We will be launching a new service soon which requires a high speed internet connection.
We can’t use the prevalent ADSL or cable technology as our distance from the telephone exchange is at the outer limit which means our speed isn’t that great and in addition, the upload speed of an ADSL connection is pretty poor.
The result of this means we have to look at a technology called leased lines.
This isn’t something new, it’s been around for a while. It’s a very good connection to the internet, it downloads and uploads information at the same speed and unlike ADSL and Cable and it can be scaled up to very high speeds. The downside? It’s very expensive.
Now, ballpark figures for a 10mb leased line for us are around £11,000 per year for a three year contract (depending on where you are and the type of building you’re in etc. the costs vary).
We may need to increase the speed of this as the service takes off and demand increases, so we could move to a 20mb/30mb or 40mb connection.
Once we get to the 40mb speeds the costs increase to circa £17,000.
Anyway, as we continue to expand the business, we are reaching the point where the office we purchased three years ago is getting tight and we need to increase the space we have.
The connection for OCD between the new service and the office space we require is this -> as Internet providers release new technology called FTTC (Fibre to the cabinet) they can provide speeds of 40mb download and 10mb upload for circa £720 per annum.
Only certain exchanges are enabled for this technology with more coming on through this year and in to the future.
All of a sudden we have an interesting business decision to make which is this.
Do we stay where we are and look to buy more space in an office near us, pay for the leased line at £x, or do we look to move to an office near one of the enabled exchanges which would give us our connection for £720 per annum (saving between £10,000 to £17,000) and use the extra we would have spent on the leased line for more office space?
I find it interesting that the need for speed on internet connections can have an impact (potentially) on where you would locate your organisation. It’s not something I had thought about in any great until now. However, given how reliant we are on email and Internet use and because many now and in the future will use more Internet based services, it’s certainly something to think about when you chose to open a new office or relocate an existing one.
Feel free to contact us to have a conversation about this or anything else you feel we could help with, we’d be delighted to hear from you.
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