FAQs

Here are some of our frequently asked questions.

• What are Leased Lines?

  Leased Lines provide the best and most reliable Internet service experience you can possibly hope for.

  Unlike some of the "fibre" products you see advertised, leased lines actually give you a dedicated fibre installed directly to your premises and give you a fully private, uncontended internet solution (meaning you share it with no-one). You get the same speed up and down ("Fully Synchronous") and at the same time (it is "Full Duplex" meaning a 50Mbps solution is capable of transferring 50Mbps in both directions at the same time).

  Leased Lines typically offer 99.99% guaranteed up-time and come with a rapid 4hr fix guaranteed.

• What bandwidths are available?

  Leased Lines range in bandwidth from 10Mbps up to 10Gbps (which is 10,000Mbps). For speeds higher than 10Gbps you can purchase an HCS circuit "High Capacity Service", however for the vast majority of businesses in the UK this would be overkill.

• What are the installation time frames?

  The industry average lead time for a new leased line, from order to completion, is 65 working days.

  This is the time advised by the fibre carriers (the people who actually own and lease the fibre in the ground) and therefore it is very difficult for anyone to promise a faster install as the delivery against that promise is out of their control. However, some of our customers have had Leased Lines go live in as little as 11 days when there is a good local network presence as they benefit from working with a very dynamic delivery team.

• What does "subject to survey" mean?

  When you purchase a Leased Line, you are generally presented with an installation cost and an ongoing monthly rental cost. The costs presented are fixed, however the solution is proposed based on your install falling inside the allocated "Network Build Budget". To determine if this is the case a physical site survey is required, where an engineer will plan and cost the route from your building to the local network exchange.

  The term subject to survey is used across the industry as a physical site survey is required to determine that the proposed route is viable, accessible and the delivery is within budget. If it is determined that your install falls outside of the network build budget you would be presented with ECCs Excess Construction Charges.

• What are ECCs?

  Where the costs of delivery to your building fall outside of the fibre carrier's network build budget, the costs above and beyond the budget are deemed to be Excess Construction Charges. When these costs have been identified you have the choice of accepting them or cancelling the contract (with no financial penalty). The subject to survey clause protects the customer from entering into an open-ended contract as no-one will know the true costs for the delivery of fibre to a specific building until that building and the proposed route has been surveyed in detail.

• What term are Leased Lines contracts?

  The industry standard term is a 36 month contract (3 years). This is the term for which the vast majority of UK Leased Line contracts are set and effectively the expected norm.

  Shorter terms are available but they normally incur a higher monthly rental charge and also an install charge (which would generally not be applied on a 36 month term). Additionally, if you are in a position to opt for a longer term, for example, 48 or 60 months you can normally benefit from a lower rental charge (most fibre carriers offer this).