Point-to-Point Leased Lines: The Ultimate Guide & Deals
Point-to-point leased lines establish direct connections between two specific locations, offering secure and dedicated data transmission without sharing bandwidth. Ideal for linking offices or data centres, they ensure fast and reliable communication essential for critical operations. While P2PL offers significant benefits, it’s important to consider the cost, as it’s notably more expensive than traditional broadband options
For further information and pricing on leased lines, click here .
What is a Point-to-Point Leased Line
Advantages of Point-to-point Leased Lines
There are a few advantages to having a point-to-point leased line, which includes:
A point-to-point leased line (also called private lines for that reason) is private; you can even set them up so they don’t touch the provider’s network. However, doing this requires much more work with monitoring your network, so it’s essential to have the right infrastructure & IT/Networking experts in place. The connection would be solely for your company’s use & there would never be any public traffic on the line, so you have a lot more control over it and, therefore, reduce the risk of malicious attacks and cyber threats.
P2PL offers lower latency compared to traditional broadband, which is crucial for real-time applications like video conferencing and online gaming.
A point-to-point leased line connection guarantees you the same upload speeds as your download speeds.
A point-to-point leased line will give you faster data transfers because it’s delivered over fibre optic cables, which are symmetrical, so you no longer see the dreaded buffering symbol of doom.
Because they are entirely uncontended, there are minimal delays when communicating via the line.
Due to all the benefits listed above, they create the perfect network for fast & reliable data backup, which you can do across multiple sites simultaneously.
Disadvantages of Point-to-Point Leased Line
There are also a few disadvantages of point-to-point leased lines that are important to consider when making a decision.
Because point-to-point leased lines are designed for two sites if you want to add more sites, it can be costly & a pretty long process – most providers would guide you to consider a WAN solution if you had more than one site.
Most point-to-points will use a topology that effectively means the point-to-point wouldn’t touch your provider’s network, which means they would have no visibility & it would be your responsibility to monitor the line & fix it if it goes down for any reason.
If the point-to-point doesn’t touch your ISP’s network, you can struggle to add popular services, like SIP phones & the Internet.
The idea of point A connecting to point B is great, but in reality, it’s often that point A connects to points C & D & maybe more before it gets to your point B It’s just other sites are invisible & you are invisible to them too.
Below we’ve made a reference table of proper terminology relating to WAN and point-to-point leased lines:
Name
Meaning/Reference
Leased circuit,
Circuit
The words line and circuit are often used as synonyms in telco terminology, circuit refers to the electrical circuit between the two endpoints.
Serial link,
Serial line
The words link and line are also often used as synonyms. Serial, in this case, refers to the fact that the bits flow serially and that routers use serial interfaces.
Point-to-point link,
Point-to-point line
Refers to the fact the topology stretches between two points and two points only. (some older leased lines allowed more than two devices).
T1
A specific type of leased line that transmits data at 1.544 megabits per second (1.544 Mbps)
WAN link,
link
Both these terms are very general, with no reference to any specific technology.
Private line
Refers to the fact that other telco customers cannot copy data sent over the line, so the data is private.
Who Would Benefit From Point-to-Point Leased Lines (P2PL)?
Companies with numerous employees or high data usage (e.g., finance, media, design) benefit from the consistent bandwidth P2PL offers.
Data centres
Businesses with high video-conferencing needs
Businesses frequently transferring large files
Healthcare providers
Financial institutions
E-commerce businesses
Remote offices
Gaming companies
Other links we think you’ll find useful about P2PL
‘A Guide To Business Leased Lines’
Read more here .
‘What are leased lines?’
Read more here .
‘Leased Line (P2P) Guide’.
Read more here .
Next Steps:
Carefully evaluate your business needs and budget to determine if P2PL is the right solution and consider contacting a business internet service provider (ISP) to discuss your specific requirements and get a quote.
A Handy Youtube Guide About Point-to-Point Leased Lines
Other useful links about leased lines include:
James Ward is CEO and founder of CompareYourBusinessCosts.co.uk, a website that won the Prestigious ‘Website of the Year’ only in its second year of operations in 2015. The website has grown organically since then offering comparisons on over 20 different products including insurance, energy, telecoms, card machines, coffee machines and much more. James has a range of interests including horse racing, skiing, rugby and boxing. He splits his time between home family life, friends, exercise and socialising.