Yorkshire Broadband: Which Broadband Type Is Best?

In any situation, a leased line is the best internet circuit.

Leased lines are premium business-grade internet circuits offering the very best speeds and ultimate reliability. While a leased line will cost your business more than any other circuit, the extra cost is far outweighed by the benefits such as SLAs and guaranteed speeds.

If your business is operating on a small budget, a slightly cheaper solution such as FTTP would suffice while still offering superfast speeds.

While we would always recommend FTTP, wireless leased lines or standard leased lines, these solutions aren’t available to all businesses in Yorkshire. If you want to find out which broadband solutions are available to you, we can perform a free availability check.

Here’s our guide to the different types of broadband available to Yorkshire businesses.

ADSL

ADSL followed traditional dial-up connections and is the internet circuit that has been around for the longest.

ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) achieves connectivity using copper telephone lines. Unlike with dial-up, ADSL allows you to perform voice calls whilst staying connected to the internet.

Approximately 99% of the country have access to ADSL; it’s the most widely available business broadband solution in the UK. Unless you live in an incredibly remote part of Yorkshire, this circuit will be available to you.

Here are a selection of ADSL benefits and downsides to be aware of:

Advantages:

• Cost-Effective
• Widely Available
• Existing Infrastructure

Disadvantages:

• Poor Speeds
• Antiquated Lines
• No SLAs
• Substantial Contention

Advantages

Cost-Effective

ADSL is a basic connectivity solution, providing a way to connect to the internet and nothing more. Because of this, it is a cost-effective internet circuit affordable for every single business.

If you require an internet circuit suitable for light browsing or checking your emails a few times a day, ADSL is a cost-effective choice that could meet your needs.

Widely Available

ADSL has been around for a long time, meaning it is widely available in the UK. ADSL is available to 99% of the UK, so it’s probable that this internet circuit is an option for your business.

While ADSL isn’t the fastest internet circuit, it would at least provide you with a connection if faster solutions are unavailable.

Existing Infrastructure

ADSL uses telephone lines. If you already have a telephone system of some sort, your business is already equipped with the infrastructure required for an ADSL connection.

With the existing infrastructure, installation expenses are reduced and establishing your connection will not take as long. This is beneficial if you quickly require an internet connection for your business.

Disadvantages

Poor speeds

ADSL offers poor speeds, particularly when compared with FTTP and leased lines. An asymmetric digital subscriber line is a copper circuit, and copper circuits cannot support high speeds.

While download speeds are superior to upload speeds, even the download speeds are slow. For example, ADSL will offer maximum speeds of up to 24Mbps downstream. On the other hand, FTTP offers speeds of up to 1000Mbps downstream.

Antiquated Lines

While ADSL is still one of the most popular internet circuits, it uses antiquated copper lines. Copper circuits will never offer fast speeds, particularly when you take contention into account.

The British government is working towards creating a full fibre United Kingdom where copper circuits are no longer used. As a result, ADSL circuits are not future-proof and won’t stand the test of time for your business.

No SLAs

Because of the nature of ADSL circuits, there are no service level agreements in place. With no service level agreements, there are no speed or uptime guarantees in place.

If your internet circuit suddenly stopped working, there are no guarantees that your internet will work again in a timely manner. If your business relies on the internet, this could cause serious issues if the internet was to drop or become slow.

Substantial Contention

ADSL is a slow circuit. There are factors that can reduce the speeds you receive even further, such as contention.

With all internet circuits other than leased lines, several users will share the same broadband line. When users are sharing the data capacity of the line, the speeds you enjoy will be reduced when other businesses are using the line.

Copper circuits provide low speeds as it is without the impact of contention, so ADSL isn’t a reliable broadband choice for businesses.

FTTC

FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) combines superfast fibre and traditional copper lines to create a solution faster than ADSL. With FTTC, fibre optic cable runs from the local exchange to a roadside cabinet. From the roadside cabinet, a standard copper line delivers connectivity to a property.

Fibre to the cabinet is widely available, with approximately 95% coverage achieved in the UK. FTTC is likely available to your business if you are based in a highly populated area, whether it be a city or a major village.

Here are the main advantages and disadvantages of FTTC:

Advantages

• Widely Available
• Cost-Effective
• Primarily Fibre Connection

Disadvantages

• Copper ‘Last Mile’
• Contention
• No SLAs

Advantages

Widely Available

While FTTC is a step up from ADSL, it is also widely available. Most businesses will have access to FTTC, which provides speeds superior to those available with ADSL connections.

