What do you understand about Leased Line, and How Does it Work?
What is a leased line?
An internet leased line is a dedicated data connection or internet with a fixed bandwidth. This enables data-driven businesses to enjoy reliable, high-quality internet connections with guaranteed upload and download speeds, uptime, and resilience. A "leased line" is a connection that is leased directly from an internet leased line service provider (ISP) to a business, providing service beyond what standard broadband offers.
Leased line internet connections typically have the following characteristics:
Symmetry-
Leased lines are symmetrical; in simple words, the upload & download speeds are the same.
Uncontentious-
By definition, an internet leased line is a non-conflicting connection that is not shared with other users.
Point-to-point-
In this, the connection between two points, such as your internet leased line providers and your company's location, is done.
We are all familiar with standard internet connections; for instance, we go home, connect the internet with our phones, tablets, or TVs and start streaming, browsing, and downloading any content. But unlike internet leased lines, having people around you or maybe using the same internet source, can slow down your connection. This is because these connections are "conflict"; that is, bandwidth is shared among all users in that particular local area.
On the other hand, in case of a leased line internet connection, the bandwidth you need is available and accessible only to you and no one else. This means that, even in rush hours, internet connection won't get hampered throughout the day.
If you are running your own business, then you already know the impact of a slow internet connection on your business. Be it downloading or sending large files or VoIP conference calls, etc., can all be interrupted because of poor internet connection.
Symmetric vs asymmetric-
Internet leased lines are not only uncontended, but they are also "symmetrical". This means that upload and download speeds are the same. The uploading speeds are often heavily reduced due to most weightage given to the faster download speeds, unlike traditional asymmetric broadband like ADSL.
A balanced or symmetrical connection is beneficial for modern businesses, which are increasingly using cloud services that require reliable and fast download as well as upload speeds. A prime example is a VoIP-based telephony.
Reliability and SLA-
ILL Link comes with industry-backed SLA, service level agreements that allow companies to commit to a specific level of internet leased line service. And even if you have a poor internet connection or the internet is down, the problem will be fixed within hours. Also, with an internet leased line, users can expect reliable and reasonable SLAs.
How does an internet leased line connection work?
An internet leased lines use precisely the same technology as that of fiber broadband. A fiber optic leased line sends pulses of light through a fiber optic cable. When data needs to be sent over a fiber optic cable, the equipment on either end looks for lights (that is, whether the light is on or off) that represent the binary 0s and 1s of the digital data. One device turns the lights on and off to represent 1's and 0's respectively, the other device sees this, records it and stores it as 1's and 0's, and this data is travelling at the speed of light. Since it is practically as well as technically impossible to increase the speed any further, the only limiting factor in speed is often, how quickly the equipment on either side can transmit or detect the light.
With a different leased line, that connection is leased to a specific company, so the connection to your internet leased line providers is unique to that particular company and not shared with thousands of other companies, thus making it business-friendly.
How fast will my internet speed be?
The obvious answer to this question is very fast. With "regular" asymmetric fiber broadband, the maximum download speed most people see is well below 100 Mbps. This is asymmetrical and contended, as mentioned above, so it is variable and can get affected by peak hours at any point of time throughout the day. The technical term for this, in which many people share the same fiber line, is called as 'multiplexing' and is one of the factors that allow consumer broadband providers to keep its cost down. With fiber optic leased lines, the achievable speeds are tremendous; that is, the available packages that can offer up to 10 Gbps of internet speed. A leased line is definitely a well-balanced line, so you can customize the speed you need for your leased line to meet your individual business needs by meeting both your capacity as well as budget requirements.
For example, if you are running a printing business, you may require to upload large graphic design files to cloud storage for your customers to review. Standard broadband services are usually asymmetric. In other words, upload speeds are not as fast as download speeds. You will have to wait most of the day while uploading your work. However, with a fiber leased line, you can streamline those transfers and handle the important stuff or tasks by choosing dedicated upload speeds. Speeds won't fluctuate with other users, so you'll have high speed whenever you need it, thus offering you an unwavering sense of security.
Fiber leased lines are usually described in two parts: line speed and bearer speed. They are usually written or quoted as 20/100. The no. before the slash is the line speed, & the number after the slash is the carrier speed.
Line speed is the symmetrical speed of what you experience when using a connection, which includes both uploads and downloads.
A bearer is a maximum speed a line can reach. This means that in the future, if your needs change (e.g. business growth) and your current line speed is slower than your bearer's speed, you will be able to enhance your bandwidth by just paying a small monthly fee.
Using 20/100 as an example, a user can upload and download at 20 Mbps (megabits per second). From here, you can upgrade incrementally up to 100Mbps, giving you the peace of mind that you can change your connection to suit your business needs. The most common bearer sizes that are available are 100Mbps and 1Gbps, with 10Gbps also available (although it is not widely used).
Do you need an internet leased line?
At first glance, businesses may gravitate toward leased lines because of their speed. Ultra-fast access to the internet makes a lot of sense in an era of increasing adoption of cloud services. Ultimately, speed is one of the most essential factors that make leased line connections an integral part of the infrastructure for many organizations. A symmetrical connection increases reliability, especially in the case of VoIP for business telephony and communications. The SLAs that come with reliable connectivity often mean that bugs are fixed within hours rather than days or longer. Essential for businesses that rely heavily on data for their day-to-day business operations. Spectra can provide its customers with reliable and great internet services. All you should be doing is, reach out & raise your request.
