UK BROADBAND TERMS AND OPTIONS CLEARLY EXPLAINED
As for all modern “digital” services, the average consumer or business owner trying to find out which broadband and/or a related telecommunications product is suitable for him or her, is bombarded with a new list of abbreviations and names for services which seem to have been produced only for the benefit of the “experts”. When any exising contract for telecoms services – Landline or Mobile – is due for renewal, he or she will be at the mercy of the sales department of the Operator concerned, whose sole task is Customer Retention – i.e. to persuade the customer to renew.
As the main UK PSTN, British Telecoms (BT) services operate in most Homes and Businesses in the UK. The stand alone fixed phone line products, and the ADSL and ISDN services, are all going to cease after a few years to be replaced by Fibre Optic which will provide both telephone services (using VOIP technology) and internet access from the one optical cable connection.
However, the UK Mobile Networks have been offering their own broadband solutions for some time – with data only SIM Cards for example – and new phone numbers can be supplied, which all means that Home Owners and Businesses do not have to rely on new fibre otpic solutions from BT or any other Fixed Line supplier.
Indeed, it may be cheaper to switch to Wireless or Mobile Broadband. And there are the Satellite Services, which offer another broadband option – particularly useful in some areas of the UK where fixed and mobile networks do not have coverage, and also for outside the UK.
On this Page we provide a list of the most common “terms”, with a brief explanation for each which is aimed at simplifying and de-mistifying the Communications Industry in general and Broadband in particular.
Broadband is all about speed: how quickly data can be transferred to and from another Network (for example, the Internet) from your computer or mobile phone or other device.
Home Broadband is usually slower but cheaper than Business Broadband because the Broadand is contended – shared with other customers living in the same area. Generally speaking, Businesses have more users and need more bandwidth and cannot afford to have slower speeds caused by sharing their internet access with other subscribers to the same service.
Broadband can be delivered in three main ways – Fixed Line, Wireless/Mobile and Satellite.
UNDERSTAND THE TECHNICAL TERMS
Broadband, ADSL, ISDN, PBX, Fibre, Hosted VOIP
PBX, ISDN, Leased Lines, VPN
SIP Trunks, Cloud Telephony etc. etc.
Broadband? Bandwidth?
Broadband is an Internet connection that is faster than 2 Mbps (according to the Digital Britain report), although BT considers that broadband is viable at 128 Kbps.
Bandwidth is the speed at which data travels to (download) and from (upload) your computer and is measured in Gbps (Gigabytes per second = the fastest) Mbps (Megabytes per second) or Kbps (Kilobytes per second). Just as a wider water pipe will deliver more water, more quickly, broader bandwidth delivers more data, more quickly and is therefore more expensive.
ADSL? Asymmetric? VDSL? ISDN?
ADSL – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line – is Broadband delivered down a standard telephone line through copper wires. A Splitter or Microfilter is needed to separate the phone line from the Internet cable.
“Asymmetric” means that you can download something faster than you can upload it. It works with speeds of up to 20 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload if you are near your telephone exchange, but can be less if your home or premises are further away. Many Home owners will currently have an ADSL connection.
VDSL – Very-high-bitrate Digital Subscriber Line – is a DSL technology that offers speeds of up to 52Mbps downstream and 16Mbps upstream over a single flat untwisted or twisted pair of copper wires. Mainly used for business.
ISDN – Integrated Services Digital Network – is an all-digital high-speed network provided by telephone carriers that allows voice and data to be carried over existing telephone circuits. There are two types of ISDN phone lines – ISDN2 and ISDN30e. ISDN30e services are more about providing high-performance voice services for business that need a minimum of 8 channels; ISDN2 is similar to a standard phone line although both lines can be used for phone and data calls.
OLD TECHNOLOGY – ADSL VDSL and ISDN are now seen as older technology with the advent of Fibre Optic cable. The new Fibre Optic services are becoming available in major UK cities. The exact location of the premises – Home or Office, School etc. – is critical in determining which Broadband Services are available in the Area, hence the need for Postal Codes and House Numbers and/or Street addresses.
Fibre Optic? Optical Fibre?
Optical fibres are the new way to carry data or information. They are thin, flexible, hair-sized fibres that transmit data in the form of light signals. They can be bundled together, often encased in cable similar to an ordinary computer cable, and can transmit data millions of times faster and more reliably than the oldstyle metal or copper wires.