Approximately 95% of properties in the UK can enjoy speeds of up to 80Mbps with a fibre to the cabinet internet circuit. If you want to find out if it’s available to you, find out for free with our availability checker service.

Cost-Effective

FTTC is similarly priced to ADSL although it offers far superior speeds. This internet circuit allows multiple users to perform tasks such as uploading and downloading documents regularly.

With 95% availability across the country, it is likely that fibre and copper cabling is already installed at or nearby your building. Inevitably, this reduces upfront installation costs.

Primarily Fibre Connection

An FTTC circuit combines copper and fibre optic cable to enable connectivity. Fibre optic cables run from the exchange to the roadside cabinet, with only a short section of copper used to deliver connectivity to your property.

It is helpful that fibre is primarily used to achieve connectivity because fibre keeps speed far better than copper lines. Ultimately, this means that you will enjoy superior speeds.

Disadvantages

Copper ‘Last Mile’

FTTC utilises the existing copper infrastructure to establish connectivity with your property, which is helpful in some respects. For example, this reduces upfront installation costs. That means copper is the ‘last mile’ of this circuit.

The data transfer rate of a copper line is much less than fibre optic cabling, so the speeds you could achieve drastically lower when the line changes from fibre to copper. If you want the very best speeds for your business, you need a full fibre internet circuit, such as FTTP.

Contention

FTTC isn’t a dedicated internet circuit, so contention will still impact the speeds you’ll receive. Contention ratios differ from area to area, but it’s important to remember that you will share bandwidth with other businesses in the area. As a result, you will rarely achieve the 80Mbps downstream speeds advertised.

If your business relies on internet and needs a certain guaranteed speed, FTTC isn’t the best choice because of contention. While 80Mbps downstream might be suitable if you always achieved those speeds, there are no SLAs that guarantee you will.

No SLAs

FTTC only uses a short run of copper, ensuring it is more reliable than ADSL. However, FTTC is still far less stable than FTTP or a leased line.

FTTC is not provided with a service level agreement because of its unreliability, meaning no guaranteed uptime or guaranteed speeds. As a result, it is worth considering whether your business can truly rely on a fibre to the cabinet internet circuit.

FTTP

FTTP is a reliable, full fibre internet circuit. It offers speeds of up to 1000Mbps downstream, which is far faster than the data transfer rates offered by FTTC and ADSL.

Fibre to the premises is a fibre connection running from the exchange directly to your business. A pure fibre internet circuit, you’ll never have to worry about slow data transfer rates and attenuation ever again.

FTTP is only available to a small number of businesses in Yorkshire. Unfortunately, it isn’t available to all companies as Openreach is yet to install fibre cabling across the entirety of Yorkshire and the rest of the UK. Get your free broadband availability report today and we’ll inform you of which internet circuits are available at your location.

Here are the main advantages and disadvantages of fibre to the premises:

Advantages:

• Superfast Speeds
• SLAs Included
• Future-Proof

Disadvantages:

• Availability
• Installation Time

Advantages

Superfast Speeds

A full fibre internet circuit such as FTTP offers your business downstream speeds of up to 1Gbps. If your business requires superfast data transfer rates, FTTP or a leased line are the only suitable options.

A full fibre connection between the exchange and your property ensures you always receive the greatest speeds on offer. With no copper making up part of the circuit, there is nothing to slow down the speeds you receive.

SLAs Included

Service level agreements come as a standard when you choose FTTP broadband. It guarantees you a certain level of uptime and service restoration during a certain time period.

A service level agreement allows you to rest assured that your internet circuit will remain operational and any outages will be corrected in a certain time period. This is essential if your business relies on the internet to operate. Have you ever experienced an internet outage and then realised how much your business relies on having internet access? If you have, you need an internet circuit with an SLA, such as FTTP.

Future-Proof

The government is dedicated to creating a full fibre Britain, where fibre connections are available to all homes and businesses. Evidently, this suggests that copper connections are no longer future-proof and the antiquated technology will no longer be used.

If you choose a fibre connection now, it removes the need to upgrade soon. You will have an internet circuit that you can rely on for years to come, with sustained superfast speeds.

Disadvantages

Availability

FTTP is available to less than 20% of the UK at the time of writing. FTTP won’t be available to you unless you are located in a highly populated area of Yorkshire.

Openreach are rapidly installing fibre lines across the entire country because there is a significant demand for superfast internet. In a few years, fibre to the premises will be available to you if it isn’t already.

