Dedicated Internet vs Business Broadband

It’s a long time ago, but try and think back to the year 2000. It was a good year, right? The long-awaited Millennium Bridge had to be closed before it catapulted people into the Thames, England embarrassingly lost their first European Championship game to Portugal, and we had a winter that brought us temperatures of -13 degrees. OK… so it wasn’t that great a year, but some good things did happen. We got to laugh at Cherie Blair being caught without a valid train ticket, the naughty girl, the Queen Mother turned 100, and broadband was invented! Remember how excited everyone was about that?

Well, that excitement didn’t last long, did it? Here we are, in 2024, and honestly, no one really gives two hoots about boring business broadband anymore. Now don’t get us wrong, business broadband is fine. It really is. It meets the needs of a lot of small businesses in the UK, and it gets the job done. But it’s not getting us all hot and sweaty under the collar anymore. It’s just a bit mundane. It’s like that student you always had a crush on at school… right up until when the mysterious new kid turned up.

So who’s the new kid on the block in terms of business internet? It’s the new dedicated internet services, like leased lines, that have reignited that spark and given us something to get worked up over. Dedicated internet access (dia) means that your connection is uncontended, and you’re not sharing your bandwidth with anyone else. It has a lot of qualities that business broadband doesn’t. Here are some of the differences:

● Faster Speeds

Dedicated internet means that your speeds are yours and yours alone no need to share. So if you’re tired of your business/ home broadband speeds slowing to a snail’s pace at 9am every morning without fail, then a dedicated internet connection could be a pretty good solution. Go on, have it all to yourself for a change. You can get uploads speeds and download speeds of up to 10GB, how amazing would that be. Speeds that fast would be perfect for things such as customer Wi-Fi.

● Easier Communications

The faster speeds created by a dedicated internet connection mean that you don’t need to compete with other traffic to share your files with colleagues, dial into a VoIP call, or a video conferencing call. If you’ve got 2 or more sites, or offer flexible working, this can really help your teams keep in touch, no matter where they are.

● Better Customer Service/Experience

Customers expect more from their suppliers than they did in 2000, and bad experiences make their way through the grapevine pretty quickly these days. A dedicated internet connection, which is uncontended (an impressive 1:1 contention ratio), helps to ensure you’re able to communicate with clients effortlessly.

● More Options

Businesses today have got to be feeling quite lucky. They’ve got a wealth of choices now for how to manage their day-to-day processes, like storing information in the cloud for added security and easy access. A dedicated internet connection makes it simple to utilise these great new technologies. Also, like business broadband deals, there is a choice to add extras such as phone lines/line rental, even choosing your own special phone number.

● Contract Lengths

Business broadband only has a few options on contract length, the longest being a 24 month contract. Whereas, with a dedicated line you can pick 12 month, 36 months, or a whopping 60 months.

● Service Level Agreement

All Leased line contracts come with an SLA, meaning that within this agreement there are certain terms that have to be met during your contract. Such as maintaining a certain speed, having a static IP address, etc. If these terms are not met then you may be due for compensation. Every provider will have slightly different SLA, so it is best to search around to find one that meets your needs.

● Security 

Leased lines are extremely secure, compared to broadband connections. A Leased Line is a private network, meaning no other user can access it without your permission, brilliant ay? There is also firewalls and specialist routers that you can add to enhance your already extraordinary security. Each provider is different though, so looking around and finding the best package to suit your business is essential.

How to get the best dedicated internet deals

There are hundreds of providers that sell Leased lines, such as tier 1 providers like Virgin media, or resellers like Vaioni. Each provider will have a completely different price or benefits, some will provide a failover line, some will provider free firewalls, etc. So, that is something to keep in mind when choosing a provider, which one will hit your businesses sweet spot.

A few factors that could affect the price are the speed you need, how rural you are, if there is an ECC’s, and if you’re eligible to receive the Government Voucher Scheme, which could give you 2.5k off the price of a Leased Line.

The lower speeds of Leased Lines start from around £150 per month in certain locations, but the difference between 10mb and 50mb, or 50mb and 100mb isn’t much at all. The most expensive speed is 10GB which can start from around a few thousand a month, but this is very rarely quoted on so only a few ISP’s will so this.

Being rural can have a big effect on the price if you’re in the snowy mountains of Snowden then getting a Leased Line would be extortionate, but getting a Leased Line in central London would be pretty reasonable. This is because installing a Leased Line in a place where Leased Lines are abundant is easier as you can use existing routes.

Excess construction charges are another factor that can increase the price. You’ll find out if you have ECC’s after a site survey has been carried out. The survey could bring up problems such as having to dig under train tracks or having to close a road down, which could add thousands of excess charges. Luckily, if you do receive charges and no longer have to go ahead with the contract if you can’t afford them, phew.

There is one thing that could lower the price of a Leased Line, that is the Government Voucher Scheme. If you reach the requirements then you could be entitled to a 2.5k grant towards the cost of a Leased Line.

If you want to see if you’re eligible for this scheme or to just get a quote on a Leased Line then you can run a free and impartial comparison with us. All you’d need to do is fill in one of our web forms, wait for one of our professional advisors to contact you, and reived your quotes the same day. This saves you the hassle on manually divulging your details to every provider, then waiting for your quotes, and comparing them all manually, which can be a mundane and tedious task.