A fibre optic connection works by sending pulses of light down a fibre optic cable. When data is sent down a fibre optic cable, the equipment at either end is on the lookout for whether the light is on or off – representing the binary “1”s and “0”s of digital data. Equipment at one end will turn lights on and off to represent “1”s and “0”s, and the equipment at the other recognises this, records it and stores it back as “1”s and “0”s.
Fibre Optic Cables can be single mode or multi mode depending upon the Home or Business requirement and the ISP capacity.
Apart from the huge speed advantage, fibre optic cable has improved resistance to electromagnetic “noise” from any nearby cabling, thus improving the accuracy of transmitted data.
FTTH? FTTP? FTTC? FTTDP? Broadband Cabinet?
FTTH (Fibre To The Home)
FTTP (Fibre To The Premises)
This is “next generation” access where the fibre connection reaches the home or business directly. There are no bottlenecks to stop the flow of data. Data is symmetrical, with the same upload speed as download speed. Examples of where symmetry is needed or advisable are Video Conferencing and VOIP telephony.
FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet)
FTTDP (Fibre to the Distribution Point)
These both mean that there is an extra connection via a Distribution Point – usually a Cabinet – which can be located in the street outside the premises. Your house or office may connect to the Cabinet via Copper Cable. This can result in slower Broadband speeds being available than with FTTH or FTTP and means it is cheaper.
How important is it to be close to the Cabinet?
It is crucial. As the graph shows, the drop off in speed is dramatic after approx 200 Metres
ethernet? GPON? Wireless Ethernet? WAN? MAN? LAN?
Ethernet (pronounced “eether net”) is a computer network technology which is now the standard, and is used in different area networks like LAN, MAN, WAN. Ethernet specifies no central computer or device on the network (nodes) which should control when data can be transmitted; that is, each node attempts to transmit data when it determines the network is able to receive communications. Systems that use ethernet communication divide their data into packets, which are also known as frames. These frames further contain source and destination address, a mechanism used to detect errors in the data and retransmission requests.
GPON – Gigabit Passive Optical Network. GPON is a point-to-multipoint access network. Its main characteristic is the use of passive splitters in the fiber distribution network, enabling one single feeding fiber from the provider to serve multiple homes and small businesses. GPON has a downstream capacity of 2.488 Gb/s and an upstream capacity of 1.244 Gbp/s that is shared among users. A GPON network consists of OLT (Optical Line Terminals), ONU (Optical Network Unit), and a splitter. Mainly used in large offices or buildings.
A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a network that covers a large geographic area (such as a city, country, or the world) using a communications channel that combines many types of media such as telephone lines, cables, and radio waves. A WAN can be one large network or can consist of two or more LANs connected together. The Internet is the world’s largest WAN.
A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a high-speed network that connects local area networks in a metropolitan area such as a city or town and handles the bulk of communications activity across that region. A MAN typically includes one or more LANs, but covers a smaller geographic area than a WAN. A MAN usually is managed by a consortium of users or a community or by a single network provider that sells the service to the users. Local and state governments, for example, regulate some MANs. Telephone companies, cable television operators, and other organizations provide users with connections to their own MAN.
Wired Ethernet connects computers together with cable so local computers and other devices on the home or office Network (LAN – Local Area Network) can share information. Within each main branch of the network, “Ethernet” can connect up to 1,024 personal computers and workstations.
With Wireless Ethernet, wireless NICs (Network Interface Cards) can be used for connecting the computer instead of a cable and these wireless NICs make use of radio waves for communicating between the systems: the NICs are connected with a wireless switch or hub. Advantages include: Can handle a large number of users, less expensive, new devices can be easily added, allows mobile devices to move freely without losing connection to the network.
sogea? sog.fast? g.fast? FoD?
According to BT (British Telecom):
“SoGEA is the future of Ethernet in your School, Business or Home. SoGEA (Single Order Generic Ethernet Access) allows you to get a superfast Internet connection. SoGEA saves you money as you don’t need a fixed phone line (so no line rental cost) to run your broadband connectivity over and it provides a cheaper, faster and superior broadband connection. SOGEA gives downloads of up to 80Mbs using the same reliable technology as FTTC. Single order for phone and broadband.”
SoG.Fast or G.Fast are variants of SoGEA which aims to improve FTTC performance. However, these services may not yet be available in your area.
