9 Great Tips for when you compare leased line prices.
You want to compare leased line prices after deciding a dedicated line is the right product? It makes sense – not only are you are more likely to get a competitive offer by comparing the market but you will also know you are dealing with reputable companies & save yourself some time along the way.
How to compare leased line prices …
- Go to a genuine comparison site – This can be the first mistake many people make when they compare leased line prices. We started comparing leased line providers in 2012 with out sister site leased line comparison. At that point there was very limited options to compare but since the success of that website many providers have set up their own “comparison site”. They look legitimate, display numerous provider logos especially the big names BT, Virgin, COLT etc.However, in reality they are not comparing the providers they are comparing the price they can get & resell from that provider, often with high margins added on. You will always end up signing with the same underlying provider whichever “provider” you choose. Personally, I also feel its a bit immoral & wouldn’t want to purchase from a dishonest company – imagine direct line setting up a car insurance comparison & only displaying their prices!
- Get your post code right – This sounds like the most obvious bit of advice, but with good reason. Over 28% of people who use one of our comparisons get their post code wrong. Picture the scene – its been a long morning, you have a tonne of work to do & haven’t had your coffee yet – you want to tick off getting leased line prices & go to a comparison site. Rushing through the form, in auto pilot or auto fill, you put all the details & await your quotes. We call you to confirm the details & you realise you have put your home post code! This would have a huge impact on the quote you get & would waste your time so take an extra 5 mins to check the post code you compare is the correct one.
- Check your current contract – We find thousands of leased line quotes every year for customers & have seen a rise in people who get a comparison thinking they are out of contract with their existing leased line, only to find out when they try to switch that they have 2 years left on their contract. The standard term for a leased line contract is 3 years, not your normal 1 year like broadband. Not only does this waste your time as prices will likely have changed within the next two years anyway, but it also wastes the providers time. Leased line quotes are all pretty manual & involve a fair bit of work to get for you so please double check you are out of contract beforehand.
- Know your speed – High speeds will generally have a higher monthly cost, unless there is some kind of deal going on. There’s a few ways to help you figure out what speed you require if you don’t already know. Firstly check your current upload speeds & download speeds & if they are enough. If you are moving from a broadband line to a leased line, the leased line will feel around 20 x faster for the same speed. If you don’t know the speed providers can help you out – you just need to know how many employees will be using it, what they do on it, what cloud business applications you use & any other useful information about anything that your business does that requires bandwidth.
- Managed line or wires only – There’s two main types of leased line quotes, one is known as a managed service internet connection & the other is usually referred to as wires only. Wires only quotes are cheaper but you would need to monitor the line, provide the equipment & sort any faults so its probably more expensive with the wages & time of the people you would need in your organisation to do that. With a managed line the router & equipment are all provided by the ISP & monitored so from a management perspective you wouldn’t notice any difference between that & any other internet service you have had before (other than its faster & more reliable!
- Be realistic about your budget – Yes we know Virgin offer 300Mb fibre broadband for about £60 per month! But its not the same – its still a broadband line meaning no service level agreements, its shared with others & the speeds will fluctuate. That being said its a great product for a small office that just uses the internet for general browsing. But a leased line is a private, dedicated line with guaranteed speeds & 4-6 hour fix times.If you decide you need 100Mb Leased Line & have no plans to grow you are likely to find a better leased line cost if you get it on 100Mb bearer rather than a 1Gb bearer. Leased Line costs start from around £150 per month in major cities, more in rural locations.
- Know your timescales – This doesn’t have a huge impact on price to be honest but if you are near the end of the month & can sign quickly for your leased line, it can often give you some bargaining leverage with your provider. ISP’s all have monthly targets to hit so if you find one you like that you would sign for its worth asking “What could you do for me if I order this week?”. They may be able to lower the price or add a free fail-over or upgrade your router. They may not but as my mum always said – if you don’t ask you don’t get!
- Its not just BT & Virgin – BT & Virgin have the monopoly on the fibre in the UK but that doesn’t mean they are the best or will give you the best prices. We usually find that a BT leased line cost is higher when you go direct to BT compared to using a re-seller. Typically our cheapest providers with the best customer service are the likes of Aspire, Vaioni & Zen – All of whom resell BT, Virgin, Colt, SEE etc but often cheaper than direct with a highly rated customer service.
- Dont be put off by previous ECC’s – If you have previously ordered a leased line through a provider but had ECC’s come up its worth having another look now. There are more ways around ECC’s than there was previously & if you were looking a couple of years ago there may be a different infrastructure in your area that could help you get a leased line without any ECC’s. Most of our providers will tailor a solution with any charges and some will even absorb it completely. Will all depend on a number of factors so get a comparison to find out what your options could be.
Leased Line prices can vary so much between providers & we believe the most cost effective way to get a leased line connection is to run a comparison with a reputable company.
We would love to help you do that & have made the process really simple for you – Just fill in the form, we call you to confirm the details & then we find out who is good in your area. The 3 top providers then contact you with your quotes. Its that easy!
If you have any questions about leased line prices we would love to help so feel free to get in touch.
