Leased Line Costs & Quotes 2024 | 1Gb/1Gbit From £199pcm
In 2024, leased lines prices vary based on the speed you require and your postcode location. The lowest prices we have seen in the market are below, but please note these are indicative and can vary substantially based on how far you from the exchange:
- 100Mb/100Mbit Leased Line prices start from £150 per month
- 1Gb/1Gbit Leased Lines prices start from £199 per month
- 10Gb/10Gbit Leased Lines prices start from £600 per month
In this article we review the 9 best providers in the UK for business Leased Lines. Our experts have put together an in-depth analysis based on genuine customer reviews, staff feedback, and our own expert analysis from being in the leased line industry for over 12 years!
- BT
- Virgin
- TalkTalk
- Aspire
- Colt
- Zen
- Vaioni
- Daisy
- SSE
Our Top 3 Leased Line Providers in the UK
- Daisy – 4.7 out of 5 stars for bring the best all rounder
- TalkTalk – 4.5 out of 5 stars for excelling in small businesses
- BT – 4 out of 5 stars for reliability among leased line providers
How have we selected these providers?
For each provider we review, we provide them a score out of five based on the most useful comparable features and benefits we have selected for Leased Lines being: available speeds, price, SLA, customer rating / satisfaction and support. The reasons we have selected these five comparable features for Leased Lines are for the reasons below:
- Available speeds: Due to core network capacity, some providers can provide guaranteed speeds higher than others – its always worth checking what your providers core can handle!
- Price: As leased lines become more of a commodity product, often users are looking for the best price above all factors
- SLA: Whilst provider SLA’s are often quite similar, ranging from 99.9% to 100% – it can make the different to some companies who need 100% uptime.
- Customer Satisfaction: Whether positive or negative, we analyse all customer reviews to bring you an unbiased comparison
- Customer Support: Leased line support is essential if something goes wrong. We look at factors such as wait times and if businesses get dedicated first or second line support.
Why listen to our reviews?
We have been experts in comparing leased lines for over 10 years and prior to that our CEO worked for Exponential-e, a well-respected Leased line company in London. We pride ourselves on our in-depth analysis, giving our users an unbiased review to make informed decisions. For more information on how we review and test our products, services and providers please click here. Although we always look to provide our users the most comprehensive recommendation based on our experience and research, please remember there are a huge amount of leased line providers in the UK and each provider has their own features and benefits which might be perfect for your company. For a comprehensive comparison use our comparison tool today here.
Topics covered in this leased line article include:
What is a Leased Line? |
How much does Btnet / BT Leased Line Cost? |
How does a leased line work? |
Considerations for choosing a leased line provider |
What are the benefits of Leased Lines? |
Leased Line SLA’s (service level agreement) |
What are the disadvantages of Leased Lines? |
Leased Lines compared to Broadband |
Why do leased line costs vary? |
Leased Line Installation Times |
Different types of Leased Lines |
Business Leased Line Provider Reviews |
What is a Leased Line?
A leased line is a symmetrical and dedicated broadband service which connects your business to the Internet or another location such as another office or a data centre. Lease lines being symmetrical means that the upload speed and the download speed will be equal with speeds up to 100Gbps. As Lease lines are dedicated, this means that your connection is not shared with anyone and therefore doesn’t fluctuate in speed and reliability throughout the day.
How Does a Leased Line Work?
At leased line works by providing a direct binary connection from one location to another across fibre optic cables or copper wires.
What are the Benefits of Leased Lines?
The benefit of lease lines for a business are vast. The main benefits we hear from users are:
- Best speeds available in the market – up to 100Gbps!
- Minimal downtime, especially compared to standard broadband
- Ability to run VoIP & cloud without latency or jitter issues
- 24/7 support with 1st line operatives
- Better productivity at work
What are the Disadvantages of Leased Lines?
The main disadvantage of leased lines are the cost – often up to ten times the price of standard business broadband.
The other disadvantages we notice from users include:
- Extra long installation times (30 – 90+ days)
- Irregularly providers core networks go down bringing the leased line down
- Long contracts – usually 3-5 years
- Volatile pricing – often one provider could be wildly different priced to another or even one postcode to another
Why Do Leased Line Prices Vary So Much?
There are a few factors that impact a leased line cost, the main two being:
- Speed
- Location
- Managed or unmanaged circuit
Let’s start with the speed of the line. Leased Lines range from 10Mb to 10Gb. When we first started doing leased line comparison, most people that used our comparison engine were looking for a 10Mb, and now the majority are looking for 1Gb Leased line quotes. This shows us that companies require high speeds on their line & the upload speed has become a key focus for many.
How affordable your leased line is, will still always come down to your location. Major cities like London & Manchester have excellent infrastructure & have been leading the way with connectivity options for some time. For businesses, leased line costs in areas like this can start from as little as £149 per month. It will all depend on how close you are to any provider’s PoP (point of presence) the closer you are, the less a leased line will cost you.
The final thing that impacts the cost of a leased line is whether it’s a managed services line or wires only. If it’s wired only, you are renting the physical fibre optic cable and would need to supply all the equipment and monitor the line. Most people opt for a managed line as the line is a dedicated Ethernet connection giving you internet access, and the supplier fits a managed router & monitors the line for faults 24/7.
Different Types of Leased Lines
Although a leased line is simply a dedicated, symmetrical connection – there are a few different types of leased line, and they mainly vary based on how they are delivered (copper or fibre) and speeds available:
- FTTP (Fibre to the Premises): The main type of leased line used today which provides speeds up to 100Gb directly with end-to-end fibre.
- EoFTTC (Ethernet over fibre to the cabinet): An ethernet service which provides dedicated and symmetrical connectivity, but as it utilises the green fibre box at the end of your road which is also used for home and business broadband, the capacity and speeds are not equal to FTTP.
- EFM (Ethernet first mile): A copper version of the leased line with dramatically slower speeds, although still symmetrical. EFM is generally used when fibre leased line installation cost is prohibitive.
