Sales Director
A leased line is a dedicated, uncontended internet connection providing symmetrical upload and download speeds exclusively for one customer. Unlike standard broadband (shared with up to 50 users), leased lines guarantee consistent performance 24/7 with zero contention ratios.
Modern fibre leased lines deliver speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps with enterprise-grade Service Level Agreements (SLAs) guaranteeing 99.9%+ uptime. Typical dedicated leased line costs range from £200-£500/month for 100 Mbps to £800-£2,000/month for 1 Gbps, depending on location and distance to exchange.
Ideal for businesses requiring reliable VoIP systems, cloud applications, large file transfers, or those that cannot tolerate network downtime. Installation typically takes 30-90 days due to physical infrastructure requirements and Openreach surveys.
A leased line is a dedicated telecommunications connection that provides a private, uncontended data circuit exclusively between your business premises and your Internet Service Provider's core network. Unlike shared broadband connections, a leased line connection guarantees you receive 100% of the bandwidth you pay for, 24 hours a day, with identical upload and download speeds.
Think of standard broadband as a motorway during rush hour—congested, unpredictable, and prone to slowdowns when everyone's using it simultaneously. A business leased line, by contrast, is your private road with guaranteed capacity that never changes regardless of external traffic patterns.
The term "leased" originates from the traditional telephony industry, where businesses would lease dedicated copper circuits from telecommunications providers. Today's modern internet leased lines predominantly use fibre-optic technology, delivering vastly superior speeds and reliability compared to their copper predecessors, though the fundamental principle remains unchanged: dedicated, guaranteed connectivity.
Standard broadband operates on a contention ratio (typically 50:1 or higher), meaning you share bandwidth with up to 50 other users, whilst a dedicated leased line has a 1:1 contention ratio—it's exclusively yours.
Here's what contention means in practical terms: when you purchase a "76 Mbps broadband" package, that speed represents the maximum theoretical capacity under ideal conditions. During peak hours (typically 8-10pm for residential areas, or 9am-5pm for business districts), your actual speeds may plummet to 10-20 Mbps as your neighbours simultaneously stream Netflix, conduct Zoom meetings, or upload files to cloud storage.
A leased line service eliminates this entirely. If you purchase a 100 Mbps leased line, you receive a guaranteed 100 Mbps upload and 100 Mbps download at all times—morning, afternoon, evening, and overnight. There are no peak hours, no throttling, and no performance degradation.
| Feature | Standard Broadband | Dedicated Leased Line |
|---|---|---|
| Contention Ratio | 20:1 to 50:1 (shared) | 1:1 (uncontended) |
| Speed Consistency | Variable, drops during peak hours | Guaranteed 24/7 |
| Upload vs Download | Asymmetric (slower upload) | Symmetric (identical speeds) |
| Average Downtime | 24-72 hours (residential SLA) | 4-6 hours (business SLA) |
| Typical Monthly Cost | £30-£60 | £200-£2,000+ |
A leased line works by establishing a direct physical connection from your business premises to your ISP's point of presence (PoP), creating a dedicated data path that bypasses shared public networks. This is fundamentally different from broadband, which routes through shared infrastructure.
A leased line typically involves these core components working together to deliver your dedicated connection:
1. Customer Premises Equipment (CPE): A dedicated router installed at your location that terminates the leased line connection.
2. Last-Mile Connection: A fibre-optic cable (or in legacy systems, copper or microwave link) running directly from your building to the provider's network.
3. Provider's Core Network: Your traffic enters the ISP's dedicated infrastructure, which maintains strict Quality of Service (QoS) policies.
4. Internet Gateway: The ISP routes your traffic to the wider internet through enterprise-grade connections.
What makes this architecture powerful is the point-to-point nature. Your data doesn't compete with residential traffic at any stage. The entire pathway—from your office router to the ISP's backbone—is yours alone. This dedicated routing explains why leased lines deliver consistent latency (typically <10ms to UK data centres) and why they're critical for latency-sensitive applications like VoIP telephony, video conferencing, and remote desktop services.
Not all leased lines are created equal—the technology delivering your dedicated connection significantly impacts performance, cost, and suitability for different business scenarios. Modern leased line connections predominantly use fibre-optic technology, though wireless and point-to-point variants serve specific use cases.
