ADSL

If you need a cheap solution and your internet demands are the bare minimum, ADSL could be suitable for your business.

ADSL is a good option if no alternative circuit is available, only one or two people will use it and you’ll only be using it to perform tasks such as sending emails.

How does ADSL work?

ADSL uses existing telephone lines to provide internet for businesses.

If you already have a telephone line installed, the installation of an asymmetric digital subscriber line is possible.

The 3 main ADSL benefits

While ADSL is not the best internet circuit, there are 3 main benefits you should know:

• Low cost circuit
• Circuit uses existing lines
• Available in most of UK

Low Cost Circuit

ADSL is a low-cost circuit, perfect if you have a tight budget and need a simple internet connection.

ADSL is the cheapest internet circuit available, making it suitable if your internet demands are low.

It Uses Existing Lines to Establish Connectivity

No additional infrastructure is required to establish your ADSL connection if you already have a telephone line installed.

ADSL connectivity is achieved using copper telephone lines, which most of the UK will already have in place. You won’t have to invest a penny in infrastructure to achieve connectivity with this circuit.

Available in Majority of the UK

Most of the UK will already have telephone lines; even rural areas. As a result, this means that ADSL is available to all businesses operating in the UK.

FTTC

FTTC is another low-cost internet circuit, yet it offers speeds superior to those achievable with an ADSL circuit.

Fibre to the cabinet combines fibre and copper cabling to create a circuit. Fibre cabling runs from the exchange to the roadside cabinet, after which data is carried over copper wiring into your building.

As data is primarily carried over fibre, high speeds are maintained from the exchange to the roadside cabinet. As the data only travels a short distance on copper, you can achieve greater speeds than a purely copper connection would allow.

3 reasons to choose FTTC

Here are 3 reasons to choose FTTC:

• Faster speeds than ADSL
• Still a low-cost solution
• Fibre makes up majority of the circuit

Faster Speeds Than ADSL

Fibre to the cabinet offers faster speeds than ADSL. Why?

The core reason that an FTTC connection is faster than an ADSL circuit is that fibre cabling makes up much of the circuit.

Fibre cabling carries data at a vastly increased speed than copper wiring, ensuring faster speeds with a primarily fibre circuit such as FTTC.

Still A Low-Cost Solution

When it comes to internet for businesses and the circuits available, FTTC is one of the cheapest options.

If your ADSL circuit is simply too slow and you need higher speeds, FTTC wouldn’t cost your business significantly more per month if you were to upgrade.

Fibre Makes Up the Majority of the Circuit

While copper completes this circuit, fibre makes up the majority of an FTTC circuit.

As we mentioned in the ADSL section, a copper line carries data from the exchange to your building. FTTC offers faster speed as data is carried over a much faster fibre line.

FTTP

Fibre to the premises is self-explanatory: a fibre line capable of superfast speeds straight from the local exchange to your building.

As a full fibre solution, incredible speeds can be achieved with this circuit, depending on factors such as contention and the SLAs in place.

If FTTP is available to your business, this is the internet circuit you should choose as a minimum. While a leased line is the best internet circuit for numerous factors, FTTP can be more affordable depending on the requirements of your business.

Why choose FTTP instead of ADSL and FTTC?

FTTP doesn’t cost much more than ADSL and FTTC, yet this circuit will achieve much higher speeds. Additionally, fibre to the premises normally has some SLAs, which are necessary if your business relies on its internet.

Here are just three FTTP benefits that make this internet circuit better than either FTTC or ADSL:

• Some SLAs
• High Speeds
• Affordable

Some SLAs Are Available

As a business-grade internet circuit, FTTP will have some SLAs in place.

Businesses need internet circuits that they can rely on to be operational. With service level agreements in place guaranteeing fixes and repairs in a certain period of time, you know you can rely on your fibre to the cabinet internet circuit.

FTTP Provides Incredible Speeds

Whereas ADSL offers speeds of around 20Mbps down, a fibre circuit can achieve download speeds of up to 1Gbps.

Contention means that ADSL is far from a suitable option for virtually every business, whereas a fibre circuit should provide high speeds regardless.

FTTP Is Available Cost-Effectively

Fibre to the premises is affordable, particularly when you consider how superior it is to other circuits such as FTTC and G.fast.

When you choose Optionbox, FTTP is typically priced at less than £100 per month!

Leased Lines

A leased line is the ultimate internet circuit; the very best circuit available for a business of any size.

A leased line is a bidirectional circuit between two locations. Unlike every other internet circuit, a leased line is uncontended. As an uncontended circuit, you don’t share the line with anyone else. Why is this so beneficial for businesses?

• Guaranteed Speeds
• No Contention
• Dedicated Fibre

A full fibre circuit dedicated to the usage of your business; a leased line is necessary for businesses that rely on the internet to operate.

Why is a leased line the best choice?

A leased line won’t cost you much more than any other internet circuit available, with the extra investment required more than worth it.

A leased line is a brilliant business internet circuit for a great range of reasons. Here are just a few examples:

• You Choose Your Speed
• There Are A Wide Range of SLAs
• Your Leased Line Scales with You
• This Circuit Is Uncontended
• 99.9% Uptime Is Guaranteed

You Choose Your Speed

A leased line is dedicated to the use of your business. Because of this, you are able to choose the speed that meets the requirements of your business.

Whether you want 10Gbps or 50Mbps, you choose. Also, a leased line will offer symmetrical speeds. This means your download and upload speed will be identical all the time.

There Are A Wide Range of SLAs

Leased lines are business grade, and suppliers know how crucial it is for businesses to have an internet circuit that they can rely on.

There are numerous leased line service level agreements in place, such as:

• Speed guarantees
• Uptime assurances
• Repair time agreements

The above list is just three examples of the SLAs in place when you choose a leased line for your business.

SLAs offer the peace of mind you require if your business will rely on the circuit that you choose.

Your Leased Line Scales with You

A leased line is dedicated to your business’s use, meaning you will have an internet circuit that will scale with you.

Depending on the bearer that you choose, the speeds you get can go up and down as the requirements of your business change.

If you are unsure on the speeds that you’d require, you can book a free consultation to speak to one of our technical experts. Our technical team are happy to advise on the circuit and speeds that would meet the needs of your business best.

This Circuit Is Uncontended

A leased line is the only uncontended internet circuit. No matter what circuit you choose, all other than a leased line will be shared between you and other businesses.

The benefits of an uncontended circuit are notable. Your internet speed can be guaranteed with an uncontended circuit. Gone are the days of ‘up to’ speeds, because you get to decide the speeds you enjoy. Additionally, speeds won’t differ; you’ll get the full superfast fibre experience no matter the time of day.

99.9% Uptime Is Guaranteed

Without uptime SLAs, you never know when your internet could stop working and how long for. If your internet connection is necessary for your business to operate, you need guaranteed uptime; it isn’t just a minor added benefit.

With a leased line, 99.9% uptime is guaranteed, with 4-hour fix times also assured. What this means is if downtime is experienced, you’ll have peace of mind that your connection will be restored in a matter of hours.

You don’t get uptime or fix time guarantees with any other circuit, which is why a leased line is an absolute essential.