- DIA (Direct internet access): The same as a fibre leased line or FTTP, just a different name, often used by Virgin in the market to differentiate themselves.
- EAD (Ethernet Access Direct): Again, the same as FTTP, just another name the industry uses. If you’re local to an exchange you will be in an EAD-LA (Ethernet Access Direct Local Area) and have access to the best pricing!
How Much Does a BT leased line cost?
The current cost of a BT leased line ranges from £3552 for 100Mbps to £5,400 for 1Gbps (per annum), however, this may vary depending on location and bandwidth requirements.
BTnet Leased Lines was the market leader in leased lines to start. That has changed now & Ofcom works closely with providers to ensure all are meeting lead time targets – Openreach cannot treat any provider better than any other. Most providers will use BT or Virgin Media Fibre to deliver their leased line. All this means is they use the existing Ethernet cables owned by BT or Virgin & then they connect all the equipment that makes the internet run on that line.
‘BT Business owned most of the fibre optic cables in the UK & their connection with Openreach used also meant they could fast-track some installs, which put them at a huge advantage.’
BTNet leased lines tend to be quite a bit more expensive than their competitors – the only reason we have found for this is simply that they are BT & they can. The brand has been the biggest in UK telecoms for decades, so it’s the first provider from which many people will obtain a quote.
Virgin Media are certainly giving them some tough competition now & re-sellers like Aspire & Vaioni can often get much cheaper pricing than you would from the two telecoms giants.
What to Consider When Choosing a Leased Line Provider
- Location: Ensure comprehensive network coverage in your area.
- Speed: Opt for a speed that aligns with your requirements.
- Contract length: Evaluate the duration of the contract.
- Customer service: Prioritise providers with a reputable customer service track record.
- Additional features: Assess additional offerings like static IP addresses or managed services to meet your needs effectively.
Leased Line SLA’s (Service Level Agreements)
Leased line service level agreements are contractual parameters a provider much hit when providing the service. This includes uptime and speed.
For example, if your leased line goes down or the speed drops below what you contractually signed for, then providers will start to provide you with compensation in the form of credits off your next bill.
BT offers an industry leading 100% SLA, whereas other providers such as Virgin, Daisy and TalkTalk offer between 99.9% – 99.999%.
How Much is a 100Mb or 1Gb Leased Line?
Right now, the cheapest you will find a 100Mb Leased line for is about £150 per month. Other provider sites will tell you what costs are, but they usually base that on the average in the big inner-city areas to make their pricing look more attractive. The average leased line cost across all our customers that have signed up to a new leased line is closer to £300 a month. The most expensive was just under £600 in a rural area near Darlington.
The cheapest you will find 1Gb Leased Lines for are around £199 per month. The average being around £350 per month and the most expensive being over £800 per month.
As with your home broadband & phones, the best way to ensure you’re getting the best deal is to run a comparison. That can be tricky online as most of the top-ranked “comparison” sites for leased lines are providers pretending to be a comparison sites. Daisy Communications probably runs the most successful one. But all they do is compare the tail circuit, which every provider does anyway – then add on their margins.
Ultimately if you compare with them, you only see the leased line cost they get from the market – not comparing the market. We would love to help you get a real comparison. Just run a comparison above & we will match you up with the 3 top providers in your area.
Below is an example of recent costs for a 100Mb leased line in various UK cities:
City |
CityFibre |
TalkTalk Business |
BT Wholesale |
London |
£260 |
£329 |
£343 |
Manchester |
£260 |
£342 |
£343 |
Birmingham |
£260 |
£329 |
£343 |
Glasgow |
£260 |
£342 |
£343 |
Edinburgh |
£260 |
£329 |
£343 |
Liverpool |
£260 |
£329 |
£343 |
Bristol |
£260 |
£329 |
£343 |
Leased Line or Broadband: Which is Better?
“But I can get a Virgin Fibre Broadband connection which gives me 300Mb for £60 per month! Why would I pay a few hundred a month for a leased line?”
If we had a £1 for each time we were asked, we would have all retired by now! It’s a very valid question, though so to understand, we will look at both & try to help you see which option suits you best.
The answer depends. Leased Line is the better product for most businesses; however, fibre broadband can be perfect for many smaller businesses or businesses without relying on internet use.
Let’s start by looking at the speeds – I’ll focus on the market leader, Virgins 300Mb Fibre Broadband. 300Mb for £60 per month sounds great. It will be if that’s the speed you always got. But like most broadband, you rarely get the speed advertised.
That being said, I am currently using it for the home office & in the past year have had half a dozen outages but generally been a pretty good service, the outages have never lasted more than a few hours, so it’s something I can put up with for the home office. I’m based in a suitable connectivity location & have my laptop connected via an Ethernet cable to give the best connection & this is the speed I just got when testing, which you can do here.
Not quite the 300Mb I took out, but a good speed nonetheless & it fits what I need to do when working from home – mainly checking a few e-mails, uploading content & browsing.
However, many businesses don’t just have one person working at a home office – they have multiple departments using business cloud applications like office 365, Salesforce & VoIP phones that all rely on the internet. So, if the connection goes down for a few hours, that would have much more of an impact & loss of revenue than it would for me working from home.
Leased Line can be seen as better than broadband because it comes with a Service Level Agreement (SLA) which covers:
- Line Uptime – This will always be above 99.95% but varies for each provider.
- Fix Time – Usually 4-6 hours, but it varies for providers. Business Broadband internet connections can be out for days or weeks at a time – leased lines ensure this never happens.
- Symmetrical speeds – your upload & download time will always be the same
- Bandwidth Guarantee – You will always get the speed you paid for
- 1:1 contention – Unlike broadband, no one else will ever share your line
Both leased lines & broadband serve a purpose but for any internet-reliant business that needs a stable connection with fast uploads – a leased line is the only logical choice. Whatever service you feel is best, we would love to help you get broadband or leased line quotes – follow the links & we will do all the work!
What are Leased Line Installation Times?