Fibre leased lines, formally known as Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), represent the gold standard for business connectivity, utilising pure fibre-optic cables to deliver speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps with exceptional reliability. This is what most businesses mean when they discuss purchasing a "leased line".
Modern fibre leased line technology typically uses Ethernet over fibre delivery methods, where the physical fibre connection terminates at an Ethernet handoff on your premises. The most common technologies include:
• Ethernet First Mile (EFM): Bonds multiple copper pairs for speeds up to 20 Mbps, historically used where fibre wasn't available
• Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC): Partial fibre with the last segment over copper, offering speeds up to 80 Mbps
• Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) Leased Lines: Pure end-to-end fibre delivering 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps
The critical distinction between FTTP broadband and an FTTP leased line connection is the contention ratio and SLA. FTTP broadband still operates on shared infrastructure with a 50:1 contention ratio and consumer-grade support. An FTTP leased line provides dedicated capacity with a business SLA guaranteeing fix times.
Expert Tip: When evaluating fibre leased line quotes, always verify whether the provider owns the "last mile" infrastructure or is reselling Openreach circuits. Direct infrastructure ownership often translates to faster fault resolution.
A point-to-point leased line creates a secure, dedicated connection between two specific business locations—such as your head office and a branch office—rather than connecting a single site to the internet. This topology is technically called a Private Wire or Ethernet Private Line.
Point-to-point circuits are invaluable for businesses requiring:
• Secure data replication between offices without internet exposure
• Extended local area networks (LANs) spanning multiple buildings
• Real-time database synchronisation between distributed locations
• Backup and disaster recovery connections to remote data centres
A typical scenario: a retail chain with five stores and one head office might deploy point-to-point leased lines connecting each store directly to headquarters. This creates a private network where the stores can access centralised inventory systems, EPOS databases, and CCTV footage without routing sensitive data through the public internet.
The pricing for point-to-point circuits depends heavily on the physical distance between locations. Two buildings within the same business park might cost £150-£300 monthly, whilst connecting sites 50 miles apart could exceed £1,500 monthly due to the infrastructure required.
Wireless leased lines use point-to-point microwave transmission to deliver dedicated connectivity where fibre installation is impractical or prohibitively expensive. These solutions beam radio signals between two dishes (one at your premises, one at the provider's tower) to establish a dedicated wireless connection.
Wireless leased lines shine in specific scenarios:
• Rural or remote locations where fibre trenching would cost tens of thousands of pounds
• Historic buildings where planning restrictions prevent cable installation
• Rapid deployment requirements when you cannot wait 60-90 days for fibre provisioning
• Backup connections providing redundancy for primary fibre leased lines
Modern wireless technology can deliver speeds up to 1 Gbps over distances of 5-10 miles, though performance degrades with distance and adverse weather conditions. The primary limitation is the line-of-sight requirement—microwave signals cannot penetrate obstacles, so direct visual alignment between dishes is mandatory.
| Leased Line Type | Max Speed | Best Use Case | Typical Lead Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fibre (FTTP) | Up to 10 Gbps | Urban businesses, high-bandwidth needs | 60-90 days |
| Point-to-Point | Up to 10 Gbps | Multi-site private networks | 90-120 days |
| Wireless (Microwave) | Up to 1 Gbps | Rural areas, rapid deployment, backup | 2-4 weeks |
Choosing the appropriate speed for your leased line connection requires understanding both your current usage patterns and future growth trajectory, as upgrades typically require new installations or circuit modifications. Unlike broadband, where you can often change speed tiers with a simple account change, leased line capacity is physically provisioned.
Unlike asymmetric broadband connections where upload speeds are a fraction of download speeds, leased lines provide identical upload and download capacity—what the telecommunications industry calls symmetrical bandwidth. This fundamental characteristic makes leased lines indispensable for modern business applications.
