You might have heard the term leased line been thrown about and wondered what it means. You might already know, in which case, not quite sure why you’re here. A leased line can be an amazing help to your business that can help you increase your efficiency and output.
So what actually is a leased line?
You could simply take your office phone back home provided you have an Ethernet port that can provide you with the internet you need for the phone to run. This phone will work in the exact same way it would at the office in your internal systems. You retain all the functionality and can make calls inside your network with ease.
A leased line is a direct connection between two endpoints with no interruption. In terms of business this relates to internet. Do you find your internet dropping at peak times of the day? This is because you share a line with other people. I know, it’s terrible. And when more people are on their internet it slows yours down. A leased line, however, is a direct hookup to your internet service provider and as such will not experience this type of fluctuations in speed.
Is a leased line right for me?
Well, leased lines sound amazing, don’t they? There is one major problem with them. They are expensive. Like, super expensive!!! If you are a business that doesn’t rely on a stable internet connection then you don’t need a leased line. These are specialist lines that are for companies that NEED to have a connection that will not drop. A call centre that uses VoIP technology for communication will need something like this.
What are the advantages of a leased line?
As I’ve already covered, they are super reliable and will not vary with the amount of internet usage from other outside companies. This is a big up side as you will not have those frustrating times when you can’t access an internet based service at your busiest part of the day.
You have some variance for the speed you want from your internet service provider, but you have access to higher speeds. Also, as I have already mentioned a few times, you are going to operate at this speed nearly all the time.
Another advantage for a business is that these lines are more private and secure than traditional lines. This means that you don’t need to be as worried about cyber attacks. You hugely increase the difficulty of people who are trying to access your systems through a backdoor.
Are there disadvantages to a leased line?
Now, I might’ve already mentioned this one a few times BUT it’s very expensive. Cheaper in city centres and built up areas where it’s on the very edge end of affordable. If you are not right in the city centre, it’s going to go up astronomically. However, one you have the line the actual data is cheaper than on a standard line so increasing the bandwidth not where the bills are going to start piling up.
A leased line is not for someone who wants to get moving immediately. It requires months of work to install as it is a newly routed line. This also drives up the installation cost of the line. However if you have time to plan your new office or can find a short term solution while getting the leased line installed then you should be able to manage.
There is something that could be seen as either an advantage or a disadvantage when you look at it. As a leased line does not connect through the traditional phone lines you do not receive a telephone number with a leased line. Now you may be a FTSE 100 company that doesn’t need a physical phone number as you have a national one. If you are a smaller company sometimes an attached phone line and number that comes with a broadband is helpful.
