Make your business communication reliable with leased lines

Leased Line Internet Connection

What is a leased line? How is it an effective tool for business communications? If you are already aware of the benefits of a leased connection, then it is well and good. However, if you still haven’t heard of this great method of effective and guaranteed business communications, then presented here is all the info you would need to know before you are using a leased connection. 

A leased connection is a permanent symmetric telecommunication line joining two geographically distant locations. The rate of operating a leased line is fixed charge that the operator receives from the customer. A leased connection does not have a telephone number as it is a direct private line exclusively for carrying data from a single customer. Unlike conventional telephone lines where various users use a single line by a process known as ‘switching’, in leased communications the line is meant to be exclusive, therefore quality service is guaranteed. India is one of the few countries where leased communication is available for customers. Customers connect to the leased connection by either telephone lines ADSL, Wi-Fi or through OFC. You can have optimum uptime guarantee coverage of about 99% by the use of leased connections, therefore making sure that you never have to suffer from a lapse of communication. However, the network termination equipment for the leased line connection, like the data service unit and the channel service unit must be managed by the customer.

The systems of leased lines are extremely useful to maintain direct communication between two offices located at different locations. This system offers peer to peer VoIP connection, and users can also share videos and voice calls through the system. High speed broadband internet connection can also be established through a leased connection. However, the cost of accessing the internet through leased connections is significantly more than dial up connections, but the cost remains fixed despite heavy usage of the internet. This system is highly beneficial for businesses who would like to have an uninterrupted and direct communication line between different offices.

Apart from the direct guaranteed service between two offices through a permanent secured line, there are other benefits of using leased connections as well. For instance, heavy users of the internet benefit from the fixed rent they have to pay, therefore making cost calculations of internet easier. For frequent communication between the two offices too, the customer does not have to count every call charge because of the single monthly payment. Leased lines are available in different packages. Each package signifies different speeds. The T1 connection (1.544 Mb/s) and the E1 connection (2.048Mbit/s) are commonly preferred by heavy users. There are low speed connections as well like the 128Kbit/s, 512 Kbit/s, 1 Mb/s etc. High speed connections like the 8Mbit/s and the 16 Mb/s are also preferred by high end users. 

The leased line connection is beneficial for companies who share a lot of data between distant office locations. Also, companies who want a VoIP service at a fixed monthly rate increasingly prefer leased lines.

Top 5 Benefits of Leased Line over a Broadband connection

There are scores of ways to access the Internet, and going by the usage, broadband as a line of connection is far more popular. While broadband works fine for home requirements, organisations and businesses demand better connectivity options. A large number of business users are now thus opening up to the benefits of leased lines. The fact that a lease line provides direct connectivity to the internet in a dedicated manner is without doubt one of its best advantages. Listed below are the top 5 benefits of leased line internet provider over a broadband connection:

• 1. An internet service provider offering a leased line allows users to work with the same upload and download speeds, generally known as symmetric connectivity. In contrast, broadband connections are better optimised for downloads over uploads, making them inconvenient for business users. Activities like file sharing over a remote location, web hosting etc. are well taken care of with the former. While on speed, you may also want to know that leased line internet connection providers offer communication that is not shared amongst multiple users, giving you optimised bandwidth. Broadband on the other hand is designed to offer the best bandwidth available and not the promised bandwidth. You also have a better choice of bandwidth options in the former, while the latter is restricted in terms of packages. Moreover, the possibility of using and choosing higher bandwidth is only there with a leased line.
• 2. Performance parameters like jitter, lags and latency are easily monitored with a leased line, so also the backbone network offered. Service providers can offer SLAs that are satisfactory and promise performance guarantee. They are thus more reliable. What’s more, the Quality of Service is much better with a leased line internet service provider in comparison to broadband. This makes it far more effective to work with convergent services such as video, audio and others.
• 3. The fact that a leased line internet provider allows communication and connection via multiple media is definitely an upside. Most providers employ either a combination or any one from among fiber, copper or radio links, making network connections seamless. The provided optical media communication is much more dependable and users can look forward to enhanced fault tolerance along with better performance and monitoring. These can be really important factors when you are working with higher bandwidths.
• 4. Most internet leased lines are bundled with the choice of unlimited usage, allowing business owners to add multiple services like VoIP, video, heavy applications etc. at their free will. The fact that broadband internet service providers make do with billing can be really restrictive in terms of usage. Leased lines also come with a pool of permanent IP addresses, allowing organisations to freely work with their own mail and web servers.
• 5. Business owners can effortlessly leverage a leased line to create a Virtual Private Network across remote locations. This makes the line of connection much more effective.

Just like leased lines, broadband connections too pack in their own benefits like mobile access to the web, wider exposure and reduced costs. But, what really makes leased lines a preferred choice is the fact that they are committed to high performance at all costs, and rarely will you see links that are down.

10 points to remember while selecting dedicated leased line services

India is one of the few countries of the world where leased lines are available for business communication. These lines are the latest in business communication technologies and are fast becoming popular. Here are the 10 reasons, why you should be switching over to leased lines for business communications.