FoD means Fibre on Demand, where the Broadband is needed as FTTP, and a suitable Broadband Cabinet or Distribution Point may not be close enough.
Mobile Broadband? 2G? 3G? 4G? 5G?
This is broadband accessible through your mobile phone or a dongle (a device that plugs into your computer) or mifi (your mobile phone or computer connects to it through wireless) or computer data/adapter card. Devices using Mobile Broadband need a SIM card and the main advantage is “portability”.
The speed and reliability of mobile data can also be affected by the device that you use. Generally speaking, signal strength is better outside the Home. If you intend to use a data SIM card, as your main broadband connection, you may be able to receive a more reliable service by using a home router that uses the mobile network – rather than a fixed network – to provide a broadband connection known as a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) router. The signal strength (and the broadband speed obtained) can often be improved by a suitable external antenna or aerial, or an indoor signal booster.
2G up to 5G represents the evolution and increasing performance of mobile networks with regard to speed of data transfer.
2G networks support voice calls, text messaging and very low speed data services. All handsets are able to connect to 2G networks. 3G networks support voice calls, text messages and mobile broadband. Most handsets support 3G connections, but some older phones and very basic phones do not. When 3G coverage is not available handsets will try and connect to the 2G network, where one is available to them. 4G networks support download speeds of more than 2 Mbps (often significantly more), and are used to deliver voice, text and higher speed data services (e.g. video streaming, fast internet browsing).
The earliest 2G Network operated download at only 14.4Kbps whereas the new 5G Network is capable of a download speed of 20Gbps. Most UK Networks still operate with 3G or 4G – download speed up to 1Gbps.
Mobile Broadband is often described as being the only real alternative to fixed line services because it has the advantage of being both affordable and widely available, from almost anywhere, to a significant portion of the UK population (around 98% if you believe the operators). Best value monthly packages typically come with lengthy contract periods of 18 to 24 months
In urban areas, there can be problems as the network becomes overloaded due to high demand from the many people using smart phones, like Blackberries and iPhones, to access the internet. The signal comes from masts, currently fed by microwave. Masts are powerful radio transmitters and receivers which allow mobile phones and computers to connect to the internet or mobile phone networks. When fibre connects to all masts, this will improve speed connectivity. And there are high expectations for 5G.
Fixed Wireless Broadband? WiFi? 802?
Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) providers (Wireless ISPs – WISPs) use specific frequencies of the radio spectrum to transmit their signals through the air (radio waves) and in a similar way to how mobile phone networks operate, doing away with wires. Most wireless ISPs only offer very limited coverage in specific/niche areas (e.g. rural villages), although their price and performance tends to be good.
WISP’s typically come in two different forms, a ‘Fixed’ wide-area network or a ‘Hotspot’. Fixed networks are stationary and designed to deliver internet access over wide areas to homes or businesses, while Hotspots are cheaper localised methods of internet access that have been designed to cover smaller areas (e.g. train stations, restaurants).
Commonly known as “WiFi”, most fixed wireless systems use the technology based upon IEEE 802.11. Even faster routers are now available using 4G and 5G wireless technology.
satellite broadband? geo? GSO? LEO? MEO? Latency?
Satellite Broadband is the third main category of Broadband – after Fixed Line and Mobile – and is useful for those who don’t have access to traditional fixed line broadband or wireless/mobile Broadband – typically, households in rural and remote areas of the UK.
Satellite broadband is transmitted using a wireless connection via a satellite dish, similar to those you use for satellite TV. The difference is that with a satellite internet service, you can send and receive information.
GEO means Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit and is essentially the same as GSO (Geo Stationary Orbit). MEO is Medium Earth Orbit, LEO means Low Earth Orbit.
- GEO – one satellite, highest latency
- MEO – 8 to 20 satellites, lower latency
- LEO – 100 + satellites, lowest latency.
The main advantage is that almost all the UK has Satellite Coverage, which means pretty much guaranteed access to Broadband (and of course coverage is available outside the UK for second homes or businesses with international branches). Satellite Broadband speeds are getting faster, and in many cases match Fixed and Wireless options.
Disadvantages include the need for a Satellite Dish or Antenna (cost and possible planning permission needed), a specialised modem or router, the cost of a survey to establish the viability of the service, an installation cost and higher latency – meaning delays in transmission time – and some Satellite services are not able to allocate a UK based static Internet Protocol (IP) address to your connection – meaning some ip based online services cannot be accessed.