Standard broadband typically offers dramatically imbalanced speeds. A 76 Mbps FTTC connection might provide 76 Mbps download but only 19 Mbps upload—a 4:1 ratio. This asymmetry stems from consumer usage patterns historically favouring downloading (streaming, browsing) over uploading. However, modern business operations demand robust upload capacity:
Applications requiring high upload speeds:
• Video conferencing: A Zoom meeting with 20 participants can consume 5-10 Mbps upload
• Cloud backups: Uploading nightly backups to AWS or Azure requires sustained upload capacity
• VoIP telephony: Voice over IP systems need consistent upload bandwidth for call quality
• Remote desktop/VDI: Virtual desktop infrastructure requires symmetrical bandwidth for responsive performance
• Large file sharing: Design agencies uploading multi-gigabyte video projects or CAD files
A 100 Mbps leased line provides 100 Mbps in both directions simultaneously. You can upload 1 GB files to your cloud storage in approximately 80 seconds whilst simultaneously downloading at full speed—impossible with asymmetric broadband where large uploads saturate the connection and slow everything else.
Critical Warning: If your business regularly experiences slow internet "only when uploading files" or "when someone starts a video call", this is the smoking gun indicator that asymmetric broadband is strangling your operations. Symmetrical leased line speeds eliminate this bottleneck entirely.
Historical leased lines started at 2 Mbps (using legacy E1 technology), but modern business requirements typically demand between 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps, with larger enterprises requiring multi-gigabit capacity. Selecting the right speed tier requires honest assessment of your concurrent usage requirements.
Legacy speeds (historical context):
• 2 Mbps leased lines: Based on E1 technology, these were standard throughout the 1990s-2000s but are now obsolete for most applications
• 10 Mbps: Minimum viable speed for very small offices (3-5 users) with basic needs
Modern business speeds:
• 100 Mbps: Suitable for 10-25 employees with standard office applications, light cloud usage, basic VoIP
• 200-500 Mbps: Ideal for 25-100 employees with heavy cloud reliance, multiple concurrent video conferences, significant file transfers
• 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps): Required for 100+ employees, data-intensive operations, organisations heavily dependent on cloud infrastructure
• 10 Gbps: Enterprise data centres, large-scale cloud operations, organisations processing massive data volumes
Quick sizing guide based on business type:
| Business Profile | Recommended Speed | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Small accountancy firm (8 users) | 100 Mbps | Cloud accounting software, email, video calls |
| Design agency (15 users) | 200-500 Mbps | Large file uploads, Adobe Creative Cloud |
| 50-person office (mixed use) | 500 Mbps - 1 Gbps | Multiple simultaneous activities, future-proofing |
| E-commerce warehouse | 500 Mbps - 1 Gbps | Inventory systems, multiple CCTV streams |
| Regional call centre (100+ agents) | 1-10 Gbps | VoIP for all agents, CRM systems, call recordings |
The "average 100 mbps leased line cost" sits around £350-£450 monthly in urban areas, representing the sweet spot for SMEs. Don't over-provision dramatically (paying for 1 Gbps when 200 Mbps suffices wastes budget), but do allow headroom—aim for 40-50% average utilisation at peak times to maintain comfortable performance.
Making an informed decision about leased line investment requires honestly weighing the substantial benefits against the genuine drawbacks, particularly the significant cost differential compared to standard broadband. This isn't a universal solution—some businesses genuinely don't need leased line capabilities.
The advantages of leased lines centre on guaranteed reliability, consistent performance, and business-grade support that eliminate the connectivity frustrations endemic to shared broadband infrastructure. For businesses where internet connectivity directly impacts revenue or operational capability, these benefits justify the premium pricing.
1. Uncontended, Guaranteed Bandwidth You receive 100% of your contracted speed at all times. A 200 Mbps leased line delivers exactly 200 Mbps upload and download, whether at 3am or 3pm on a Monday afternoon when half the business district is online. No contention ratio means no performance degradation.
2. True Symmetrical Speeds Identical upload and download capacity transforms how your business handles cloud applications, video conferencing, and file sharing. The asymmetric bottleneck that plagues broadband connections simply doesn't exist.
3. Business-Grade Service Level Agreements (SLAs) Most leased line services include SLAs guaranteeing:
• 99.9% to 99.99% uptime (translating to maximum 8.76 hours annual downtime or less)
• 4-6 hour fix time commitments for faults, often with escalation penalties
• Financial compensation for SLA breaches (typically service credits)
• 24/7 business support with dedicated account management
4. Predictable, Low Latency Dedicated routing and QoS policies maintain consistent latency (typically 5-15ms to UK data centres). Critical for VoIP quality, video conferencing, remote desktop protocols, and latency-sensitive applications.
