Not all fibres are created equal
Fibre leased lines vs fibre broadband
We are often asked to explain and clarify the advantages of having one’s own Leased Line for broadband, rather than using standard Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) broadband. In essence it’s a lot like having your own private driving lane on a motorway system, with super-smooth, pothole-free tarmac. You don’t have to share your lane with other users so you can go much faster and you’re not vulnerable to traffic jams and hold ups. Plus, if you do have a breakdown, your own bespoke maintenance crew will have you back up and running in no time at all. Get the picture?
Of course that’s not the end of the story. Fibre leased lines deliver a myriad of other benefits – some obvious, others subtle – but they all add up to a compelling case for going leased. Let’s look at this in more detail.
Cost: ok, let’s deal with the cost issue up front. Leased lines cost more than fibre broadband. That's because you are getting a lot more for your money, as you'll find out below.
Dedicated bandwidth: your leased line has bandwidth reserved for it all the way from the supplier network straight to your premises. It’s yours and yours alone. No-one else will be using it. Fibre broadband, on the other hand, is contended which means you are unknowingly competing with other local users for use of the line bringing connectivity to your site. So whenever lots of customers try to use their connections at the same time, your speeds drop.
Symmetric speeds: with a leased line your connection speeds are identical in both directions so you get superfast uploads and downloads. As a rule, fibre broadband speeds are much slower uploading than downloading. Imagine if you will, your broadband motorway with a bicycle lane for uploading. Your leased line set up is a two-way bespoke overpass with no interference.
Service Levels: as you would expect with a premium connectivity product, a leased line will be supported by a top quality Service Level Agreement. At HPN for example, our leased lines are incredibly reliable, with 99.99% uptime. But if something should go wrong, we guarantee that most types of faults will be fixed within a four-hour window, 24x7x365. Try getting that from another fibre broadband provider!
Business focus – fibre leased lines are specifically designed to meet the needs of business users and connect their offices/sites to each other. Fibre broadband is aimed primarily at residential subscribers and micro-commercial users.
Speed matters - fibre leased line speeds are typically up to 10 Gigabits per second. Fibre broadband offers much slower speeds for downloading and uploading, usually no more than 80Mbps download and 20Mbps upload. It’s like comparing a Formula 1 car to a horse and cart.
We could go on, but you get the picture. For businesses that are serious about the speed, quality and reliability of their broadband, leased lines are the way to go. If you would like to find out more, start by calling the High Performance Networks team today on 028 9053 8411. We’ll help you implement connectivity that’s right for your business.