Leased Line? Full Fibre? EFM? EOFTTC? GEA? Line speed? Bearer Speed? Router? P2P?
A leased line is a dedicated, point to point symmetrical fixed-bandwidth data connection. It provides reliable, high-quality internet connection with guarantees of upload and download speed, uptime and resilience. Leased lines are available from over 5,000 locations (POPs) throughout the UK.
“Leased” refers to the connection which is rented by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) directly to a business, resulting in a service above and beyond what standard broadband provides. Some installation work will be necessary.
Nowadays, the leased line is normally fibre optic and FTTP, and is suited to businesses that require high broadband speeds to drive – for example – their Cloud based CRM, VOIP and other data hungry applications.
Full Fibre – means a direct, superfast ethernet connection over 100% fibre optic cables from the business premises to the ISP (Internet Service Provider). Highest price, fastest speed – 1Gbps +
EFM – Ethernet in the First Mile – uses the traditional copper network with paired copper wires (more resilience) to deliver a connection to a business, then a full fibre ethernet connection from the Exchange. Used where no Cabinet is available.
EoFTTC (Ethernet over FTTC) and GEA (Generic Ethernet Access) – connect to a Cabinet and then to the premises via paired copper wires. Cheapest option but generally not as fast as Full Fibre or EFM.
P2P – (Point to Point) is provided to share internal data between two business customer locations, and is usually delivered by an Ethernet leased line
Leased Line Speed/Bearer Speed – are two numbers separated by “/” and are intended to define the operating capability of a leased line. The first number is the Line Speed – effectively the minimum speed “guaranteed” for both upload and download (normally in Mbps): the second number is the Bearer Speed which gives a thoretical Maximum download Speed. So, as an example, 20/80 would indicate an operating upload and download speed of 20Mbps (symmetrical) which could be later increased as required (at higher cost) to a maximum of 80Mbps.
Not to be confused with Broadband quotes where the first number is Download speed and the second Upload Speed.
Is an ISP Router Necessary? A managed router from the ISP is not always necessary but it will allow the provider to better understand the business traffic priorities and to advise or instigate some plans to improve efficiency.
SIP trunk? PBX? PSTN? channel?
SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol and this is the accepted way to manage and terminate multimedia sessions, including voice, video and messaging over the internet.
A “Trunk” was a traditional group of physical cables carrying phone lines that would link from a local business telephone exchange (PBX) to the main exchange (PSTN).
A SIP Trunk replaces traditional phone lines and is a virtual link between an office PBX and PSTN using a broadband internet connection. The term “Trunk” remains but the modern equivalent SIP Trunk contains a number of “channels”, which are essentially virtual versions of old fashioned telephone lines. Each SIP channel supports one incoming or outgoing call at a time.
A SIP Trunk controls all incoming and outgoing calls from the business and offers a range of additional features essential for a working internet environment. Of crtitical importance to a business are the number of channels available in a SIP Trunk, which should be sufficient to meet expected call traffic requirements. Put simply, the more channels, the higher the cost, but upgrading to more channels is a simple and quick process.
Hosted PBX? Virtual PBX? Cloud PBX?
Hosted PBX is a managed service that replaces a company’s physical Private Branch Exchange (PBX) on an on-premises location to an off-site data center (Cloud), where the responsibility for installing, managing, monitoring, troubleshooting and upgrading the PBX falls to a third-party provider rather than an in-house IT team.
Virtual PBX, Cloud PBX and hosted voice are all other names used/associated with Hosted PBX.
The main difference between Hosted PBX and SIP trunking is that a third-party provider maintains the servers for your hosted PBX phone system, whereas SIP trunking requires on-premise hardware, including a physical PBX “box”. Modern ip PBXs – like the one shown – can handle up to 1000 users and up to 150 concurrent calls.
In many cases, this is an ideal opportunity for Businesses to upgrade to Fibre Optic, remove old hardware – such as their outdated high maintenance PBX equipment – and move to a Cloud solution for their telephony needs.
Hosted Telephony? Cloud telephony? MPLS?
A cloud telephony system (hosted telephony) is one that sits in a network data centre, rather than at your premises and may well connect to Hosted PBX (see above).