5. Enhanced Security Your data travels across a private circuit rather than shared infrastructure, reducing exposure. Whilst not a substitute for proper cybersecurity measures, the dedicated pathway eliminates certain attack vectors present in shared networks.
6. Static IP Addresses Leased lines include blocks of static IP addresses as standard (typically /29 or /30 allocations), essential for hosting servers, VPNs, remote access solutions, and advanced network configurations.
7. Scalability Without Disruption Once the physical infrastructure is installed, bandwidth upgrades often require only configuration changes rather than new installation, depending on the underlying technology.
The primary disadvantages of leased lines are substantial upfront costs, lengthy installation periods, and ongoing premium pricing that can be difficult to justify for smaller businesses or those with modest connectivity requirements. Transparency about these drawbacks is essential for realistic expectation-setting.
1. Significant Cost Premium A dedicated leased line cost easily runs 5-10x more than equivalent-speed broadband. Whilst £60 monthly might buy 100 Mbps FTTP broadband, a 100 Mbps leased line costs £300-£500 monthly, plus installation fees.
2. Installation Charges and Lead Times
• Installation fees: £500-£2,500 (sometimes waived with long-term contracts)
• Survey costs: £200-£500 for feasibility assessments
• Lead times: 60-90 days is standard; rural locations can exceed 120 days
• Potential civil works: If new ducting or wayleaves are required, costs escalate dramatically
3. Long-Term Contract Commitments Most providers require 36-month minimum contracts to offset infrastructure investment. Early termination penalties can be punitive, sometimes requiring payment of all remaining monthly fees.
4. Geographic Limitations and Distance Charges Pricing increases with distance from the nearest exchange or provider point of presence. Businesses in rural areas or industrial estates far from telecoms infrastructure face "excess construction charges" (ECCs) that can add thousands to installation costs or make leased lines economically unviable.
5. Overkill for Small Operations A sole trader working from home or a three-person business with light internet usage doesn't need leased line capabilities. Modern FTTP broadband (with its contention ratio) suffices for modest requirements, and the cost differential can't be justified.
6. Physical Infrastructure Dependency Your leased line relies on physical cables between your premises and the provider's network. Construction accidents, fibre cuts, or infrastructure damage can cause outages (though SLAs mandate rapid repair). Sophisticated businesses often deploy a secondary broadband connection as resilient backup.
If your business can tolerate occasional evening slowdowns, doesn't heavily rely on cloud applications, and operates successfully with current broadband, you likely don't need a leased line. However, if internet downtime means lost revenue, missed deadlines, or frustrated customers, the investment becomes essential infrastructure.
Leased line pricing is not transparent or uniform—quotes vary dramatically based on location, speed, provider, and infrastructure availability, making accurate budgeting challenging without obtaining formal quotations. However, understanding the pricing factors and typical ranges helps set realistic expectations.
The final price you'll pay for a business leased line depends on a complex interplay of geographic, technical, and commercial factors, with distance to the nearest exchange often being the single largest variable. This explains why identical speed circuits can vary 300-400% between different locations.
Primary cost drivers:
1. Distance to Exchange/Point of Presence The physical distance from your premises to the provider's nearest infrastructure point fundamentally determines cost. Telecommunications providers categorise locations into bands:
• Band 1: Within 1km of exchange (lowest cost)
• Band 2: 1-3km from exchange (moderate premium)
• Band 3: 3-10km from exchange (significant premium)
• Band 4+: 10km+ or requiring new infrastructure (highest cost, potential excess construction charges)
2. Circuit Speed/Bandwidth Higher speeds require more sophisticated equipment and consume more network capacity. Pricing typically follows these patterns:
• 10-100 Mbps: Base pricing tier
• 100-500 Mbps: 1.5-2x base cost
• 500 Mbps - 1 Gbps: 2-3x base cost
• 1 Gbps+: 3-5x base cost or custom enterprise pricing
3. Geographic Location (Urban vs Rural) Urban areas with dense telecommunications infrastructure offer competitive pricing. Rural locations or business parks without existing fibre often incur "excess construction charges" covering the cost of new infrastructure installation, potentially adding £5,000-£50,000 to project costs.
