Different Types of Fibre Broadband

There isn’t just one type of fibre broadband available to businesses; there are several types available. The main types of fibre broadband available to businesses are:

• Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC)
• Fibre to the premises (FTTP)

These two types of fibre differ greatly, but both offer several benefits to the businesses using them. Here’s each type explained in more detail.

FTTC – Fibre to the Cabinet

Fibre to the cabinet is the most widely available fibre internet circuit available to UK businesses. According to Broadband Genie, 95% of the UK can get FTTC with speeds of 30Mbps or more. With that oin mind, if you’re still using a non-fibre connection, it is highly likely that a faster solution is available to you. If you’re unsure whether faster internet is available, find out with our free availability check here.

How does fibre to the cabinet work? Fibre optic cables run from the telephone exchange to street cabinets. You’ll have seen these cabinets plenty of times – they’re typically green and you’ll see them on any street in the UK. Standard copper telephone wires connect the street cabinet and your building.

Fibre optic cables enable superfast data transfer rates. If you’re close to the roadside cabinet, this means your business should have superfast speeds regardless of the ‘copper last mile’.

FTTP – Fibre to the Premises

Fibre to the premises fibre broadband is one of the fastest broadband types available to UK businesses. FTTP is a full fibre connection available to some businesses in the UK, although availability is currently limited.

FTTP is significantly faster than fibre to the cabinet. This is primarily because fibre optic cables run directly to your property from the exchange. No copper cabling is used as part of this connection, ensuring the very best speeds available.

While FTTC offers speeds of up to 80Mbps at best, fibre to the premises broadband services can offer speeds of up to 1Gbps. Would your business struggle to operate without superfast, reliable broadband? If the answer’s yes, fibre to the premises could be the best broadband type for your business.

FTTC or FTTP: Which Broadband Is Best for Business?

For most businesses, FTTP is the best broadband service available. However, the best broadband service for your business might be different, depending on several factors, such as:

• How much you use the internet
• The number of staff you employ
• The nature of your business

Price is always an important consideration when deciding which broadband service is best for your business. The price difference between FTTC and FTTP is negligible when you consider how much better fibre to the premises is. On average, FTTP will cost your business £40 more per month than FTTC. Consider the SLAs in place, the impressive speeds, and the much-increased reliability. Is £40 per month extra really that important when you can enjoy all these added benefits?

Depending on where your business is based, there may be broadband voucher schemes available to you. For example, businesses based in the Leeds City Region can apply for the Connectivity+ Voucher. This grant gives your business up to £3,000 towards installing superfast internet. This voucher can cover the costs of installation, as well as the hardware and software required for connection. This makes otherwise unaffordable broadband affordable for all businesses. If you’d like to find out more, we offer a free, no-obligation consultation where we’ll explain all the grants available to your company.

How long would your business continue to be productive without the internet? If your business would struggle, FTTP is the business broadband you should choose. If you use the internet lightly and could operate without it, a fibre to the cabinet connection would more than suffice (depending on your distance from the roadside cabinet).

Why Is Business Broadband More Expensive?

If you have a look at both business and home broadband, you’ll notice that home broadband is often cheaper. However, this doesn’t mean you should set up home broadband for your business. There are several very important reasons that business broadband costs more than home broadband.

The primary reason that business broadband is more expensive than home broadband is the difference in technical support offered. With business broadband, you have a far higher level of technical support than home broadband. Internet providers usually have support guarantees in place that determine how quickly problems with your broadband will be fixed.
With home broadband, the problem is fixed whenever providers can fix the issue. This could be a couple of days, but it could be much longer. If you’re using your broadband for more than just leisure, it’s important to have guaranteed technical support available.

A lost internet connection at home is annoying. Particularly when you’re halfway through a Netflix binge or a long gaming session! However, a lost internet connection can be devastating for a business. That’s why business broadband is a must, even if it costs a little more.

Business broadband packages typically offer greater speeds than home broadband services. The average broadband speed in the UK is around 16Mbps, according to Simply Switch. Business broadband services offer much higher speeds than this, usually ranging from 80Mbps to 1Gbps.

If your business relies on its broadband, high speeds are a necessity. You need broadband that’s always up and supports the smooth operation of your business.

Although this depends on the connection type you choose, business broadband usually offers greater upload speeds when compared with home broadband. Does your business often have to upload large files, or conduct video conferences? Do you have to upload videos to platforms such as YouTube? If your business must do any of these things, you’ll appreciate how important high upload speeds are.

Is It Worth Getting Fibre Broadband?

The answer to this question will always be the same, no matter the size of your business and how much you use the internet. Is it worth getting fibre broadband? Yes!

Fibre broadband offers greater speeds and greater reliability – essential for all businesses. Business fibre broadband packages also include technical support, meaning you’ll have an expert on the case immediately in the unlikely occurrence of your business experiencing issues.

Upgrading to fibre broadband is more important than ever, particularly now BT have announced the upcoming PSTN/ISDN switch-off. As part of the switch-off, broadband using the traditional copper telephone lines will no longer be available. If you know you’re using broadband utilising the copper network, you should be looking at upgrading as soon as possible.

Which Fibre Broadband Is Available to My Business?

Want to know which fibre broadband connections are available to your business? Find out with our FREE, no-obligation availability check.

Contact us for a free availability check and one of our friendly team will find out which fibre broadband connections are available to your business. Get in touch today to see whether your business can upgrade now!