SoGEA, full fibre or leased line: compare business broadband

Compare the connection rather than the label

Fibre to the cabinet, or FTTC, uses fibre to a street cabinet and copper for the remaining connection. Fibre to the premises, or FTTP, brings fibre to the building. Those descriptions tell you about the physical path, not everything included in the commercial service.

A product can be appropriate without being the most elaborate. Equally, a business label on shared broadband does not make it a dedicated connection. Ask the provider to describe the access technology and the service obligations separately.

Create a short requirement sheet before discussing packages. Include business applications, working locations, expected growth and the tasks that stop if the connection fails. Then request a response against those requirements rather than accepting a generic recommendation.

SoGEA removes the analogue voice dependency

Single Order Generic Ethernet Access, shortened to SoGEA, is a way of ordering broadband without a traditional analogue telephone service. It commonly uses the existing fibre-to-cabinet and copper-to-premises route. Voice, if needed, comes through a separate digital calling service.

That makes it relevant where the old line product is being retired but full fibre is not yet available. It does not turn the final copper connection into fibre. Performance still depends on the available line and the product the provider can supply.

Ask whether the quote includes a telephone number and calls or only data. If you need your existing number, establish how it will be transferred and what happens to the old line when the new order completes. An order described as broadband migration can have consequences for an associated telephone service.

For a workshop office that mainly uses email and occasional calls, the practical questions may be upload headroom and support rather than a much larger download tier. For an office sending large design files, the same connection might become a daily bottleneck.

Treat those as hypothetical use cases, not suitability judgments. The provider should check your actual line and requirements. The PSTN switch-off guide explains the separate equipment checks needed around analogue retirement.

Full fibre changes the path into the premises

With FTTP, fibre reaches the premises rather than stopping at the street cabinet. That can support different capacity options, but it does not answer every performance question. Products can have different upload and download allowances, management arrangements and support commitments.

Asymmetrical means upload and download capacity differ. Symmetrical means they match. A business sending backups, video or large files needs to look at upload performance explicitly. The largest number in an advert often describes downloading rather than sending information out.

Ask what performance estimate or commitment applies to the exact order. Separate the internet connection from the wireless network inside the building. A poor wireless signal in a warehouse cannot be diagnosed simply from the fibre package name.

Check the installation point as well. A fibre termination box at the front of a unit still needs a practical connection to the router, network switch and working areas. Establish who provides that internal cabling and whether it is included.

Do a walk-through with whoever manages your network. Identify the intended equipment location, power supply and cable routes. If the business rents the premises, check the landlord's requirements before assuming an installer can drill, run cable or use a shared riser.

A leased line is about capacity and commitments

A leased line commonly provides dedicated, uncontended and symmetrical connectivity. Uncontended means the contracted access capacity is not shared in the same way as an ordinary shared broadband access service. The detailed service description still matters.

The accompanying SLA can set commitments for availability, fault response and restoration. Read which promise is actually being made. A response target means somebody starts dealing with the fault; a restoration target addresses getting service back. Those are not interchangeable.

Ask when the support clock runs and what pauses it. Access restrictions, customer equipment problems and faults outside the defined service can affect the commitment. Ask what remedy applies when a target is missed and how a claim is submitted.

The question is not whether a leased line sounds more professional. It is whether the business needs the specified capacity and commitments. A company whose dispatch system stops without connectivity should consider the operational consequences directly. A team that can continue offline for a while faces a different decision.

Put that consequence into the requirement sheet in words: orders cannot be dispatched, drawings cannot be uploaded, reception cannot answer calls. It gives the specialist a useful business problem to solve without inventing a financial return for the upgrade.

Installation can depend on the building

A quotation may be conditional on a site survey. Construction, ducts, access permissions and internal work can affect both the final proposal and delivery. Ask which parts are confirmed and which remain assumptions.

Excess construction charges are additional costs associated with work beyond the standard installation arrangement. This guide does not quote amounts. Request the survey outcome, the work proposed, the approval process and what happens if you decline it.

A wayleave is an agreement allowing communications equipment to be installed and maintained on land or property. Where a landlord or another owner needs to grant access, that is a real project dependency. Government guidance explains the different access agreements and the legal framework.

Ask who obtains each permission and who follows it up. Do not leave the provider and landlord assuming the tenant is managing the process while the tenant assumes it is included in the order.

Wires only is another phrase to unpack. It can mean the service stops at a network handover point and the business is responsible for the router and configuration. Confirm who supplies, configures, monitors and replaces each device. Installation timing depends on the provider, network and site; a provisional date is not a promise that a move can proceed.

Design the backup around the failure

A second route can help when the primary connection fails, but ask what it actually bypasses. Two services that share a physical route, a power supply or the same internal router can still fail together.

Mobile failover means a router switches to a mobile data connection when the main link becomes unavailable. Test it at the equipment's intended location and during the sort of workload the business needs to sustain. Reception outside the front door is not proof of reliable service in a metal-clad office.

Some applications may need additional configuration when the connection changes. Ask about remote access, telephone calling, payment systems and any fixed network-address requirement. Identify which tasks remain available and which must wait for restoration.

Power backup is separate. If the router loses electricity, a healthy mobile network is of little use until equipment has power. Include the termination box, router, switches and any phones that depend on them in the assessment.

Write a simple fallback procedure for staff. It should say how to recognise the backup is active, which work to prioritise and who reports the original fault. A fallback plan that exists only in the installer's memory is difficult to use on a busy morning.

When discussing availability, distinguish the network connection from the service bought over it. Ask which features belong to the access technology and which depend on the provider's package, router or support agreement. That prevents a useful technical label from becoming an assumption about everything the business will receive.

What to do next

A useful comparison starts with the building and the working day. It does not need a technical specification written by the owner, but it does need enough detail to distinguish a convenience problem from a business-stopping failure.

1. 1Confirm the exact address, unit and existing connection, including any published telephone numbers.
2. 2List simultaneous users, calling needs, large uploads and essential applications.
3. 3Describe what stops during an outage and what can continue offline.
4. 4Ask which technologies and service commitments the provider can actually supply.
5. 5Resolve internal cabling, equipment responsibility, surveys and landlord permissions.
6. 6Compare the complete contract and test the proposed backup arrangements.

Keep the answers beside the quotation. If the chosen product changes after a survey, revisit the original requirements rather than approving the revised order solely to keep the project moving.

For a provider change, use the business broadband switching guide to coordinate the connection and numbers. The right technical product can still be badly implemented if the old service ends before the replacement has been checked.