4. Contract Duration Longer commitments reduce monthly costs:
• 12-month contracts: Standard pricing (if available)
• 24-month contracts: 10-15% discount
• 36-month contracts: 15-25% discount
• 60-month contracts: Maximum discounts but significant lock-in
5. Installation Complexity Standard installations in modern buildings with existing ducting cost £500-£1,000. Complex scenarios requiring wayleave agreements, building works, or new ducts can cost £2,500-£10,000+.
6. Provider Type
• Tier 1 carriers (BT, Virgin Media Business, CityFibre): Premium pricing, own infrastructure
• Wholesale resellers: Mid-tier pricing, rely on Openreach
• Specialist providers: Competitive pricing in specific regions
While individual quotes vary significantly, typical market rates for business leased lines in urban UK locations follow these approximate monthly ranges, excluding installation fees and assuming 36-month contracts. These figures represent current market conditions and should be treated as guidance rather than guarantees.
Speed-based pricing estimates (urban locations, Band 1-2):
| Circuit Speed | Monthly Cost Range | Typical Installation | Annual TCO (Year 1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | £150 - £250 | £500 - £1,000 | £2,300 - £4,000 |
| 100 Mbps | £250 - £450 | £500 - £1,500 | £3,500 - £6,900 |
| 200 Mbps | £350 - £600 | £750 - £2,000 | £5,000 - £9,200 |
| 500 Mbps | £500 - £900 | £1,000 - £2,500 | £7,000 - £13,300 |
| 1 Gbps | £700 - £1,500 | £1,500 - £3,000 | £10,000 - £21,000 |
| 10 Gbps | £2,500 - £5,000 | £5,000 - £10,000+ | £35,000 - £70,000+ |
Important pricing caveats:
• Rural premiums: Expect 30-100% higher costs in rural locations
• Excess construction charges: Unpredictable, can add £10,000-£100,000 for greenfield sites
• Circuit diversity: Resilient dual-feed connections roughly double costs
• Managed router costs: Some providers charge £30-£80 monthly for CPE rental
• Support tiers: Premium support packages add 10-20% to monthly costs
A 40-person office in Reading requiring reliable connectivity for cloud-based ERP, VoIP (20 extensions), and video conferencing might spec a 200 Mbps leased line. Expected costs: Installation: £1,200 (absorbed by provider with 36-month contract), Monthly service: £425, Annual cost: £5,100, Total 3-year commitment: £15,300. Compare this to £50/month FTTP broadband (£1,800 over three years), and the 8.5x cost premium becomes stark. The question becomes: "What is guaranteed connectivity worth to our business?"
Whilst leased lines are overwhelmingly a business technology, the rise of remote work and bandwidth-intensive home professions has created a niche market for residential leased line installations. The economics and justification differ substantially between commercial and domestic scenarios.
Businesses choose leased lines not because they're better technology in abstract terms, but because network downtime directly translates to quantifiable financial loss, operational disruption, and reputational damage that far exceeds the service premium. The return on investment calculation is straightforward when connectivity is mission-critical.
Calculating the cost of downtime:
Consider a 30-person professional services firm generating £3 million annual revenue. If internet connectivity is lost for a full working day:
• Lost productivity: 30 employees × 8 hours × average £35/hour = £8,400
• Lost revenue: (£3M ÷ 250 working days) = £12,000 daily revenue at risk
• Client impact: Missed deadlines, inability to service clients, reputational damage
• Total potential impact: £15,000-£20,000+ for a single day of downtime
A leased line SLA guaranteeing 4-6 hour fix times means maximum downtime of one working day, versus standard broadband where 24-72 hour repair windows are common. The £400 monthly premium (£4,800 annually) represents just 0.16% of revenue—insurance against potentially catastrophic connectivity failures.
