Connectivity! Here are a couple of reasons why as a small business, you might want to choose these even faster speeds.
1. Improved Productivity
At home, it might be difficult to come up with reasons why you could actually make use of a 1.8Gbps internet connection. But at the office, it’s a different story. Providing faster speeds simply makes employees more efficient. Particularly in today’s world of Cloud-based platforms. Even with a substantial number of users though, it will be difficult to use all of the available bandwidth of a 1.8Gbps connection!
2. Competitive Advantage
As a business, these days, the faster you are able to respond and deliver a product or service, the more your customers will value your service. Having fast internet means that organisations that rely on cloud-based platforms are able to deliver their product or service FAST. This applies especially to creative industries, e-commerce, hospitality and events based businesses and those in healthcare.
So why invest in a Leased Line?
This question comes along every time a faster ‘standard broadband’ option becomes available. Leased lines have been around for perhaps 30 years now and so they’ve been called into questions many times! Historically, the main selling point of a leased line was download speed and that benefit is being slowly ebbed away. However, there are still quite a lot of reasons why a Leased Line is still the best option for Small Businesses.
Raw Speed
Leased lines are now available up-to 10Gbps (provided you have the right equipment at your premises). So if you need even more than the speeds available via standard broadband, they are still the only viable option. Businesses in the Video Industry or Gaming Industry will likely need to rely on Leased Lines for some time to come.
Dedicated Speed
With a leased line, the speed your provider offers, is the speed you will get at all times. This is because the cables are not ‘shared’ with anyone else in your local area. They are a dedicated connection, straight to the internet. With standard broadband, you have to take into account Contention Ratio – this is the basic premise that your bandwidth is shared between your business and up-to 49 other connections in your local area.
Symmetrical Speeds
This is a KEY differentiator. Symmetrical Bandwidth means that both the upload AND download speed are the same (and guaranteed with a leased line). Businesses that need to transfer large files to the cloud or need to backup remotely, rely on uploads as well as downloads. Businesses uploading videos to YouTube and other video platforms require the upload speed. Standard Broadband connections just can’t match the upload speeds on offer via Leased Lines.
Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
Most providers of Leased Lines will offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee. This is financially backed, meaning you’ll get financial compensation if your connection is down for a period that extends beyond your SLA. Usually, the SLA is 4 or 6 hours of downtime, which means if your connection goes down, you will be back up and running quickly. With a standard business broadband connection, this is simply not the case. Repairs are done on a ‘best-endeavour’ basis. Meaning the connection could be down for days or weeks and there would be nothing you (or your IT provider) could do about it and there is no benefit to the ISP to repair it quickly as there is no financial backing either.
Availability
Standard Broadband connections are pretty much available wherever the ISP says they are available. You can’t order a connection if the required cables aren’t already outside your premises. With a Leased Line, you can pretty much order one wherever you are located and the ISP will find a way to get cables there (there could be additional cost associated), so you can be almost certain that you’ll be able to order a leased line even in rural areas.
Summary
In conclusion, for many small businesses, Standard Fibre Broadband will be sufficient. However, in our opinion, Leased Lines offer enough benefits to always be in the running when considering your options. From a reliability, speed, peace of mind and upload point of view, there is simply no comparison. Wherever it’s affordable, the right choice is still (even 30 years on!) a Leased Line. However, if your business is not able to afford the best option, then the newer Fibre Broadband Connections are a great second choice, offering blazing speeds to enable your business to get ahead and be competitive.
Get in touch with Digital Exchange to discuss how we can help you to make the right choice when it comes to your business’ internet connectivity! Our staff have years of experience in helping customers, whatever their circumstances and budget. Feel free to drop us a line via the contact page here or call us on 01142203000. Digital Exchange have been installing and configuring internet connections for businesses in Sheffield and across the UK for over 20 years. Talk to our experts about how we might be able to help you.
