We're big fans of broadband at Yoozoom. We offer a range of flexible business broadband packages, after all.

But broadband can only take you so far. If your business is growing quickly, or you rely heavily on internet access, it might be time to think about upgrading to a leased line.

Look at it this way. If business broadband was a car, it would be a family hatchback – practical, reliable, and nippy enough to get you from A to B in a reasonable amount of time.

But then your company becomes more successful. You're no longer driving around sleepy suburban streets – you're in the Indy 500.

Obviously, that hatchback isn't going to get you very far. You need a car that's built for speed and reliability. You need a leased line.

But when should you push the button and get the upgrade? How do you know that you've left those suburban streets behind and hit the big league?

That's what we're here to tell you. But first, let's see what's under the bonnet…

What's the difference between leased line and broadband connections?

If you've used broadband at home, you'll already be familiar with how business broadband works. It's basically the same thing, with a few business-friendly features thrown in.

Long story short, you get a decently fast connection that's shared between other subscribers in your area. This is fine, most of the time. But the downside is that you're at the mercy of usage spikes – as more people log on, speeds decrease across the board.

A leased line, on the other hand, gives you blazing speeds and an uncontested connection. It's essentially a direct link between your business premises and the internet. This means you can enjoy a consistent connection speed, no matter what other local internet users are doing.

In addition, leased lines are typically much more reliable, and offer symmetrical upload and download speeds. (No more waiting hours for those big documents to upload…)

Leased line versus broadband speed

Just how much faster is a leased line?

Magnitudes faster. If it were a race, a leased line would have crossed the finished line and found time to nip to the shops before broadband had shifted out of first gear.

But that's all talk. Let's consider some real-world examples.

Broadband comes in several flavours, but we can ignore the slowest of them – most modern businesses will need a fibre connection to guarantee the speeds they need.

So with fibre broadband, you've got two options – fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP). The former takes those fast fibre cables to the local telephone cabinet. The latter takes them directly to your HQ and is therefore faster.

According to Ofcom, FTTC connections offered an average download speed of 42.6 megabits per second (Mbps) in 2021, while FTTP connections managed 145.4 Mbps.

Leased lines, on the other hand, can deliver speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps). Remember: one gigabit equals 1,000 megabits!

Now let's compare against those fibre speeds. Operating at full capacity, leased lines would be nearly 70 times faster than the average FTTP connection and an incredible 234 times faster than FTTC.

Forget that "hatchback versus racecar" comparison. This is like pitting a space rocket against a Reliant Robin.

When should I upgrade? Five questions to ask yourself

1. What speed do I need?

As we've seen, leased lines are like greased lightning compared to even the fastest types of broadband. If your connection speed is stopping you from getting stuff done, it might be time to treat your business to a dedicated leased line.

2. Is my broadband reliable enough?

Broadband isn't unreliable. We know the market, and we only ever recommend business broadband packages that deliver exceptional reliability. However, they are affected by local internet usage, so your speed might suffer during peak times.

Leased lines, meanwhile, promise consistent speeds 24/7, and are typically backed by service level agreements (SLAs) that guarantee a reliable connection. Our leased lines have a 99.99% uptime guarantee – you get a full day's credit for each hour of downtime, starting from the very first hour!

3. How much do I rely on the internet?

Different businesses have different needs. If you're a small team that just needs to check emails and maybe watch the occasional YouTube video during lunch breaks, you'll probably be fine with a broadband connection. However, this is unlikely to be the case if your company delivers internet services, or relies heavily on cloud platforms. In these situations, even SMEs could benefit from the speed and reliability of a leased line.

4. How many staff use my internet connection?

Remember: your connection is shared between all employees in your office. As new staff join, each takes another slice of the pie. If your business is growing, there'll come a point when there's not enough tasty broadband pie to go around. You can take that as a clear sign that it's time to upgrade.

5. What's my budget?

Cold, hard truth time: leased lines are a fair bit more expensive than broadband. With a leased line, you're getting a significant boost in speed and reliability. And, as with all good things, you have to pay for the privilege.

Remember, though, that leased lines have the potential to boost your productivity too – especially if you're struggling with slow or unreliable broadband. In our modern, web-reliant world, a faster connection speed more or less equates to a faster rate of working.

Leased lines unlock more potential for growth, too. So while a leased line might cost more in the short term, it could be the decision that shoots your business into the stratosphere.

What next?

If you're in the market for broadband or a dedicated leased line… you're in luck! We offer bespoke business internet packages at competitive rates, backed by our five-star-rated service. 

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