Leased line or full-fibre broadband? Choosing with copper closing.

Phones and lines · 5 min · written 30 October 2026 · by the IT-360 team · sources at the end

Full fibre (FTTP)

Fibre to the premises replaces the copper that is being switched off. It is shared with other users in the area. Download speeds are high and upload is lower. The service level is best-effort: a fault is fixed in a working day or two, not hours. For a small office running cloud applications it is usually all you need, and it costs a fraction of a leased line.

A leased line

A leased line is a dedicated fibre from the exchange to you. The speed is the same up as down, it is guaranteed, and faults carry a service level with compensation, often a four-hour fix. It costs more and takes longer to install, sometimes with an excess construction charge if the fibre has to be dug in. It is the right answer when the connection is the business: phones, video, or a server people connect to. Or a team big enough that one slow afternoon costs more than the line does.

The questions to ask

• What is the upload speed, not just the download?
• What is the fix time for a fault, and is it guaranteed?
• Is the price fixed for the term, and what is the term?
• What is the backup if it fails: a second line, or a 4G or 5G router?
• Does the installation date leave enough time before 31 January 2027?

What we recommend most often

For a business of up to 30 people on cloud applications: full fibre with a 5G backup router that takes over automatically. For bigger businesses, or anyone with phones and video on the line: a leased line with full fibre as the backup. The office never goes dark. The Broadband and Leased Lines page has an availability check for your postcode.

Further reading on Insights: The PSTN switch-off and Choosing an IT company.

Sources

• Ofcom: Connected Nations report, full-fibre coverage.
• Openreach: FTTP rollout and the copper stop-sell.