The installation times of leased lines vary dramatically based on:
- If you already have a leased line
- If there is fibre to your building already
- If there is fibre to your road already
We have seen some installations as quick as 2 weeks based on fibre being present in the building and we have seen installations take 3+ years whilst wayleave is being granted for a JCB to come in to dig up the road!
On average, leased line installations take 45 – 60 days.
Business Leased Line Provider Reviews
BT Leased Line / BTnet Leased lines / BTnet Express
Our performance rating of BT out of 5 stars:
Our Overall Rating |
4.0 out of 5 stars |
Speeds Available |
4.5 out of 5 stars |
Price |
2.8 out of 5 stars |
SLA |
5.0 out of 5 stars |
Customer Satisfaction |
4.2 out of 5 stars |
Support |
3.5 out of 5 stars |
What other people think:
Real Customer Reviews:
Summary:
From our extensive research on genuine customer reviews, it seems customers tend to think BT is overpriced, expensive and first line support is poor. On the other hand, it seems that many customers have had a good experience with the complaints team getting their issues resolved quickly.
Positive customer reviews:
Negative customer reviews:
Price:
BTnet |
BTnet Express |
From £300 per month
Speeds of up to 10Gbps |
From £195 per month
Speeds of up to 100Mbps |
BT: Video from a user’s perspective:
Want to get an idea of BT Business? We have selected some handy video guides for you below:
BT: Visual from a user’s perspective:
If you’re looking to order with BT you can do this through their website below and they will take care of you with a dedicated account manager through the installation.
BT: The design & how it effects users:
BT offers super secure and stable Btnet leased lines with 100% SLA, this allows their customers to feel secure when purchasing other services to bolt on such as BT cloud, BT Data centre services, BT one phone, MICloud UC, Genesys cloud and much more.
The way the BT network has been built opens up a plethora of services at each business’ fingertips.
BT: What sets it apart from its competitors?
BT is set apart from its competitors by its 100% SLA, where other competitors only provide between 99.9% – 99.999%.
BT is also set apart from its competitors by its longevity in the market and its size. The phrase to big to fail is often banded around when it comes to BT.
Features of BTNet
We believe BT holds strong in the market by their time in business and reputation for quality.
BT offers leased lines, as well as cloud, data centre services, phones, VoIP, call centres and much more with 24/7 support and QoS (quality of service).
Pros and Cons of BTNet
BTnet Leased Lines Pros and Cons
|
Pros |
Cons
|
- Best SLA guarantee
- Financially secure company
|
- Pricier than the competition
- Poor first line support
|
Our own experience with the pro’s & cons of BT Leased lines:
From running a leased line business for over 10 years, our experience with BT is that it is a clunky old company which moves slowly but generally does what it says on the tin. Most the time you can rely on BT to give the optimum service, but you will pay a premium for it and if, in the unlikely event, your Btnet leased line does go down, you might be talking to people aboard first.
The evolution of BT leased lines over the years:
Improvements:
BT has improved over the years by adding more services which you can bolt on to your internet connection to help your business such as cloud, VoIP and other data centre services – all giving the customer much more benefits than a simple internet connection.
Issues:
As BT has grown over the years, they have looked ways to cut costs, one being moving call centres abroad which is resulting in furious customers on Trustpilot and online review websites who can’t get their issues fixed in the timescales they expect from BT.
How can I purchase a BT leased line?
Before you purchase direct from BT, we always recommend you run a full comparison of the leased line market. You can do this above or here.
Once you have compared all your options thoroughly, you can purchase your BT leased line service in a variety of ways below:
Direct:
Or via a reseller:
Our final thoughts:
In the past, BT monopolised the leased lines market, but now faces growing competition. Despite not being the most economical option, it remains a dominant force. BT stands out for its ambitious SLA, aiming for 100% uptime and compensating for outages or delays in installation.
Virgin Media Leased Line
Virgin Media Business Leased Line Price:
100Mbps |
1Gbps |
>10Gbps |
£270+ per month |
£550+ per month |
Bespoke |
Our performance rating of Virgin out of 5 stars:
Our Overall Rating |
3.9 out of 5 stars |
Speeds Available |
4.5 out of 5 stars |
Price |
4.0 out of 5 stars |
SLA |
4.9 out of 5 stars |
Customer Satisfaction |
3.4 out of 5 stars |
Support |
3.5 out of 5 stars |
What other people think:
Real Virgin Media Business Customer Reviews:
Summary:
From our extensive research on genuine customer reviews, it seems customers tend to think Virgin is averagely priced in the market but provides very good speeds across a large portion of the UK. Overall Customer satisfaction seems to be poor but speed of resolution of issues seems to be quick.
Positive customer reviews:
Negative customer reviews:
Price:
100Mbps |
500Mbps |
1Gbps |
>10Gbps |
£185+ per month |
£279+ per month |
£550+ per month |
Bespoke |
Virgin Media Business: Video from a user’s perspective:
Want to get an idea of Virgin Media Business? We have selected some handy video guides for you below:
Virgin Media Business: Visual from a user’s perspective:
Don’t have time to watch the video guide? Here’s a visual of the skype interface so you know what to expect:
Virgin Media Business: The design & how it effects users:
Virgin media Business offers leased line speeds up to 100Gb with a 99.995% SLA and ISO 27001 certification. They also allow users to bolt on other services such as cloud, VoIP, IPVPN, SD-WAN and many other services. The Virgin Media Business platform is a dynamic one – allowing customers to centralise their telecoms and operations under one provider.
Virgin Media Business: What sets it apart from its competitors?
Everyone tends to know Virgin in some way or another, so this is a big plus for their brand reputation but the main thing that sets Virgin Media Business apart from its competitors is the very high speeds it can offer at a huge number of locations across the UK. The second thing that sets Virgin apart from its competitors is that it owns and installs its own network – unlike most leased line providers in the market who piggyback off BT and Virgin tail circuits.
