This is one of the most common questions we answer for Wolverhampton businesses. The honest answer: most businesses do not need a leased line, and paying for one when FTTP with failover would serve them equally well is the most expensive mistake in business connectivity.
But for some businesses, a leased line is the right choice — and paying for FTTP when you need a leased line is a different kind of mistake. This guide helps you determine which is right for your specific Wolverhampton business.
| Feature | FTTP Broadband | Leased Line |
|---|---|---|
| Contention | Shared (typically 1:20-50) | 1:1 Dedicated |
| Guaranteed speed | No | Yes — always |
| Fault fix SLA | Best efforts | 4 hours (contracted) |
| Monthly cost | £35-80/month | £150-650/month |
| Installation time | 5-20 days | 30-90 days |
| Static IP block | Usually one IP | IP block standard |
| Typical uptime | 99.5% (with 4G failover: 99.9%+) | 99.9%+ (SLA-guaranteed) |
The honest middle ground: For most Wolverhampton businesses with 5-50 staff, gigabit CityFibre FTTP (£45-70/month) plus a 4G failover router (£25-35/month) provides 99.9%+ effective uptime at approximately £80-100/month total — far below leased line pricing, with a performance level that satisfies almost all business requirements. We always recommend the right product for your situation, not the most expensive one.
Business broadband (FTTP) is shared infrastructure — bandwidth divided between multiple customers. A leased line is a private dedicated circuit with 1:1 contention. You always get exactly the speed you pay for on a leased line, regardless of demand from other customers.
Business broadband is significantly cheaper. FTTP business broadband costs £35-80/month. Leased lines cost £150-650/month depending on speed. For most SMEs, FTTP with 4G failover at £80-100/month total provides excellent value.
No — most SMEs with up to 50 staff doing general office work are well-served by gigabit FTTP broadband with 4G failover. Leased lines are appropriate for call centres, businesses with contractual bandwidth SLAs, or operations where any speed degradation causes material cost.
Leased lines include a 4-hour fault fix SLA with financial penalties for non-compliance, 1:1 dedicated bandwidth, proactive monitoring and a dedicated account manager. Business broadband typically offers best-endeavours support with no contractual fix time.
Yes — some larger Wolverhampton businesses use a leased line as primary connectivity and FTTP as a lower-cost secondary connection or failover. We design multi-circuit setups where appropriate.
30-90 days from order, depending on whether new civils (cable laying) are required. FTTP installs in 5-20 days. We recommend ordering leased lines 60-90 days before you need them active.
1:1 means you have the circuit to yourself — your dedicated bandwidth is not shared with any other customers. On shared broadband, many customers share the same network segment, which can reduce speeds during peak times.
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