Managed
Leased Circuits

What are leased lines?

A leased line is a dedicated, fixed-bandwidth data connection. It allows data-hungry businesses to have a reliable, high-quality internet connection with guarantees of upload and download speed, uptime and resilience. “Leased” refers to the connection which is rented by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) directly to a business, resulting in a service above and beyond what standard broadband provides. Leased lines usually have these distinctive characteristics:

Symmetrical

Leased lines must be symmetrical. This means they have the same upload and download speed.

Uncontended

Leased lines are  – by definition – uncontended connections, not shared with other users.

Point to point

They connect two points together, eg the ISP with a business location.

We’re all familiar with a standard internet connection. We get home, connect our phone, tablet or TV and start to stream, browse or download content. But when everyone in your area is doing the same thing, this can slow down the connection. This is because these connections are “contended” – bandwidth is shared amongst the users of a local area.

With a dedicated leased line, the bandwidth you require has been given to you and only you have access to it. This means that your connection won’t be hampered by peak times throughout the day.

If you own or run your own business, you’ll already be aware of the impact slow internet connections can have. Downloading or sending large files, VoIP conference calls – all can be interrupted by a poor internet connection.