Here we answer the question ''What is a Leased Line''.
This is a 17 minute video explaining all you may ever need to know - recorded on 17.4.2020
Leased Lines are dedicated connections to the internet for your use and yours alone
They provided Guaranteed and fixed speed – if you pay for 50Mb you get 50Mb.
The speed is the same both ways, up and down. So a 100Mb connection is 100Mb download and 100Mb upload.
There is normally a Service Level Agreement or SLA. This is a guarantee from your service provider of a certain level of service (normally the % of time when the connection should be working/available – typically 99% or 99.something %).
A leased line is normally delivered on fibre optic cabling (known as Fibre Ethernet). However, where there is no fibre or where budget is limited, it is often possible to get a copper-based connection EFM (Ethernet First Mile) or FTTC Ethernet. FTTC stands for ‘Fibre to The Cabinet.
Leased lines are normally offered with a back-up or failover. This can be a simple broadband connection (fibre broadband if possible). However, you might have a Fibre Ethernet Leased line (a direct fibre) with an ADSL Broadband back-up.
A leased line, when delivered on fibre optic cabling, is normally delivered on either a 100Mb bearer or a 1Gb bearer. ‘Bearer’ is the term used for the physical connection. Naturally a 100Mb bearer can only support connections of up to 100Mb (in 5Mb increments). A Gb bearer can support speeds of greater than 100Mb (eg 200Mb, 300Mb etc). It is important to get the bearer right as there is a financial penalty for upgrading from a 100Mb bearer to a Gb bearer.
A leased line is a managed connection in that it is normally monitored by the provider. So if it stops working they often know about it before you do.
Leased lines tend to take a while to install. A fibre ethernet can take 3 months or 60 working days (sometimes alot longer – ocassionally more quickly if there is already fibre in the building). Also, if there is no fibre directly in your premises, BT Openreach will need to get it installed. This could be as simple as extending the fibre from within your building (eg the basement) or it could be 10 kilometres of digging up roads and fields. The costs incurred here are called ECC’s (Excess Construction Costs) and are not to be confused with the ‘Installation’ cost. The only way to discover the ECC’s are by placing an order which results and a survey being completed. The ECC’s are then known and presented to the provider and in turn to the customer, at which point they then either proceed or cancel.
***Note at the time of writing this, the UK government covers up to £ 2,800 worth of ECC’s which means that, in around 85% of cases, there is no additional cost.
In the majority of cases, it is normally BT Openreach which installs the fibre (this is known as a BT Tail). However, Virgin Media and Talk Talk are sometimes used as a cheaper alternative. The ‘tail’ merely refers to the local fibre run from your premises to the exchange, from where it then is connected to your providers network.
Is a leased line the same as a broadband connection?
Broadband is a much over-used term.
It was originally meant to mean a FAST connection. However, when people talk about it these days, they often mean ADSL (Asymmetric Subscriber Line) which is basically the products you hear about on TV (BT Infinity, SKY, Virgin Media, Talk Talk, Plusnet). So this tends to cost are little as £ 5 per month or as much as £ 60. It needs a normal phone line and home users all tend to have this type of connection.
Can a business work effectively using just broadband?
Yes but it depends.
If it’s more than 10 users using it, then we would expect a business to have something better like a leased line (FTTC Ethernet, EFM or a Fibre Ethernet). Especially if they are using cloud-based services (such as Hosted Microsoft Exchange).
So why is ADSL broadband so much cheaper than a Leased Line??
It’s not as good! Watch the video and find out more!
