Shared vs dedicated internet access: which does your business need?
Compare shared broadband with dedicated internet access (leased lines): speed, SLAs, install times, suitability and what affects price.
Shared broadband and dedicated internet access (a leased line) can look similar on a speed test, but they behave very differently when your business depends on the connection. This guide compares the two side by side, explains which suits which kind of business, and sets out what affects the price of each.
Shared vs dedicated internet: side-by-side comparison
- Bandwidth: shared broadband is contended with other premises; a dedicated line reserves the full bandwidth for you, all the time
- Upload speed: broadband is often asymmetric (far more download than upload); a leased line is symmetric, with identical upload and download
- Service level: broadband is a best-efforts service; our ethernet leased lines carry a 99.9% SLA, with an optional premium 24/7 four-hour target fix
- Install time: SoGEA and FTTP typically 10-15 working days; ethernet typically 30-90 working days, or inside 45 where carrier fibre is already in the building
- Contract terms: leased lines are available on 12, 24 or 36 month terms
- Monthly cost: broadband is the lower-cost option; a leased line costs more because the capacity is reserved for you
Shared broadband (FTTC, SoGEA, FTTP)
Shared connections are the right default for many smaller sites. Full fibre has closed much of the headline speed gap, and the monthly cost is low. The trade-off is contention: you share capacity with neighbouring premises, so performance can vary at peak times, and upload is usually much lower than download.
Dedicated internet access (ethernet leased line)
A leased line is a dedicated, uncontended fibre circuit between your premises and the network. The bandwidth is yours alone, upload matches download, and the service is backed by an SLA. That makes performance predictable for voice, video and cloud applications, even when everyone is online at once.
Which is right for your business?
- Shared broadband suits small offices, home workers, secondary sites and businesses that can tolerate the occasional slow period
- Shared broadband also works well as a backup circuit alongside a leased line
- A leased line suits businesses that run hosted phone systems or contact centres, where call quality depends on steady upload
- A leased line suits teams that move large files, run cloud backup or rely on video meetings throughout the day
- A leased line suits any site where an outage or poor performance has a real cost in lost sales, service or productivity
- If unsure, start from how many people use the connection at once and what happens to the business when it fails
What affects the price of a leased line?
- Bandwidth: higher speeds cost more per month
- Location: whether carrier fibre already reaches your building, and whether wayleaves or civil works are needed
- Contract term: 12, 24 or 36 months; longer terms typically reduce the monthly cost
- Extras: a managed router, an additional /29 IPv4 block, a premium four-hour fix SLA, 4G/5G auto-failover, priority install or an on-site engineer install
- Our online quote tool shows indicative pricing for your postcode so you can compare options side by side before a firm price is confirmed
Next steps
Frequently asked questions
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