Features of Virgin Media Business
Virgin media Business providers leased lines up to 100Gb in speeds with securities such as Palo Alto Networks’ Next Generation Firewall or Distributed Denial of Service Mitigation (Anti-DDoS) allowing companies to run all their needs such as ecommerce, hybrid working, cloud services, video conferencing, disaster recovery and backup as well as much more.
Virgin Media business also offer bolt on services such as: SD-WAN, IPVPN, Managed Cloud, Cloud VoIP, SIP trunking, Hosted VoIP, network, and infrastructure security and much more.
Pros and Cons of Virgin Media Business
BTnet Leased Lines Pros and Cons
|
Pros |
Cons
|
- Best Speed Availability
- Well Respected Brand
- Own their own network
|
- Poor support
- Installation problems
|
Our own experience with the pro’s & cons of Virgin Leased lines:
From running a leased line business for over 10 years, our experience with Virgin is pretty good. We feel their team is a quick thinking, dynamic team which can deploy high speed connectivity solutions in a relatively swift timeframe. There are of course customers who have bad experiences, but we feel the good outweighs the bad.
The evolution of Virgin leased lines over the years:
Improvements:
Virgin Media leased lines are a reliable and secure choice for businesses, and for those with their own in-house IT support, you really can’t go wrong. They are fast and reliable, offer flexible solutions that is scalable alongside your business growth, and compatible with a range of access technologies (e.g. FTTP, cable, fibre ethernet and SOGEA).
Issues:
One thing to be wary of with Virgin Media, is that their support times can be lacking. They claim a 99.9995% service availability as standard, but if you look through their reviews you can see that this is not always the case.
How can I purchase a Virgin Media leased line?
Before you purchase direct from Virgin Media, we always recommend you run a full comparison of the leased line market. You can do this above or here.
Once you have compared all your options thoroughly, you can purchase your Virgin leased line service in a variety of ways below:
Direct:
Or via a reseller:
Our concluding thoughts of Virgin Media Business:
Virgin Media, despite its drawbacks, presents compelling advantages. Notably, it assigns a dedicated account manager and offers a flexible 60-day rolling contract, a departure from traditional rigid arrangements. Moreover, its supplementary features, such as built-in cybersecurity and the option to add a 50Mbps connection, bolster its attractiveness. While they claim a six hour fault response time, reviews would argue that this is not always upheld. Nevertheless with all of their four packages, you will receive your own account manager who can assist you should things go awry.
TalkTalk business leased line
Price:
EoFTTC |
Dedicated leased line |
EFM |
From £90 per month
Speed of up to 20Mbps |
From £243 per month
Speed of up to 10Gbps |
From £165 per month
Speed of up to 20Mbps |
Our performance rating of TalkTalk out of 5 stars:
Our Overall Rating |
4.5 out of 5 stars |
Speeds Available |
4.2 out of 5 stars |
Price |
4.5 out of 5 stars |
SLA |
4.7 out of 5 stars |
Customer Satisfaction |
4.8 out of 5 stars |
Support |
4.5 out of 5 stars |
What other people think:
Real Customer Reviews:
Summary:
From our extensive research on genuine customer reviews, it seems customers tend to think TalkTalk is averagely priced for the market and provides average speeds across a large portion of the UK. Overall Customer satisfaction seems to be very good and speed of resolution of issues seem to meet their promise of a 4-hour fix time.
Positive customer reviews:
Negative customer reviews:
TalkTalk:Video from a user’s perspective:
TalkTalk: Visual from a user’s perspective:
TalkTalk: The design & how it effects users:
TalkTalk do not make it’s straightforward to make an enquiry on their website. If you want to get current prices you must request a callback, or, if in business hours, use their live chat feature.
TalkTalk: What sets it apart from its competitors?
The biggest advantage that TalkTalk have over their competitors is their four hour fix promise. This is the big claim to make, however their reviews on Trustpilot back this up.
Features of TalkTalk Business Leased Lines
Like many of it’s competitors, TalkTalk offer 99.995% reliability to it’s users. Also like other providers, you will receive a dedicated account manager, but unlike it’s competitors, it claims to be the UK’s largest ethernet network, with one in four businesses connected to them.
They offer upload and download speeds of up to 10 gigabytes per second, a free fully managed installation that they claim to be able to provide faster than any of the other providers on the market (by up to seven days).
Pros and Cons of TalkTalk Business Leased Lines
TalkTalk Leased Lines Pros and Cons
|
Pros |
Cons
|
- Fastest fix time on the market (4 hrs)
- Free installation
- Fastest installation (7 days faster than the industry average)
|
|
Our own experience with the pro’s & cons of TalkTalk Leased lines:
TalkTalk have over 83% positive reviews on Trustpilot, however there are also 8% one star reviews. The general consensus is that they provide efficient service with their well-trained customer support and tech staff.
The evolution of TalkTalk leased lines over the years:
Improvements:
TalkTalk have a large and loyal customer base, so while free installation is a big win for new customers, they also have to be doing something right to be able to get people to renew their contracts.
Issues:
Contrary to their claims, quite a lot of the issues TalkTalk have are with their installations, however when you dig a little deeper it does seem to be due to issues with Openreach, rather than TalkTalk themselves.
How can I purchase a TalkTalk leased line?
Before you purchase direct from, we always recommend you run a full comparison of the leased line market. You can do this above or here.
Direct:
Or via a reseller:
- On Moneysupermarket here.
- Or Expert Reviews here.
Our concluding thoughts of TalkTalk Business:
For businesses seeking cost-effective leased lines, TalkTalk is a top choice. Offering entry-level EoFTTC options from £90 monthly, it stands out as one of the most economical providers. Moreover, the company waives installation fees for extended contracts, an added benefit. Though not offering ultra-fast speeds, maxing at 20Mbps, TalkTalk caters well to smaller businesses with more modest bandwidth needs.
