Ethernet and leased lines
The next level brings you to the varying
degrees of Ethernet and leased line services. These can be copper-based, such
as EFM, or fibre based, providing a dedicated connection between your premises
and the internet.
Such dedicated circuits aren’t cheap, and
are really only suited to larger companies or businesses that require assured
bandwidth and guaranteed uptime; this could be a web design agency, for
example, or a video production studio that doesn’t want to be gamble on a
variable broadband connection when it’s uploading a client’s video at 6pm on a
Friday.
EFM is one of the most cost effective ways
of obtaining assured bandwidth. It uses multiple copper pairs to offer
symmetrical, guaranteed bandwidth. “We offer EFM up to 35Mbits/sec
symmetrical,” says Zen’s Saunders. “Typically, we see it deployed at
10-15Mbits/sec.”
EFM
is one of the most cost effective ways of obtaining assured bandwidth.
Speeds of 10Mbits/sec or even 35Mbits/sec
might not sound that impressive when standalone FTTC lines are capable of
delivering both download and uplink speeds in excess of that, but there’s more
to EFM than just the headline speeds. “It’s symmetrical and dedicated
bandwidth,” says Simon Osgathorp, head of leased line internet at BT Business.
“If a customer takes 10Mbits/sec, then they’ll get 10Mbits/sec, 24/7, 365.”
“FTTC is absolutely fantastic for SoHo businesses, but people seem to want bandwidth
that’s guaranteed for them exclusively,” agrees Spitfire’s Fellowes.
EFM also includes service guarantees. BT
has a target availability of 99.95% for EFM and backs that with a service level
agreement (SLA). “There’s a better fix time for EFM [than FTTC] of seven hours
whether that’s day, night or weekend,” Osgathorp adds. “If the internet
connection goes down and their business goes down, running it over a service
that has target availability backed by an SLA might be a wise option. They
might be taking orders online, and if the service is down for a couple of days,
they lose thousands of pounds of orders. Or perhaps it would damage their
credibility if they host a website.”
EFM services typically cost between $225
and $375 per month, but there’s a slightly cheaper option called Generic
Ethernet Access (GEA), which uses a single copper pair, for speeds up to
20Mbits/sec and starts at around $195 per month.
Providing
site access into MDNX DIA and MPLS VPN services
Although GEA also has a guaranteed fix
time, it doesn’t have the built in resilience of EFM’s multiple copper pairs,
which means if one of the pairs fails, the bandwidth drops off only slightly
rather than falling away altogether.
Beyond copper, you’re moving into the world
of pure fibre connections, where essentially the decision boils down to how
much bandwidth you require. Spitfire, for example, will sell you a 10Mbits/sec
fibre Ethernet circuit from $525 per month, with 100Mbits/sec starting from
$975.
Exact pricing depends on the degree of
physical digging and the distance from the core network required to wire up
your building(s). “Fibre is very much the Blue Riband of internet access,” says
Fellowes.
Whichever Ethernet/leased-line service you
choose, make sure you factor in plenty of lead time. An EFM connection
typically takes 20-70 working days to install, according to Zen’s Saunders.
Fibre takes even longer at 55-75 working days.
In other words, you need to be planning
months, not weeks or days, in advance.
What difference does an SLA make?
Ethernet/leased-line connections should
always have an SLA that details target availability, repair times, and the
level of compensation paid if the ISP fails to meet its obligations.
Compensation is paid in the form of credit for periods of downtime that surpass
the stated period in the SLA. In reality, that means the ISP is never going to
pay you any more money than the amount you’ve paid it for the service in the
first place, and no ISP will ever pay damages for the loss of business that
results from your downtime.
That being the case, is there any point in
comparing SLAs of various ISPs before making a decision? The point at which an
ISP starts to pay compensation should be taken into account, argues BT’s Simon
Osgathorp. “BT Net customers can claim from the first minute of an outage,” he
says. “When you look into a service, it might be six hours before they pay you
back.”
Thinkbroadband.com’s Andrew Ferguson says
beware not to confuse compensation periods with fix times. “Everyone thinks
‘great, it will be fixed in four hours’ [because that’s the stated compensation
period]. No, it won’t. It means if it isn’t fixed within four hours, you
receive a little money.”
Failover
Whether you’re running an ADSL connection
into your home office, or planning a fibre link for a 200-seat building, it’s
vital to think about a failover option in case your primary connection
collapses.
For a home worker, that failover connection
could be as simple as a 3G dongle that allows you to get online if your
landline connection fails. Don’t wait until the connection fails to rush down
to Carphone Warehouse for an emergency dongle, however; the middle of an outage
isn’t the time to find out that reception is weak on your chosen network.
Several business-grade routers allow you to keep a 3G dongle plugged into a USB
port, acting as a failover if the ADSL line goes down.
Connecting
a fixed line (ADSL/cable/fibre) connection to your house is the first step to
creating a connected home
If a high-speed connection is critical to
your SoHo setup, you should invest in a second landline. Thinkbroadband.com’s
Andrew Ferguson works largely from home, and has an ADSL line on BT’s network
in addition to an ADSL connection from an LLU provider. “There have been line
faults where one was affected, and one wasn’t,” he said.
Even with two lines, that may not be enough
to save you if a JCB scythes through the cables leading to your premises or the
local telephone cabinet. Wireless fallbacks obviously come into their own here,
but Ferguson suggests a more low-tech approach to backup for small firms that
aren’t entirely dependent on the internet. “If you have a garage and you have
to deal with online invoices, you have an agreement with another local garage
down the road,” to use their connection when yours fails.
When it comes to EFM, Ethernet and
leased-line services, ISPs often provide backup options as standard or for an
extra fee. Zen, for instance, provides an ADSL backup on all
leased-line/Ethernet connections (it even provides a dial-up backup for
business ADSL lines), while Spitfire provides a backup line for the cost of
line rental.
For companies dependent on a fast broadband
connection, a fully redundant connection may be considered a business necessity.
“If you’re going to spend on EFM, and another EFM as backup, you need to ensure
there’s diverse routeing,” says Ferguson. That means ensuring the cables leave
your building at different points, and perhaps even connecting to different
telephone exchanges although the latter will ramp up costs considerably.
