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What Does Contended Mean?

December 10, 2019 - by Jack Mitchell

What is contended internet? What does contended mean? While contention ratio is often overlooked as an important factor when choosing broadband, it is crucially important that businesses take it into consideration.

The contention ratio is the number of users sharing the same bandwidth and line. If the contention ratio is 50:1, 49 users other than yourself could be sharing bandwidth with you at any time. If the ratio is 1:1, only your business is using the line and therefore doesn’t have to share bandwidth.

Essentially, a contended line is a line shared between many properties, whereas an uncontended line (such as a leased line) is a line only used by one business. Why is contention such a big deal?

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    Why is the contention ratio important?

    The contention ratio is the ratio of potential maximum demand to the actual bandwidth. To households and domestic customers, the contention ratio isn’t a major consideration. For businesses, however, the contention ratio is a necessary consideration when selecting a broadband product.

    If you choose an internet circuit with a high contention ratio, you will struggle for bandwidth at peak times. This means your business won’t have the bandwidth it requires to do the most basic of things, such as uploading and downloading documents due to the amount of other businesses using the same line.

    If your business is reliant on superfast internet to operate efficiently, an internet circuit with a high contention ratio simply won’t meet your requirements.

    Which broadband solutions are uncontended?

    All but a few broadband solutions are contended. All the following are contended solutions:

    The best example of an uncontended circuit is a leased line. Leased lines and other ethernet-based connections, such as ethernet over fibre to the cabinet, are all designed with businesses in mind. Dedicated circuits are secure, offer your business guaranteed speeds and come with an SLA to ensure your connection is always up and running.

    Advantages of uncontended internet connections

    An uncontended internet solution is a necessity for most businesses. Here are some key advantages of choosing a dedicated internet circuit for your business.

    Symmetrical superfast speeds

    A leased line offers more than simply superfast speeds; it offers symmetrical download and upload speeds. This means you will be able to download and upload files at the same speed, which is rarely a possibility with most business broadband solutions.

    With superfast download and upload speeds, your dedicated circuit will enable your business to perform several functions such as video conferencing. With fast, dedicated internet, you will have a high-grade business connection that enables your business to perform efficiently consistently.

    Peace of mind

    A dedicated connection offers you peace of mind that you will always have a superfast line available to your business. Should the unexpected happen, we have SLAs in place that offer a guarantee that your network will be up and running again within a few hours.

    The leased line SLA that we offer is unmatched. No other circuit has the same level of guaranteed support should your business experience downtime. In fact, most internet circuits have no SLA at all. This means that if your connection was to drop, there isn’t any guarantee that your connection will be live again within a timely manner. No internet can have a devastating impact on a business reliant upon a strong internet connection.

    Uncontended

    An uncontended circuit will always offer your business high speeds, as you don’t share your line with anyone. With any other internet circuit, contention can have a big impact on the speeds available to your business, particularly at peak times. With a dedicated connection, you have the you pay for all the time.

    Does your business rely on its internet connection to operate? If it does, you need a dedicated circuit that will offer consistently high speeds. If you choose an unreliable contended circuit, you are putting the productivity of your business at risk.

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