Find out if FTTP is available to you with our free availability check. With a few details, we can inform you which internet circuits are available at your address.

Installation Time

Setting up a fibre connection inevitably takes longer than setting up a copper circuit in most cases. Most copper circuits will use existing telephone lines, so you won’t need any additional infrastructure. If you want a fibre connection, fibre infrastructure will need to be installed at your location.

Installing FTTP will probably take longer than installing ADSL or FTTC. However, FTTP will service your business better for years to come, particularly when you consider fibre connections are the future.

Leased Lines

A leased line is the fastest, securest and most dependable internet circuit available. If your business is reliant on the internet to operate, a leased line can boost your business significantly and provide you with a truly future-proof connection.

A leased line is a direct, uncontended connection between the exchange and your property. This is the only internet circuit with guaranteed superfast speeds because it is the only uncontended connection.

A dedicated line such as this is entirely fibre, allowing for guaranteed bandwidth and no speed drop off whatsoever. In addition, data transfer rate is symmetric with a leased line, meaning your download and upload speed is exactly the same at all times.

Here are the most notable advantages and disadvantages of a leased line connection:

Advantages:

• Guaranteed Superfast Speeds
• Comprehensive SLAs
• Secure

Disadvantages:

• Cost
• Wait Times

Guaranteed Superfast Speeds

A leased line will offer transmission speeds ranging from 20Mbps to 10Gbps upstream and downstream depending on the package that you select.

As a leased line is dedicated for your business’s use, you select the bandwidth and therefore have ultimate control over the speeds you receive. If you are downloading a vast number of files or uploading large amounts of data, guaranteed speeds are crucial.

Comprehensive SLAs

If you have an ADSL connection and your broadband goes down, your business could go without an internet connection for days. This could be devastating for a business that cannot operate efficiently without the internet.

Every leased line has a service level agreement that guarantees a high-quality service. This agreement also assures that connectivity problems will be corrected within a certain period.

An SLA protects your business and ensures your business has an internet circuit that you can always rely on. You need to guarantee that your business can operate efficiently 100% of the time, so why choose an internet circuit without a service level agreement?

Secure

A leased line is the securest of all internet circuits available because it is a direct link between your business and the exchange. Your circuit is not shared with any other business or property, so you’ll have the ultimate solution in terms of security.

With the right router and firewall, your business will not face the security risks of a contended connection. You are protected from any potential dangers.

Disadvantages

Cost

For a business-grade internet circuit dedicated for the use of your business, there is inevitably extra cost involved. How much does a leased line cost?

Leased line prices differ depending on a range of important factors, so prices can differ greatly. For example, these details can impact the price of your dedicated connection:

• Bandwidth required
• Speed required
• Distance from exchange
• Your location

Leased lines are becoming cheaper year on year. Over the last five years, leased line prices have dramatically fallen regardless of the above factors. As the UK’s fibre network grows, the price of leased lines will continue to fall more in line with the other circuits available.

Wait Times

Installing a leased line takes longer than any other internet circuit because the installation process is far more complex. Installing a standard ADSL connection is normally simple because telephone lines are already installed. With a leased line, a new circuit likely needs to be installed to establish connectivity.

Your building and the exchange need a direct fibre connection for a leased line, so the infrastructure required for such a line will need to be installed. Planning and the actual installing of a fibre line will take time, so you need to keep that in mind when deciding whether this circuit is for you.

While the prolonged installation period of a leased line is frustrating, you will have a cost-effective, future-proof internet circuit that will meet the requirements of your business for decades to come. There is no better circuit available in terms of service and future proofing.

Superfast Yorkshire Broadband: Other Solutions

There are other superfast Yorkshire broadband solutions than those mentioned above, such as

• Wireless leased lines
• Mobile broadband

A wireless leased line offers the speeds of a leased line without the installation of an actual circuit. As a result, this superfast solution can be up and running in a short time, particularly when compared with a traditional leased line. The main downside of a wireless leased line is the limited transmission distance. Data can only be transmitted wirelessly over a limited distance of a few miles, so you need to be located close to our mast to have a wireless line provided by us.

Mobile broadband won’t provide you with superfast speeds, but it will provide you with an internet connection. If you need access to the internet without high speeds, mobile broadband would provide you with a basic solution.

FREE Availability Check

We can perform an availability check for your Yorkshire business completely free of charge. Our availability check will inform you of which internet circuits are available to your business and whether they would suit your particular requirements or not. Fill in the contact form below for your free of charge check today.

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