Aspire
Price:
Contact them for a quote
Our performance rating of out of 5 stars:
Our Overall Rating |
4 out of 5 stars |
Speeds Available |
4 out of 5 stars |
Price |
4 out of 5 stars |
SLA |
4.4 out of 5 stars |
Customer Satisfaction |
4 out of 5 stars |
Support |
4 out of 5 stars |
What other people think:
Real Customer Reviews:
Summary:
From our extensive research on genuine customer reviews, it seems customers tend to think Aspire is good value for money compared to the rest of the market. They do not offer the fastest speeds however. Overall Customer satisfaction seems to be very good and speed of resolution of issues seems to be very fast, upholding their 4-hr fix promise.
Positive customer reviews:
Aspire:Video from a user’s perspective:
Aspire: Visual from a user’s perspective:
Aspire: The design & how it effects users:
Aspire deliver cutting edge solutions across IT, connectivty and telephony. They deliver these through a network of trusted channel partners, and have solutions for all size businesses.
Aspire: What sets it apart from its competitors?
Aspire’s 99.9% uptime promise alongside their 4 hour fix promise (similar to TalkTalk) are two of their biggest advantages. We also like that they offer DDoS protection as a standard feature with any of their packages.
Features of Business
Their fully managed leased lines come with an Aspire router and proactive management, meaning that your connection is monitored 24/7 by their UK-based service desk. Should there be any issues, they will be alerted instantly. They have a +83 net promoter score, providing ‘world class’ service to their customers.
Pros and Cons of Business
Leased Lines Pros and Cons
|
Pros |
Cons
|
- All leased lines come with DDos protection as standard
- 99.9% uptime
|
- Software is not easy to use for those who do not have an IT background
- No Trustpilot so minimal reviews
|
Our own experience with the pro’s & cons of Leased lines:
The fact that Aspire does not have a Trustpilot does not make it easy to get a gage on recent customer reviews. So unless you are quite experienced within the industry, it can be a big leap of faith to sign up with them.
The evolution of leased lines over the years:
Improvements:
If you sign up for a fully managed leased line, you will be protected with Aspire’s Auto Failover, meaning that you will be provided with dual equipment on two fibre lines, and/or a 4G signal. Should your equipment fail, you will always be protected by your back up equipment.
Issues:
While Aspire claim to have the best value and competitive prices, it is very hard to pin them down, so we think a little more transparency would go a long way.
How can I purchase a leased line?
Before you purchase direct from, we always recommend you run a full comparison of the leased line market. You can do this above or here.
Direct:
Read more about them here:
Our concluding thoughts of Business:
One of my personal favourites. Not as well known but a business that really uses common sense & manages to get pricing that is very hard for any other provider to beat. They focus on bespoke solutions for customers & by doing so save them huge amounts of money – smart, forward-thinking & very cost-effective.
Colt
Price:
Contact them for a quote
Our performance rating of out of 5 stars:
Our Overall Rating |
4.1 out of 5 stars |
Speeds Available |
4.2 out of 5 stars |
Price |
2.2 out of 5 stars |
SLA |
5 out of 5 stars |
Customer Satisfaction |
4.7 out of 5 stars |
Support |
4.4 out of 5 stars |
What other people think:
Real Customer Reviews:
Summary:
From our extensive research on genuine customer reviews, it seems customers tend to think Colt is pretty poorly priced in comparison to the market but provides good speeds if you are based in a main UK city. Overall Customer satisfaction seems to be okay and reviews are lacking, but speed of resolution of issues seems to be quick.
Positive customer reviews:
Negative customer reviews:
Colt: Video from a user’s perspective:
Colt: Visual from a user’s perspective:
Colt: The design & how it effects users:
Because Colt are a big Global player, their focus is not on the smaller cities, limiting their accessibility if you are outside of London, Manchester or Leeds. If this is the case, we recommend going with a more local provider.
Colt: What sets it apart from its competitors?
Colt offer market leading enterprise grade LAN and WAN service, they are incredibly reliable and there is no limit to the size of business they can support
Features of Colt
Colt offer 24/7 customer support, with network coverage spanning over 38 countries and 50 cities across Asia, Europe and the US. Like Aspire, they offer 99.99% guaranteed SLA’s (equal to around one hour of downtime per year!)
They offer 15+ add-ons, making their services almost completely customisable, adaptable to your businesses changing needs. Some of these add-ons include workforce mobility, domain hosting, security features, IPV6, COE, multiple IP addresses – the list goes on!
Pros and Cons of Business
Leased Lines Pros and Cons
|
Pros |
Cons
|
- One of the fastest installation of all carriers
- 99.99% SLA
- Competitive pricing
- Excellent customer support reviews
|
- Not as much network presence as local providers (although good coverage in the main cities)
|
Our own experience with the pro’s & cons of Colt Leased lines:
Colt are no doubt an industry leader, and they can offer customers a wide range of technology product portfolios and solutions that can be tailored to customers unique and complex requirements, making them best suited to large and enterprise size level businesses.
The evolution of Colt leased lines over the years:
Improvements:
Colt have a large global footprint and are therefore very reliable within big cities. They are known for providing their customers an in depth point of contact during installation and setup and great ongoing support.
Issues:
Because of the substantial features and products Colt have to offer, the ongoing costs of partnering with them are quite high compared to some competitors, perhaps limiting businesses with a smaller budget from utilising their services. They also do not have many UK based reviews, However the reviews they do have are impressed with their overall MSP journey.
How can I purchase a leased line?
Before you purchase direct from, we always recommend you run a full comparison of the leased line market. You can do this above or here.
Direct:
Or via a reseller:
Our concluding thoughts of Business:
Renowned for speed, Colt offers blazing connection speeds up to 100Gbps, unmatched by others on the list. With installation times around 45 days, it’s among the swifter options. While Colt’s pricing remains undisclosed, it compensates with money-back credits for SLA discrepancies, enhancing its appeal.