The system is managed through a web interface or mobile app, and outgoing calls are made over the service through the device data connection. Hosted telephony does away with the need to maintain and upgrade a telephone system on site or over multiple sites. Hosted or Cloud Telephony provides the full features and functionality of a modern comms platform without the need for a physical Telephone System, although Home and Office use requires dedicated ip handsets.
These services use VoIP technology and convert voice into data, allowing calls to be sent and received via an internet connection rather than over traditional PSTN telephone and ISDN lines. They are a good choice for small and large businesses, call centres and customer support departments, and can replace traditional ADSL in Homes and Offices.
MPLS – Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a routing technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, thus avoiding complex lookups in a routing table and speeding traffic flows. The labels identify virtual links (paths) between distant nodes rather than endpoints.
General Observations + Recommendations
Home Fixed Broadband
If you want a traditional set up at home with a main handset for making and receiving calls and with a broadband router connected by cable to your wall socket, there are several options available.
You will need a modern ip phone (handset – like the one shown) and we would recommend a contract or package which gives unlimited FREE local calls. If you want to make international calls you would need to check the package. It may be cheaper to use a prepaid VOIP solution.
Is SoGEA the best bet? Not necessarily. Remember there is no landline number provided – only fast Broadband.
For more info and choices based upon your location in the UK, please complete our Broadband Enquiry Form which provides the information we need for your FREE report.
Business Fixed Broadband
The trend for Business is very much moving towards Cloud Solutions – such as CRM and Hosted PBX – and as these programmes become more and more sophisticated, they require faster and wider bandwidth. High speed Fixed Broadband via Leased Lines and other dedicated optic cable solutions can arguably offer more reliability for the bandwidth required for the larger businesses to connect to the PSTN. * A number of new UK companies such as City Fibre and Community Fibre have raised significant amounts of capital for localised or community cable, with multi Gb broadband, to specific areas and this should lead to a general reduction in FTTP and FTTC prices.
However, since 95% of the potential market is in the small business category, where bandwidth requirements are not so massive, Fixed Broadband can often be replaced by 4G/5G Mobile Business Broadband, with no reduction in SLA and “uptime guarantees”. Benefits include reduced cost and good coverage. it really depends upon the business size, location and specialist requirements.
For more info and choices based upon your location in the UK, please complete our Broadband Enquiry Form which provides the information we need for your FREE report.
Home Wireless Broadband
There is no reason to keep a Fixed Line connection when Mobile Broadband is widely available in the UK, offering both fast internet access and telephone calls (with packages that include unlimited FREE local calls) often at cheaper prices.
One way to access Mobile Broadband is by simply plugging in a dongle or USB stick to your laptop or other device as shown in the picture. A MiFi device would allow up to 10 simultaneous users. To make and receive telephone calls would normally require a VOIP solution and a softphone app.
For more info and choices based upon your location in the UK, please complete our Broadband Enquiry Form
Business Wireless Broadband
The advance in Bandwidth technology – currently 4G and with 5G available for very fast download speeds – means that most businesses should carefully consider the possible benefits of Business Wireless or Mobile Broadband.
Location is particularly important, as “line of sight” to the nearest Mobile Mast can make a huge difference to the speeds achieved: since 5G is more affected by obstacles – such as buildings and walls – a site survey is highly recommended and additional antennae may be required. However, if the location and survey are positive, prices will be significantly lower than for the Fixed Broadband equivalent.
For more info and choices based upon your location in the UK, please complete our Broadband Enquiry Form
Home Satellite Broadband
The most common reasons for installing Satellite Broadband are because either the reception for Mobile Network signals in a given location is too weak or there is no public or community landline/cable network that exists in the area.
Modern satellite broadband offers a fast connection, suitable for most purposes including the making of and receiving phonecalls through a suitable VOIP provider. Plus the service can be used as a backup (redundancy) to a fibre based or mobile/wireless service.
For more info and choices based upon your location in the UK, please complete our Broadband Enquiry Form.
Business Satellite Broadband
There is a good argument for considering Business Satellite Broadband, not least because it offers redundancy if the Fixed Line or Wireless connections go down.
Another reason is the wide area coverage outside the UK, which would be important for companies with employees travelling abroad or resident abroad who would need a 24/7 secure data connection. For example, EUTel’s Tooway Satellites cover most of Europe and countries bordering the Meditteranean.
And GEO satellites are essential components of a Fleet Management System.
For more info and choices based upon your location in the UK, please complete our Broadband Enquiry Form.