Leased Line

1. Exclusivity: Everyone attempts exclusivity. In business communications tool, you can attain exclusivity by the use of the leased line. These symmetric telecommunications systems provide an exclusive connection between two distant geographical locations through a permanent line. The line is exclusive with no other user, unlike conventional telephony that facilitates multiple connections with a single line, by a process called switching. In leased connections, the whole matter is simplified to a single end to end open circuit, thereby promising effective and speedy communication between two nodes.
2. Much less voice jitter: Since lease connections are exclusive ones, therefore there is a significantly less voice jitter in the connection.
3. There is no telephone number in a leased connection: A leased connection does not have a telephone number. You can make direct calls by just picking up the telephone. This makes leased connections highly effective business communication tools.
4. They can be long distance or short distance: The leased connection can be both in the house like in an apartment complex or a hotel connecting two points located in the same city. In either ways, leased connections are highly effective to carry out business or personal communications.
5. Single fixed monthly rent: The cost management option of the leased line is its ultimate benefit. The user only has to pay a single monthly rate for the use of the leased connection, and there is no limit on usage. Use as much as you want, but the final cost remains the same. This feature has made leased connections highly popular among businesses that do not have to calculate extra expenditure beyond a certain limit.
6. Different speed limits: A leased line connection is available at different speed limits. The speed you choose determines the amount of rent you have to pay for using the leased connection. From low speed connections, to medium and high speed connections, leased systems are highly manageable. Low speeds include 64kbit/s, 256kbit/s, 128Kbit/s and 512Kbit/s. Medium speeds include the T1 and the E1 connections at 1.544Mbit/s and 2.048Mbit/s respectively. High speed connections carry the speed of 2, 4, 8 or 16 Mb/s. You can always switch over from one connection to another according to your convenience.
7. High uptime: Leased line connection providers can promise up to 99% uptime guarantee, thus enabling business communications to carry on uninterrupted 24/7/365.
8. VoIP and data transfer: Businesses who want to opt for VoIP connections can also opt for leased connections. Video and voice calls can also be transferred through leased lines.
9. Internet connectivity: High speed broadband connectivity is also possible through a leased connection. For heavy users, this can be of great cost saving opportunity as you have to pay a fixed monthly rate despite heavy usage. 
10. Connectivity: The leased line connections are established either through Wi-Fi, telephone lines ADSL or through OFC.   

5 reasons to select leased line over normal internet connection

Leased Line

A business enterprise’s success depends solely on the reliability of an internet service provider. Considering today’s tough economic situation, internet services are vital for a company to survive.  There are various options available to access the internet and the most common and popular option is the normal broadband. However, companies have now begun to prefer leased lines, also known as data line or private circuit over broadband for reasons such as internet connectivity and security. Organizations such as corporate offices, educational institutions and hospitals have opted for leased line connections. Broadband connections are a suitable option for small sized businesses while a leased line is a popular option for large businesses.  

The top five advantages of a leased line over broadband are:

1.   Symmetric Connectivity:  A dedicated data line offers the same speed for both uploads and downloads. This type of connection is important         for applications such as website hosting, file transfer, VoIP, video conferencing and many more. While in a broadband connection, symmetric connectivity to upload and download speeds is lesser due to optimization.

2.   Higher Bandwidth: A leased line offers higher bandwidth than a standard broadband connection since the former is entirely dedicated to a single user meaning the bandwidth is an exclusive of the user, while the latter is shared by multiple users within a locality. 

  With a broadband connection, bandwidth selection is restricted whereas with a data line choice of bandwidth selection is wider. Since higher bandwidth is possible only with a dedicated line, it has become the default choice for larger enterprises with hundreds of end users.

3.   Data Usage: Data usage is limited while using a normal broadband connection. Either, the plans offer limited data usage or a skyrocketing bill for the bandwidth used from the biggest disadvantages of a broadband. In a dedicated line connection, plans offer unlimited usage. This service runs for 24/7 and is cost efficient. This is the reason as to why companies are able to run various online applications such as surveillance, VoIP and many others.

4.   Flexibility: With a leased line connection, users can choose speed from 2Mbps to 1Gbps. Hence, customers are required to pay only for the speed they use, while with a broadband, speed range is limited. 

5.   Other Efficient Services: With a dedicated line, interruptions with the connection prove to no hassle. Companies even offer service-level agreement because they are fully capable of arranging continuous monitoring and quick repair services. With a broadband plan, customers’ most likely face issues with the connection and with a customer care too busy to pick the call. This delays the repair process. 

Apart from the above mentioned advantages, a dedicated line offers: 

§                        Better quality of service,

§                      Pool of IP addresses,

§                     Privacy and security

§                   Leveraged to form a VPN (Virtual Private Network)

§                  Significant amount of web traffic

§                Provide a wide area of coverage

Broadband connection is ideal for businesses with 20 to 25 users where transfer of files is limited and of course it has its own advantages such a mobile internet access, lower cost to name a few. However, high performance leased lines are appropriate for large enterprises with a substantial internet end user base.