A leased line is a data connection that is dedicated to a specific business or house in the local area. It provides businesses with a reliable, high quality internet connection with guaranteed upload and download speeds, uptime, and resilience.

“Leased” refers to the connection that is rented out from the internet service provider directly to the user. This results in a service above and beyond what standard broadband provides. Leased lines usually have distinctive characteristics, these are:

• Symmetrical – leased lines must be symmetrical, meaning they provide the same upload and download speed.
• Uncontended – in order to guarantee fast internet speeds, leased lines provide an uncontended connection which are not shared with other users.
• Point to point – it is a direct link between the internet service provider and the business location.

There are a number of reasons you and your business should use a leased line instead of a typical broadband connection. Firstly, you get a better service level agreement with leased lines. Any network faults will be fixed in double quick time because your leased line will come with an SLA that typically states that any line rentals are refunded if the user experiences extended periods of downtime.

Additionally, a leased line offers symmetrical bandwidth. This means your upload and download speeds are exactly the same. This may not sound relevant, but it’s extremely important because broadband connections prioritise download speeds, which can limit your ability to upload data. With a symmetrical bandwidth connection, both your upload and download speeds are fast, allowing you to send large emails or documents, answer VoIP phone calls, and make video conferencing calls without any disruption.

Uncontended bandwidth offered by leased lines means you will never be disrupted by peak internet usage times since you do not share the same connection with other users. Broadband offers the same connection to multiple users in an area, this results in users contending for fast internet speeds, often negatively effecting their connection, upload, and download speeds.

There are a number of other benefits that leased lines offer, this includes:

• No data restrictions
• Ideal for working across multiple locations
• Extremely reliable and flexible
• 24/7 support from expert team

The time to install a leased line varies depending on many factors, but it mainly depends on what local infrastructure is already in place. A site survey is carried out for leased line installations which provide a reasonable indication of how long an installation may take. However, there is never a guaranteed delivery date because multiple parties are required to work together during the installation process. Having said this, you will often be told by the provider that it will take 45 to 90 working days. If the time to install will cause you issues, you should ask your internet service provider if they can give you any interim connectivity to your site.