Zen Internet
Price:
Contact them for a quote
Our performance rating of out of 5 stars:
Our Overall Rating |
4.4 out of 5 stars |
Speeds Available |
4 out of 5 stars |
Price |
3.7 out of 5 stars |
SLA |
5 out of 5 stars |
Customer Satisfaction |
4.4 out of 5 stars |
Support |
4.8 out of 5 stars |
What other people think:
Real Customer Reviews:
Summary:
From our extensive research on genuine customer reviews, it seems customers tend to think Zen offer fluctuating prices, but that they provide very good speeds across a large portion of the UK. Overall Customer satisfaction and support seem to be exceptional.
Positive customer reviews:
Negative customer reviews:
Zen Internet: Video from a user’s perspective:
Zen Internet: Visual from a user’s perspective:
Zen Internet: The design & how it effects users:
Send Internet is no different to most leased line providers in that their pricing structure will be based primarily on your business location.
Zen Internet: What sets it apart from its competitors?
Zen Internet are the only Which? Recommended provider. They’re a certified B Corp organisation, and one of the most reviewed providers on our list. They promise an 100% SLA when you combine the Ethernet services and resilience services.
Features of Business
Zen Internet offer 24/7 support, symmetrical speeds via their reliable connections, and, of course a dedicated connection, meaning no traffic and no congestion for your business.
They offer 99.9% SLA’s standard claiming they can give your business and no compromises connectivity and cast iron guarantees. If you need to you can upgrade your bandwidth with them at short notice so they’re able to adapt with you as your business needs change or grow.
Then also promise that if there are any issues with their supplied routers they will be responded to within four hours of the fault being raised and assigned a ticket number by the customer.
Pros and Cons of Business
Zen Leased Lines Pros and Cons
|
Pros |
Cons
|
- Excellent customer reviews
- UK-based customer support
- Great speeds
- Reliable
|
- Little transparency with pricing
|
Our own experience with the pro’s & cons of Zen Leased lines:
Reliability and excellent customer service are at the forefront of Zen’s positive accolades, which is no easy achievement. While You have to keep in mind that the trust pilot reviews include both personal and business evaluations, they maintain over 75% five star reviews, definitely one of the highest we’ve seen. While it’s quite tricky to track down their pricing, and these will always change depending on your location, they are certainly worth looking into.
The evolution of Zen leased lines over the years:
Improvements:
Zen provide outstanding customer support to their customers they can help you understand the costs mitigate risks understand your timeframes and manage your expectations the team would be happy to assess the needs of your business and choose the right service for you, offering each customer an almost entirely bespoke package.
Issues:
Zen Internet have no transparency with their pricing, with some customers quotes fluctuating drastically with little to no logic, as they seem to be based around the same locations. This means that it is best to get in touch with their support team over the phone if you are looking at signing up.
How can I purchase a leased line?
Before you purchase direct from, we always recommend you run a full comparison of the leased line market. You can do this above or here.
Direct:
Or via a reseller:
Our concluding thoughts of Business:
Specialising in competitive pricing for small and medium-sized enterprises, Zen Internet emerges as a niche but formidable leased line provider. Recent investments in its ultrafast fibre network position Zen Internet as a compelling contender.
Zen Internet presents businesses with two tailored connectivity options: Fibre Ethernet, delivering speeds of up to 1Gbps, and Ethernet over FTTC (EoFTTC), offering speeds ranging from 2 Mbps to 20Mbps.
Vaioni
Price:
Book a call for quote
Our performance rating of out of 5 stars:
Our Overall Rating |
3.7 out of 5 stars |
Speeds Available |
4.5 out of 5 stars |
Price |
3.5 out of 5 stars |
SLA |
5 out of 5 stars |
Customer Satisfaction |
3.7 out of 5 stars |
Support |
3.5 out of 5 stars |
What other people think:
Real Customer Reviews:
Summary:
From our extensive research on genuine customer reviews, it seems customers tend to think Vaioni is not transparent with pricing. However, they provide very good speeds across a large portion of the UK. Overall Customer satisfaction seems to be good when available, and speed of resolution of issues seems to be quick.
Positive customer reviews:
Vaioni: Visual from a user’s perspective:
Vaioni: The design & how it effects users:
Vaioni’s Industry-leading SLA credits their users for any down time experienced while using their products, which is a nice touch that we think shows their confidence in their services.
Business: What sets it apart from its competitors?
Vaioni can offer customers telephony, connectivity and a cybersecurity infrastructure, meaning businesses are able to tailor a package to any number of specific needs. They have access to 12 UK carriers and over 100 international operators spanning over 230 countries.
Features of Vaioni
Vaioni offer a wide range of features that we love that sets them apart from their competitors. They have access to five major Ethernet technologies, offer 24/7 engineer support by their Manchester based support team, and provide customers with a managed router as standard.
They are so confident in their SLA times that they will credit you one day for every hour that your business is offline. They offer built-in resiliency which means you can opt for a free backup connection in case of any outages.
We like their pre Internet option which means you can be up and running in as little as 24 hours whilst they connect your main service, which they state to be installed on an average of 36 working days.
Pros and Cons of Vaioni
Vaioni Leased Lines Pros and Cons
|
Pros |
Cons
|
- 100% SLA – industry leading average
- Managed router as standard (Miktrotik)
- Failover plan as standard
- 24/7 Manchester based support team
|
- Limited reviews
- No transparency on pricing
|
Our own experience with the pro’s & cons of Vaioni Leased lines:
Vaioni provide one of the quickest installation times on the market claiming to be able to install and get you up and running within 36 days. Although they have minimal reviews online (only one trust pilot score!) The reviews that they do have a positive, so while they may not be the biggest on the market, they take their customer support seriously.
The evolution of Vaioni leased lines over the years:
Improvements:
Vaoini have a very loyal customer base, with a lot of reports on customers renewing lengthy contracts due to how impressed they are with both their connectivity and levels of support from the company. They respond to all of their glowing reviews with personalised messages, certainly not something you’d see from the likes of BT or Virgin!
