Updated For 2020!
If you’re in the market for a leased line – whether to upgrade your connection from broadband or renew an existing service – a good place to start is by finding out how much a BT leased line costs at your location.
With myriad buying options, such as directly, through a BT local business, from a wholesale provider, plus all the different speeds, bearer sizes and contract terms, finding the best BT leased line costs can seem like a minefield.
However, our simple guide to BT costs in all major UK cities can benchmark the costs for you so you can gauge whether the prices you receive are competitive and good value.
What is a BT leased line?
A BT leased line comes in two forms: BTnet Express, providing up to a 30mbps bandwidth that’s suitable for small businesses, and BTnet, providing a maximum bandwidth of 10Gbps that’s suited to larger businesses with up to 200 users. BTnet Express is available from £195 per month and BTnet from £370 per month.
This is how much a BT leased line costs in major UK cities:
Costs range from £317.08/month–£458.02/month. These prices are based on a 100Mb BT service on a 100Mb bearer.
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London
London has the cheapest BT leased line costs. The price for a 100Mb service is £317.08/month on a 36-month contract with no installation fee.
Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Edinburgh, Bristol
All these cities are in the same price band – £389.79/month. This price is for a 100Mb service on a 36-month contract with no installation fee.
Glasgow and Liverpool
Glasgow and Liverpool are on a different price band. The cost in these cities is £458.02/month. This price is for a 100Mb service on a 36-month contract with no installation fee.
Determinants of BT leased line prices
These prices were based on a 100Mb line and a 100Mb bearer. If you wanted to reduce the cost of the service you could choose a slower bandwidth speed, for example, 50Mb on a 100Mb bearer.
Faster speeds are available with BT, up to 10Gbps. This additional speed comes with a much higher monthly rental fee – for higher speeds you should expect to pay more.
All of these prices are based on a 36-month contract term. BT and most other providers absorb any installation charges if you commit to a 36-month term. If you wanted a shorter 12-month term you should expect to pay an upfront installation charge in addition to the monthly rental charge.
What is BTnet?
BTnet products are BT’s range of business internet packages. It’s the UK’s number 1 leased line internet service (as ranked by Netcraft). The package’s features and SLAs include a 100% service availability target, unlimited usage, a commitment to a ‘five hour fix’ if any issues arise, and easy to set up Wi-Fi, Guest Wi-Fi, and LAN all included.
What is BTnet leased line?
BTnet leased line is a dedicated business connection package that comes with integrated Wi-Fi and a security package. With BTnet, you get exceptional speeds and ultra-low latency. With options available from 10Mbps all the way up to 10Gbps, BTnet leased line is perfect for the bandwidth-hungry modern business.
The benefits of a leased line
If a business-grade broadband connection that’s ‘always on’ is vital to your day to day operations, the cost of a leased line is probably worth every penny.
A leased line can provide significant benefits if your business:
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Needs to transfer large amounts of data
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Has a large office with many people to connect
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Uses VoIP regularly
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Runs a large website
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Needs guaranteed internet connection 24/7
These are just a few examples of business models that would significantly benefit from the features of a leased line.
When you choose a leased line for your business, you’d be getting a range of great upgrades. These often include:
- Lightning-fast download and upload speeds. (BT offers speeds up to 10Gb)
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A line exclusively for your business, so speeds are consistent
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Increased security and privacy
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The option to change your bandwidth to suit your business needs
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Low latency
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A static IP address
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A service level agreement
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Priority fixes for any issues or faults
How is leased line cost determined?
First, how much a leased line will cost will depend on a number of factors that depend on your business model and its requirements, including:
Bandwidth
The speed you choose and have access to significantly contributes to the cost of the leased line package. Depending on your communication and data transfer needs, there’s the option to choose between different high-power bandwidth packages to suit, usually from 10Mbps to 1Gbps.
Distance
The distance between you and source will be an influencing factor for your leased line costs. If your business is in close proximity to a BT telephone exchange, an ethernet access direct Local Access is used. If your further away, Local Access won’t be an option which will mean more expensive leased line costs.
Contract term
If you commit to a longer-term contract, eg, 36 months+, many providers will discount installation charges or not charge for installation at all. If you choose a shorter contract, eg, a 12-month term, you’ll probably need to pay for installation.
Other leased line providers
There is fierce competition between leased line providers in the major UK cities. One of the most productive ways of reducing leased line costs is to make a whole of market, leased line price comparison.
Although it may be the most popular due to national coverage, BT isn't the only provider that can install a leased line circuit. Various other companies can do the same job and offer similar packages. In most UK cities Virgin Media and TalkTalk are very competitive and often have lower prices than BT, and other companies such as Vodafone, SSE and Sky and also offer competitive leased line packages.