Business scenarios where leased lines are essential:
• Financial services: Trading platforms, real-time data, client transactions
• Healthcare: Electronic patient records, telemedicine, diagnostic imaging transfer
• Design and media: Large file transfers, remote collaboration on bandwidth-intensive projects
• Call centres: VoIP quality directly impacts customer experience and operational metrics
• E-commerce: Payment processing, inventory management, order fulfilment systems
• Professional services: Cloud-based practice management, client portals, remote desktop access
• Manufacturing: Just-in-time inventory systems, connected machinery, supply chain integration
The Service Level Agreement is often more valuable than the technology itself. Knowing your connectivity will be restored within six hours—with contractual penalties if the provider fails—provides business continuity assurance impossible with residential-grade services.
Yes, residential leased lines are technically feasible and some providers offer them, but the economics rarely make sense for typical households—even those with demanding connectivity requirements. The exception is high-net-worth individuals and professionals whose home income directly depends on flawless connectivity.
Who might justify a residential leased line:
• Day traders and financial professionals: Milliseconds of latency matter; internet outages mean missed opportunities
• Content creators and streamers: Professional YouTubers, Twitch streamers earning £100,000+ annually
• Senior executives: C-suite professionals working remotely who require enterprise-grade home connectivity
• Professional video editors: Working with 8K footage requiring massive symmetrical bandwidth
• Medical consultants: Conducting remote consultations requiring guaranteed connectivity
Typical residential leased line costs:
• 10-50 Mbps: £200-£400 monthly
• 100 Mbps: £400-£700 monthly
• Installation: £1,500-£5,000 (rarely waived for residential contracts)
More practical alternatives for remote workers:
1. FTTP (Full Fibre) Broadband: Modern 500 Mbps or 1 Gbps FTTP delivers 99% of users' needs at £40-£80 monthly
2. SOGEA/SOTAP: Single Order fibre products providing business-grade support without full leased line costs (£80-£150 monthly)
3. Business Broadband: Faster fix times than residential packages, priority support, at £80-£150 monthly
4. Dual-connection resilience: Primary FTTP plus 5G backup router (combined £100-£150 monthly)
Practical Advice: Unless your home-based income exceeds £80,000-£100,000 annually and depends entirely on internet connectivity, modern FTTP broadband with a 4G/5G backup connection provides sufficient resilience at 10% of the cost. Save the leased line budget for business premises where it genuinely belongs.
Selecting a leased line provider demands more rigorous evaluation than choosing consumer broadband—you're committing to a 36-month contract for a business-critical service where the provider's operational capabilities directly impact your organisation's productivity. Focus on SLA substance over marketing promises.
The Service Level Agreement is the contractual foundation of your leased line service—it defines what happens when things go wrong, not just what performance you can expect when everything works correctly. Many businesses skim SLAs and later discover critical exclusions or weak guarantees.
Essential SLA components to scrutinise:
1. Availability/Uptime Guarantee
• 99.9%: Allows 8.76 hours annual downtime (minimal standard)
• 99.95%: Allows 4.38 hours annual downtime (good)
• 99.99%: Allows 52.56 minutes annual downtime (excellent)
• 99.999%: Allows 5.26 minutes annual downtime (premium tier, expensive)
Critically: Check whether maintenance windows are excluded from SLA calculations. Some providers perform "planned maintenance" that doesn't count against uptime guarantees.
2. Target Fix Time The maximum time between fault reporting and service restoration:
• Standard: 8-12 hours
• Enhanced: 4-6 hours
• Premium: 2-4 hours
• Critical: 1-2 hours (typically enterprise-only)
Verify whether these are calendar hours or business hours. A "6-hour fix time" during business hours only is meaningless for a Friday evening fault that isn't addressed until Monday morning.
3. Financial Remedies for SLA Breaches What compensation do you receive when the provider fails to meet SLA commitments?
• Service credits: Typically one day of monthly charges per hour of downtime
• Pro-rata refunds: Proportional refund for downtime periods
• Penalty payments: Rare, but some enterprise SLAs include actual financial penalties
Warning: Many SLAs cap total annual compensation at 100% of monthly charges—meaning if you experience catastrophic downtime, your maximum recourse is waiving one month's bill.
