Compare FTTP fibre vs leased lines: speed, pricing, SLA guarantees, and availability. FTTP from £60/month, leased lines from £260/month. Expert framework for choosing the right connecti
FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) delivers gigabit speeds at £60–£150/month with best-effort reliability, while leased lines guarantee 99.9% uptime with automatic SLA credits at £260–£1,000/month. The right choice depends on whether your business prioritises cost savings (FTTP) or guaranteed uptime where hourly downtime exceeds £500 in lost revenue (leased line). For most UK SMEs, FTTP now delivers sufficient performance—but mission-critical operations still require dedicated connectivity.
FTTP is a direct fibre connection from the exchange to your premises—no copper "last mile" and no speed degradation.
Unlike Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC), FTTP delivers fibre end-to-end, enabling symmetric speeds up to 1Gbps and beyond. Ofcom classifies FTTP as "gigabit-capable"—future-proofed for decades.
The critical limitation: FTTP is shared infrastructure. Your 1Gbps trunk is multiplexed with hundreds of other customers. During peak hours (7pm–11pm), shared usage can cause momentary slowdowns—imperceptible for email and browsing, but visible for large file transfers or real-time video production.
Availability has expanded dramatically. Ofcom reports FTTP now reaches ~70% of UK premises as of late 2025, with government-backed programs accelerating rollout beyond urban centres.
A leased line is a dedicated, point-to-point connection where bandwidth belongs exclusively to your business—no contention, no peak-hour slowdowns.
Leased lines deliver symmetric speeds (equal upload and download) from 10Mbps to 10Gbps. They're backed by written SLAs guaranteeing 99.9% uptime with automatic credit for any breach—typically 5–25% of monthly rental if downtime exceeds threshold.
The trade-off: Leased lines cost 4–10x more than FTTP and installation takes 6–8 weeks versus FTTP's 2–4 weeks.
The speed gap has collapsed. Standard FTTP in UK cities now delivers 300–1,000Mbps. BT Ultrafast FTTP reaches 500Mbps; Hyperoptic and CityFibre offer 1Gbps FTTP.
The critical distinction: Leased line speed is guaranteed and uncontended. Your 100Mbps leased line always delivers 100Mbps, even during peak hours. FTTP's "up to" 300Mbps may drop to 200Mbps if your neighbourhood's shared trunk is congested.
For most office operations (email, cloud apps, video calls), this contention is unnoticeable. For high-bandwidth workflows (media rendering, large backup windows), peak-hour slowdowns become operationally visible.
For revenue-critical operations, this difference is material. If your e-commerce platform's hourly downtime costs £2,000, automatic SLA credit is ROI-positive within days of first outage.
Over three years, FTTP saves £10,000–£30,000 for identical speed. If your business can tolerate occasional peak-hour contention, FTTP is objectively cheaper.
When leased line justifies itself: If downtime costs exceed £100/hour, a £300/month leased line pays for itself within 10 hours of prevented outage annually.
To compare options for your location, use our business broadband comparison tool.
If you need connectivity urgently (office expansion, rapid scale-up), FTTP's timeline is a material advantage.
Always check both FTTP and leased line availability before assuming one option is unavailable. Use our FTTP availability checker to confirm options at your postcode.
FTTP is the right choice if:
Example: Growing marketing agency with 40 staff running Salesforce, Google Workspace, and Slack—FTTP gigabit is sufficient at £120–£150/month.
A leased line is essential if:
Example: Financial services firm with 150 staff running live trading systems—leased line 500Mbps or 1Gbps is essential at £411–£1,000/month.
The optimal architecture for mission-critical businesses combines both:
Your primary connection is fast, affordable FTTP. If FTTP drops, automatic failover switches to leased line within seconds, maintaining connectivity during outage repair.
Cost comparison:
Savings of 40–65% while maintaining revenue-protecting redundancy.
For businesses requiring maximum uptime, pair connectivity with VoIP phone systems that include automatic failover to mobile.
For occasional video uploads or monthly backups, FTTP gigabit is fine—peak-hour contention rarely impacts short-duration tasks. For daily large file workflows (media agencies, trading firms), peak-hour contention becomes operationally visible. Consider leased line if sustained high-bandwidth usage dominates your workflow.
Yes. Start with FTTP to validate actual peak-hour usage and budget. If contention becomes problematic or downtime costs rise, migrate to leased line within 2–3 months. AMVIA handles end-to-end migration with zero downtime during switchover.
If you run servers, mail systems, or VPN—yes. Most FTTP plans include static IP at no extra cost or £5–£10/month. Leased lines include static IP as standard. Confirm inclusion before signing.
Ask: If my connection dropped for 2 hours, what's the business impact? If the answer is "minimal" or "£50–£200 lost productivity," FTTP suffices. If the answer is "£5,000+ revenue loss," leased line's SLA guarantee is insurance worth purchasing.
VoIP requires stable, low-latency connectivity. FTTP typically delivers excellent VoIP quality for offices under 100 users. For contact centres or businesses where call quality is revenue-critical, leased line ensures consistent performance. Pair with business-grade VoIP systems for optimal results.
FTTP has evolved from low-cost alternative to genuine competitor—delivering gigabit speeds at 20% of leased line cost and proving sufficient for most SMEs.
For budget-constrained businesses: FTTP is the rational choice.
For revenue-critical operations where downtime exceeds £100/hour: Leased line's guaranteed 99.9% uptime delivers ROI within weeks of first incident.
For risk-conscious mid-market businesses: Hybrid approach (FTTP primary + leased line backup) provides redundancy at reasonable cost.
Don't choose based on marketing claims. Model your actual usage, benchmark real pricing, and calculate business impact of brief downtime.
Ready to compare options? Get Your Free Connectivity Assessment or call 0333 733 8050 for expert guidance. No voicemail—live UK engineer within 90 seconds.
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