Issues:
Because of their limited reviews it is hard to see much wrong with Vaioni. However in our experience this is just because they’re a smaller company with a smaller customer base. This is not inherently a bad thing, as they are able to provide excellent support to their customers, more than can be said some of the bigger providers.
How can I purchase a Vaioni leased line?
Before you purchase direct from, we always recommend you run a full comparison of the leased line market. You can do this above or here.
Direct:
Or read about their terms and conditions here:
Our concluding thoughts of Business:
Vaioni are an ambitious company & last year revealed they are aiming to become one of the UK’s largest Ethernet networks, which we would like to see happen. Very competitive on price across the UK (although you have to contact them to receive a quote) & have solid reviews across the board.
Daisy Communications
Price:
Fibre Ethernet |
Point-to-Point |
From £199+ per month
Speed of 10Mbps-1Gbps |
From £199+ per month
Speed of 10Mbps-1Gbps |
Our performance rating of out of 5 stars:
Our Overall Rating |
out of 5 stars |
Speeds Available |
out of 5 stars |
Price |
out of 5 stars |
SLA |
out of 5 stars |
Customer Satisfaction |
out of 5 stars |
Support |
out of 5 stars |
What other people think:
Real Customer Reviews:
Summary:
From our extensive research on genuine customer reviews, it seems customers tend to think Daisy is very well priced compared to others the market and provides very good speeds across a large portion of the UK. Overall Customer satisfaction seems to be very high, although some mixed reviews. The speed of resolution of issues seems to be quick for business customers.
Positive customer reviews:
Negative customer reviews:
Daisy Communications: Visual from a user’s perspective:
Daisy Communications: The design & how it effects users:
Daisy are an independent provider that works with the major telecommunication suppliers and networks, so they will try and get the best deals possible for their customers.
Daisy Communications: What sets it apart from its competitors?
Daisy offer businesses a vast portfolio of IDSN and analogue lines and full fibre ethernet. They are able to provide comprehensive and tailored solutions to a wide range of business needs.
Features of Daisy Communications
Daisy pride themselves on being an independent provider that only works with UK businesses, making them able to ensure your leased line traffic is managed in the most efficient possible way.
They offer DDoS protection as standard, promising to keep customers protected against cyberthreats 24/7. Whilst not the highest on the market, their SLA promise of 99.3% is nothing to be laughed at.
Pros and Cons of Daisy Communications
Daisy Communications Leased Lines Pros and Cons
|
Pros |
Cons
|
- Clear pricing structure
- Highly knowledgeable support team
- Can offer tailored packages
|
- Mixed reviews
- Customers report hidden costs
|
Our own experience with the pro’s & cons of Daisy Communications Leased lines:
Daisy are experts in the industry and are able to offer businesses tailored packages that can be adapted to suit changing and growing business needs. It’s pretty straightforward to combine a telephony package, reducing the amount of contracts and providers you have to deal with.
The evolution of Daisy Communications leased lines over the years:
Improvements:
Daisy has glowing reports from customers about the support and technical knowledge of their team. Businesses seem to feel confident that from inception to implementation as well as ongoing care, they are supported throughout the customer journey.
Issues:
Some customers complain of a lack of communication with installation times, and hidden costs if things need fixing, i.e. charged for engineer visits without warning.
How can I purchase a leased line?
Before you purchase direct from, we always recommend you run a full comparison of the leased line market. You can do this above or here.
Direct:
Or via a reseller:
Our concluding thoughts of Business:
Daisy are a massive re-seller, probably one of the biggest in the UK. They have a website that claims to compare the market for leased line prices & doesn’t do that – It just compares who Daisy resells so whichever one you pick will be signed with Daisy. A few years ago, they had the worst reviews but they seem to have turned that around now.
Spitfire
Price
Fill in a quote form on their website for more information
Our performance rating of out of 5 stars:
Our Overall Rating |
4.5 out of 5 stars |
Speeds Available |
4.7 out of 5 stars |
Price |
3.7 out of 5 stars |
SLA |
4.8 out of 5 stars |
Customer Satisfaction |
4.6 out of 5 stars |
Support |
4.7 out of 5 stars |
What other people think:
Real Customer Reviews:
Summary:
From our extensive research on genuine customer reviews, it seems customers tend to think Spitfire is averagely priced in the market but provides very good speeds across a large portion of the UK. Overall Customer satisfaction seems to be poor but speed of resolution of issues seems to be quick.
Positive customer reviews:
Spitfire: Video from a user’s perspective:
Spitfire: Visual from a user’s perspective:
Spitfire: The design & how it effects users:
Spitfire most SLAs backed with service credits, and offer customers fully managed Cisco routers (these are optional), as well as SNMP monitoring and fibre of resilient build options.
Business: What sets it apart from its competitors?
Prior claim to reply to 95% of all emails received during business hours within 35 minutes. In addition to this their website host solutions to a wide range of common issues including detailed instructions on how to make the most out of your Spitfire products and services.
Features of Spitfire
Spitfire stands out with their 100% target uptime promise, which like Vaioni, is backed by service credit. As a standard they offer uncontended and symmetric downloads and uploads as well as latency jitter and packet loss performance SLAs on all of their circuits.
As an IP engineering specialists in data and voice networking, Spitfire assure customers that any investments that you make with them in your Ethernet can also be fully utilised in the future to supply SIP trunking and/or hosted telephony to any of their other managed on-net services
Pros and Cons of Spitfire
Spitfire Leased Lines Pros and Cons
|
Pros |
Cons
|
- Great customer reviews
- Choice of 8 fibre access suppliers
- Flexible contracts
- Offer a range of add-on features such as higher level security, backup circuits and IP addresses
|
|
Our own experience with the pro’s & cons of Spitfire Leased lines:
Spitfire actually boasts the lowest delivery lead time, claiming they can have you up and running from 25 days if you choose their on-net services. We like that they of her multiple carriers, such as BT, Colt, TalkTalk, City Fibre, Vodafone or Virgin Media. Speak I have such a comprehensive portfolio of solutions, if you’re looking to minimise the amount of providers you’re using for your connectivity, Internet, security and VoIP – Spitfire may be the answer.