4. Latency and Packet Loss Guarantees Beyond uptime, quality metrics matter:
• Latency: Typically guaranteed <15ms to UK internet exchange points
• Packet loss: Usually guaranteed <0.1%
• Jitter: Important for VoIP, typically <5ms variation
5. Support Response Times How quickly does the provider acknowledge and begin investigating faults?
• P1 (Critical): 15-30 minutes to initial response
• P2 (Major): 1-2 hours
• P3 (Minor): 4-8 hours
6. Exclusions and Caveats Read the fine print for exclusions such as:
• Force majeure events (floods, strikes, civil unrest)
• Third-party infrastructure failures
• Customer premises equipment issues
• Problems caused by customer actions
7. Proactive Monitoring Does the provider actively monitor circuit health and detect issues before you notice them? Premium providers offer 24/7 Network Operations Centre (NOC) monitoring.
Red flags in SLAs: Vague language ("best efforts", "reasonable endeavours"), no specific fix time commitments, exclusions covering most common fault scenarios, no financial remedies for SLA breaches, business hours only support for a 24/7 service.
Expert Recommendation: During the quotation process, request the actual SLA document—not marketing summaries. Have your IT team or technical advisor review it thoroughly. If the provider resists sharing the full SLA before purchase, this is a significant warning sign.
Successfully transitioning to a leased line requires methodical planning, realistic timeline expectations, and gathering comprehensive information before committing to a three-year contract worth £10,000-£50,000+. Follow this implementation checklist:
Phase 1: Needs Assessment (Week 1-2)
1. Audit current usage:
• Document peak internet usage times and activities
• Identify bottlenecks (slow uploads, video conferencing issues, VPN performance)
• Survey staff about connectivity frustrations
• Calculate actual bandwidth consumption using router analytics
2. Define requirements:
• Minimum acceptable speed (upload and download)
• Uptime requirements (can you tolerate any downtime?)
• Latency sensitivity of applications
• Number of concurrent users
• Growth projections over 3-5 years
3. Calculate downtime costs:
• Estimate hourly cost of internet outages to your business
• Factor in reputational impact and customer service disruption
• Determine your break-even point for leased line investment
Phase 2: Budgeting and Quotations (Week 3-6)
4. Set realistic budget:
• Installation costs: £500-£5,000
• Monthly service: £200-£2,000 depending on speed
• Total 36-month commitment
• Contingency for excess construction charges
5. Request multiple quotes:
• Obtain quotations from at least 3-5 providers
• Use comparison services (but speak directly with providers too)
• Provide exact premises postcode and building details
• Request formal SLA documents with each quote
6. Compare proposals carefully:
• Don't just look at monthly price—evaluate total cost of ownership
• Scrutinise SLA commitments, not marketing claims
• Verify installation lead times
• Check contract terms, early termination penalties
Phase 3: Site Survey and Contracting (Week 7-10)
7. Conduct site survey:
• Provider performs physical feasibility assessment
• Identifies cable routes, wayleave requirements
• Confirms lead time and any excess construction charges
• Some providers charge £200-£500 for surveys, credited if you proceed
8. Review final proposal:
• Ensure quote matches survey findings
• Clarify any excess construction charges discovered
• Verify installation timeline commitments
• Negotiate contract terms where possible
9. Plan implementation:
• Schedule installation during minimal business disruption
• Prepare premises (equipment room access, power, space for CPE)
• Plan cutover from existing connection
• Brief staff about installation process and timing
Phase 4: Installation and Migration (Week 11-20+)
10. Monitor installation progress:
• Typical 60-90 day lead time from order to service activation
• Stay engaged with account manager throughout process
• Address delays or issues promptly
11. Test thoroughly before cutover:
• Validate contracted speeds achieved
• Test all applications and services
• Run parallel with existing connection if possible
• Perform failover testing if deploying resilient configuration
12. Plan ongoing management:
• Designate internal points of contact for provider
• Document support procedures and escalation paths
• Schedule periodic reviews of circuit utilisation
• Monitor performance against SLA commitments
• "What is your average fix time for faults in practice, not just SLA commitment?"
• "Can I speak with existing customers in similar sectors?"
• "What happens if excess construction charges are discovered mid-project?"
• "Do you own the last-mile infrastructure or resell Openreach?"
• "What backup connectivity do you recommend for business continuity?"
