A leased line is a dedicated internet connection with reserved bandwidth, usually with the same upload and download speed and a contractual service level agreement (SLA). Business broadband is shared with other customers and is usually best-effort, and fibre is the cable type that either can run over. A small office should choose by what an hour of downtime costs, how much it uploads, and how many people depend on the link at the same time.
Who this is for
This is for office managers and owners who are comparing quotes for an office of roughly 5 to 50 people and are not sure whether to pay for a leased line. By the end you will understand the three terms, have a comparison table, know which questions to put to providers, and have a simple way to decide. Prices vary a lot by city and provider, so this article does not quote any; ask each provider for a written quote.
Three terms that get mixed up
| Term | What it describes |
|---|---|
| Leased line | A service: a dedicated connection with capacity reserved for you |
| Business broadband | A service: a shared connection sold to businesses, often with better support terms than home plans |
| Fibre | A medium: the glass cable that carries the signal |
The medium and the service are separate choices. Broadband can be delivered over fibre and still be shared with other customers. A leased line is typically delivered over fibre, but the key feature is that the capacity is yours alone, which providers call dedicated or uncontended.
Contention
Contention means how many customers share the same capacity. Airtel's business article describes a leased line as "dedicated, uncontended" bandwidth and broadband as shared and contended, giving "up to 50 users" sharing the same bandwidth as an example rather than a fixed figure. In practice, shared connections can slow down when neighbours are busy, whereas a dedicated line does not share its capacity. The exact sharing ratio depends on the provider and plan, so ask for it.
Symmetric speed
On a symmetric connection, upload and download rates match. Broadband upload usually lags behind download. That matters if you upload large files, run backups to the cloud, host video meetings with many participants or use remote desktop.
Comparison for a small office
The table below follows the points an Indian provider publishes in its own comparison, and is therefore a provider view. Treat the figures as claims to verify in your own quote.
| Factor | Leased line | Business broadband |
|---|---|---|
| Bandwidth | Dedicated, uncontended | Shared and contended |
| Upload and download | Matching | Uploads usually slower |
| Latency | Described as low and consistent | Described as higher and variable |
| Uptime and SLA | Contractual guarantee; the provider's article says typically 99.9 percent or more | Described as best-effort with no guarantees |
| Installation | Longer lead time, with a site survey; the provider's article gives 30 to 90 days | Faster setup on existing infrastructure |
| Cost | Higher monthly fee and one-time installation charges | Lower monthly fee |
| Typical use | Linking sites, mission-critical applications, high-volume online sales | Lighter, less critical workloads where best-effort service is acceptable |
The same provider argues that the total cost of broadband can be higher once downtime and troubleshooting are counted. That is an argument, not a rule; it depends on how often your connection fails and how costly an outage is for you.
Lead times vary between providers, and what counts as "broadband" also varies. A plan sold as business broadband may include a static IP, faster repair commitments or a higher contention tier. Read the plan, not the label.
Matching the connection to your office
Ask these questions in order.
- What does an hour of downtime cost? If staff cannot take orders, process payments or reach cloud software, the cost can be high. If work can continue offline, it is lower.
- How much do you upload? Cloud backup, large design files, video recording or hosting a server push upload demand up.
- How many people use video calls and cloud apps at once? Add up simultaneous users rather than total staff.
- Do you host anything? A website, a camera system accessed remotely, a VPN gateway or a server benefits from a static IP and symmetric speeds.
- Do you have a backup link? Many small offices combine a main link with a second, cheaper link from a different provider. A router that supports two connections can switch when the main one fails.
- How soon do you need it? A leased line takes time to install. Plan ahead of an office move.
Rough guidance
| Situation | Reasonable starting point |
|---|---|
| Small team, mostly browsing, email and a few video calls, downtime is an annoyance | Business broadband |
| Same team, but downtime stops revenue | Business broadband plus a second link, or a leased line |
| Frequent large uploads, cloud backups, hosted services | Fibre-based plan with symmetric speeds, or a leased line |
| Multiple sites that need to connect privately | Ask providers about point-to-point or private circuits |
This table is a starting point for questions to put to providers, not a recommendation for your specific building.
What to ask providers
Send the same questions to every provider and compare answers in writing.
- Is the bandwidth dedicated, or shared? If shared, what is the contention ratio?
- Are upload and download speeds the same? Are the speeds guaranteed or "up to"?
- What uptime does the SLA commit to, and how is it measured?
- What is the target time to repair a fault, and does support cover nights and weekends?
- What service credit do I get if the SLA is missed?
- Is a static IP address included? Is there an extra charge for more than one?
- What is the installation charge, the expected lead time and the contract term?
- What happens at the end of the term, and are there early termination charges?
- Is the equipment on my premises rented or owned, and who maintains it?
- Is the route physically separate from my other link, if I buy a second link?
Where the question concerns your own contract or law, such as consumer or telecom rules that may apply, read the provider's terms and take advice if unsure.
Reading an SLA
An SLA is only useful if it is specific.
- Uptime percentage: check the period it is measured over and what is excluded, such as planned maintenance or customer-side faults.
- Repair time: a commitment to restore service within a set number of hours is different from a commitment to respond or visit.
- Credits: note how much you are credited and how you claim it.
- Scope: an SLA may cover the provider's network only, not your router or Wi-Fi.
Keep a record of outages with dates and times. It makes a claim easier to support.
Test a connection after installation
- Check the speed at the router, using a wired computer, at a quiet time and at a busy time.
- Compare upload as well as download with what the contract states.
- Run a video call while a large file uploads, to see how the connection copes.
- Confirm the static IP, if you bought one, from the router's status page.
- Test failover by unplugging the main link, if you have a backup.
For internal Wi-Fi, see Guest Wi-Fi for a Small Business: Isolation, Passwords and Setup.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | What to check |
|---|---|
| Speeds are lower than the quote | Test over a wired connection; note the times; ask the provider for the committed speed in the contract |
| Uploads are very slow | Broadband upload is usually lower than download; check the plan's upload figure |
| Calls drop at busy times | Check how many devices share the link, and consider quality-of-service settings on the router or a faster plan |
| Frequent short outages | Log them and raise a fault with the provider, quoting the SLA |
| Installation is delayed | Ask for the survey result and the expected date in writing |
Checklist
- Know the difference: leased line is a dedicated service, broadband is shared, fibre is the cable.
- Estimate downtime cost, upload volume and simultaneous users.
- Ask each provider the same written questions, including SLA, repair time and credits.
- Consider a second link before upgrading a single link.
- Test the connection after installation and log outages.
References
- Airtel Business, Leased Line vs Broadband: https://www.airtel.in/b2b/insights/blogs/leased-line-vs-broadband
Comments
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