The evolution of Spitfire leased lines over the years:
Improvements:
While customers have noted that Spitfire is not the cheapest option on the market, it’s combined packages and straightforward interface have ended up saving businesses money in the long run. We love when companies make things simple and straightforward to use, coupled with a great knowledge base and support team and we think we’re onto a winning combination.
Issues:
Spitfire only have 80 reviews on Trustpilot, so it would be nice to see a bit more recent feedback from customers so new potential clients can make an informed decision about their services.
How can I purchase a Spitfire leased line?
Before you purchase direct from, we always recommend you run a full comparison of the leased line market. You can do this above or here.
Direct:
Our concluding thoughts of Spitfire:
Spitfire Telecom maybe one of the smaller leased line providers in the UK but they’re certainly worth considering as they offer affordable communications options in addition to their leased line packages. Customers can add on out of hours support, which is pretty self-explanatory but a useful little feature nonetheless.
Leased Lines FAQS
How can I get a leased line?
To get a line, you first need to decide on what bandwidth you need. You can call us or one of the experts. They can help you decide on what broadband connection bandwidth you should be looking using as a business. Of course, if you already know what bandwidth you need, then you can either:
- Go out to market yourself and call the providers individually. Once you’ve collated the quoted, you can go through each provider’s profile and make sure they are financially strong, have a good SLA / service level agreement and then barter with them about upfront costs and cost-effective monthly charges. OR
- Let us do the hard work for you and find 3x reputable providers with the best quotes at your location. Fill in your details here for assistance.
What Bandwidth Does your Business Need?
Determining the bandwidth your business needs depends on various factors such as the size of your organization, the nature of your operations, the number of users, and the types of applications and services you use. Here are some considerations to help you determine the bandwidth requirements for your business:
- Consider the total number of employees and devices that will be accessing the internet and network resources.
- Identify the applications and services your business relies on. Bandwidth-intensive applications such as video conferencing, cloud-based services, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and large file transfers may require higher bandwidth to function smoothly.
- Determine the times of day when your business experiences peak internet usage. For example, if your employees engage in video conferencing or data-intensive tasks during specific hours, you may need additional bandwidth to handle the increased demand.
- Consider whether your business requires symmetrical upload and download speeds.
- Anticipate future growth and scalability needs when selecting your bandwidth requirements.
- Review SLAs offered by internet service providers (ISPs) to understand factors such as uptime guarantees, network performance, and support response times. .
- Evaluate the cost of different bandwidth options and assess how they fit within your budget.
How Do Leased Line Costs Vary Between Providers?
When looking at pricing, whether it be from virgin media, BT leased line costs, TalkTalk Business, Aspire Technology Solutions, Vaioni, Wavenet or other secure and private internet providers, you not only want to take into account price but also service levels, fix time, excess construction charges and service level agreement.
Major cities have the lowest costs because they usually have the most fibre in the ground, and it’s easiest to connect you. Often rural locations that require a rock-solid broadband connection suffer the most. These locations often don’t have fibre optic BT Business internet access, let alone a 100Mb leased line. Upload speeds in these locations tend to be extremely poor also. In some instances, businesses in these rural locations pay the excess construction costs for their internet connection. These ECCs can be as high as £100,000.
For businesses in rural locations, a leased line connection, whether it be wired only or with a managed router, may be nonviable, as it would be more cost-effective to move premises than dig the fibre optic in. The good news when making this decision is that businesses can book a survey and uncover these total costs before paying anything and being committed.
Will You Need a Leased Line-Managed Service or Wires Only?
The decision between a leased line-managed service and a wires-only leased line depends on your specific requirements, resources, and technical capabilities. Here’s a breakdown of each option:
- Leased Line-Managed Service:
- A leased line-managed service typically includes end-to-end management and support from the service provider. This may involve monitoring the leased line connection, troubleshooting issues, and providing technical assistance as needed.
- With a managed service, the service provider assumes responsibility for maintaining and optimising the leased line connection, ensuring maximum uptime and performance.
- Managed services often come with service level agreements (SLAs) that outline performance guarantees, response times for support requests, and compensation for downtime or service disruptions.
- Wires-Only Leased Line:
- A wires-only leased line provides the physical infrastructure (cabling) necessary for the leased line connection without additional management or support services from the service provider.
- With a wires-only leased line, the customer is responsible for managing and maintaining the connection, including troubleshooting technical issues and ensuring optimal performance.
- Wires-only leased lines may offer more flexibility and control over the management of the connection, but they also require the expertise and resources to handle technical aspects independently.
Factors to consider when choosing between a leased line-managed service and wires-only leased line include:
- Technical expertise and resources available within your organisation
- Budget considerations, including upfront costs and ongoing expenses
- Importance of service reliability, performance, and uptime
- Need for proactive monitoring, maintenance, and support
- Compliance requirements and security considerations
What is the Difference Between MPLS and an Internet Leased Line?
The table below shows you some fundamental differences between MLPS and leased lines:
Parameter
|
MPLS
|
Leased Lines
|
Scalability |
MPLS is an efficient technology that is easily scaled |
Leased lines are the most difficult to scale because of the time needed for deployment and the expense.
|
Recommended for |
- A large enterprise with a requirement for a secure and private network
- Fast growing organisations
- Multiple sites spread across a large area
|
- Need to transfer large data reliably and fast between sites
- Require guaranteed bandwidth
|
QOS |
Service provider QoS for prioritisation of delay and mission-critical traffic |
|
Connectivity Type |
Multipoint or point-to-point |
Point-to-point |
Security |
High level by logical separation of traffic |
Most secured due to the physical separation of traffic
|
Bandwidth |
High |
High |
Physical medium |
Shared across multiple customers |
|
Traffic engineering |
In MLPS, it is possible to set the path the traffic will take through the network. |
Not possible in the case of leased links
|
Leased Lines & other related articles:
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.