• "What bandwidth utilisation triggers would suggest we need to upgrade?"
A leased line provides dedicated, uncontended bandwidth exclusively for your use, whilst fibre broadband shares infrastructure with other users (typically 20:1 to 50:1 contention ratio). This means leased line speeds are guaranteed 24/7 regardless of peak usage times, whereas broadband speeds fluctuate based on neighbourhood demand. Additionally, leased lines offer symmetrical upload and download speeds (e.g., 100 Mbps in both directions), whilst broadband is asymmetric with slower uploads. Finally, leased lines include business-grade Service Level Agreements with guaranteed fix times of 4-6 hours, compared to 24-72 hours for standard broadband. The trade-off is cost: leased lines typically cost 5-10 times more than equivalent-speed broadband.
Installation typically takes 60-90 days from order placement to service activation, though this varies significantly based on location and infrastructure availability. The process involves several stages: initial feasibility survey (1-2 weeks), formal quotation and contracting (1-2 weeks), physical installation scheduling (can wait 4-8 weeks), and actual installation work (1-3 days on-site). Urban locations with existing fibre infrastructure install faster, whilst rural sites or those requiring new ducting, wayleave agreements, or civil works can exceed 120 days. Some providers offer "quick start" programmes for premium customers or specific products, potentially reducing lead times to 30-45 days. Always factor installation time into your planning—if you need connectivity urgently, leased lines' lengthy provisioning is a significant limitation.
Yes, residential leased lines are technically available, but they're rarely cost-effective for home users—even those working remotely full-time. A home leased line typically costs £300-£700 monthly for 50-100 Mbps, plus £1,500-£5,000 installation charges, making the first-year cost £5,100-£13,400. This is justifiable only if your home income exceeds £80,000-£100,000 annually and depends entirely on internet connectivity (day traders, professional content creators, senior executives). For most remote workers, modern FTTP (Full Fibre to the Premises) broadband delivering 500 Mbps-1 Gbps at £40-£80 monthly provides 99% of the benefits at 10% of the cost. A more practical approach is combining FTTP with a 4G/5G backup router (£100-£150 total monthly) for resilience without the leased line premium.
When a leased line fault occurs, your Service Level Agreement (SLA) governs the provider's response obligations. Typical business-grade SLAs guarantee 4-6 hour fix times from fault reporting to service restoration, with some premium tiers offering 1-2 hour commitments. The process works as follows: you report the fault to 24/7 support, the provider's Network Operations Centre (NOC) investigates remotely, and if the issue is infrastructure-related (not your equipment), engineers are dispatched for on-site repair. If the provider breaches the SLA fix time, you're typically entitled to service credits (one day of monthly charges per hour of additional downtime). However, many businesses deploy diverse routing or dual-feed configurations where two physically separate leased lines from different providers enter your building via different routes, providing automatic failover if one circuit fails—eliminating downtime entirely but roughly doubling costs.
Your business likely needs a leased line if you're experiencing consistent connectivity problems that directly impact revenue, productivity, or customer service. Key indicators include: internet slowing during peak business hours (9am-5pm), poor video conferencing quality despite adequate broadband speed, inability to upload large files within reasonable timeframes, frequent complaints from remote workers about VPN performance, or cloud-based applications timing out or performing sluggishly. Calculate your downtime cost: if losing internet for one working day costs your business more than £5,000-£10,000 in lost productivity and revenue, the £400-£600 monthly leased line premium is justifiable insurance. Conversely, if your business functions adequately on current broadband, occasional evening slowdowns are tolerable, and downtime primarily means inconvenience rather than financial loss, you probably don't need a leased line yet—save the budget for when your operations genuinely require guaranteed connectivity.
At T2k, we specialise in helping UK businesses find the right connectivity solutions. Whether you're considering your first leased line or looking to upgrade existing infrastructure, our team provides impartial advice tailored to your specific requirements and budget.
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With over 25 years’ experience at T2k, Lee began his career as a telecoms engineer before progressing to Sales Director. He leverages his foundational technical knowledge to provide businesses with impartial, expert advice on modern communications, specialising in VoIP and cloud telephony. As a primary author for T2k, Lee is dedicated to demystifying complex technology for businesses of all sizes.
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