How to choose business broadband. Engineering-led decision logic.
Six honest questions that lead to the right product for your operation. FTTP vs FTTC vs leased line, real speed requirements, when failover matters, static IPs, multi-carrier resilience. No marketing fluff — engineering reality.
Six questions to answer before signing anything.
What's available at your postcode?
Start here. UK fibre rollout is uneven — urban cores have multiple carriers, suburbs have one or two, rural areas may have FTTC or nothing. Check Openreach, CityFibre, and local alt-nets. Use the coverage checker for an honest area summary, then book a free site survey for the definitive answer.
What speed do you actually need?
Honest rule of thumb: 10Mbps per simultaneous user for general office work, +5Mbps per concurrent video call, +10-20% headroom for cloud uploads and bursts. A 20-person video-heavy office typically needs 200-400Mbps. A 5-person browsing/email office runs fine on 50-100Mbps. Don't pay for headline speeds you'll never use.
Do you need 4G/5G failover?
For any UK business where 2-4 hours of broadband downtime hurts: yes. Multi-network SIMs (EE/Vodafone/O2/Three) take over automatically when primary fails. Sub-second cutover. Card payments, VoIP and cloud apps survive any outage. Cost £25-50/month. Pays for itself the first time it activates.
Static IP or dynamic?
Static IP needed for: VPN setups (site-to-site or remote worker), hosted services accessible externally, IP-whitelisted VoIP, CCTV remote viewing, specific compliance. Most business plans include 1 static IP. If you need multiple (web server + mail server + remote access on separate IPs), ask for a /29 (5 usable) or /28 (13 usable) block.
FTTP or leased line?
FTTP for 95% of UK SMEs. Faster install (7-14 days vs 30-90), 3-10× cheaper monthly, modern fibre. Leased line only when you need contractually-guaranteed bandwidth, symmetric heavy-upload, or financial-services SLAs. For most operations, FTTP + 4G/5G failover delivers leased-line-like effective uptime at FTTP price.
Contract length and CPI rises?
Standard contracts 12/24/36 months. 24-month is sweet spot. Critical: most major UK providers add CPI+3.9% mid-contract rises — your year-2 bill is 7-8% higher than year-1. Read the contract for: notice period, mid-contract rise terms, early-exit fees, what 'business hours' means for SLA fix times. Telexico contracts lock pricing for the term.
Review my current setup.
Not ready to switch yet? Send us your current contracts, bills, or photos of your existing equipment. We'll review what you have, what you're paying, and where you could simplify, consolidate or improve — without any pressure to buy anything from us.
We benchmark your existing broadband, phones, mobile and IT against current UK market pricing and what your business actually needs.
Real engineer review of your current connectivity, voice setup, WiFi, security and continuity — strengths, gaps, and where you're overpaying or underprotected.
We tell you honestly what's available at your postcode — FTTP, leased line, alt-net carriers — and which makes commercial sense for your operation.
For businesses still on ISDN or aging on-premises PBX — an honest cost-and-feature comparison before the 2027 BT switch-off forces a rushed decision.
No hard sell. No fixed package pressure. If we're not a better fit, we'll tell you straight — and recommend what is.
Frequently asked questions
Should my business use FTTP, FTTC, or leased line?
Default answer for most UK SMEs in 2026: FTTP if it's available at your postcode, FTTC as fallback if not, leased line only if specific operational requirements justify it. FTTP gives you symmetric or near-symmetric fibre speeds at typical £40-120/month for business plans. FTTC is older copper-to-cabinet plus fibre-to-exchange, usually 40-80Mbps down / 10-20Mbps up. Leased line is dedicated bandwidth with contractual SLAs, but 3-10× the cost. For typical operations, FTTP plus 4G/5G failover beats FTTC on speed and beats leased line on cost-per-Mbps. Use the coverage checker to see what's available at your postcode.
What broadband speed does my business actually need?
Honest rule of thumb: 10Mbps per simultaneous user for general office work (email, web, document collaboration), plus 5Mbps per concurrent video call, plus headroom for cloud uploads/downloads. A 20-person office heavy on Teams/Zoom video typically needs 200-400Mbps to feel responsive. A small office with mostly browsing/email can run fine on 50-100Mbps. The number marketing leads with (e.g. 1Gbps FTTP) is the maximum capacity, not what you'll experience — actual usage depends on your team's traffic mix.
Why is business broadband more expensive than home?
Three substantive reasons. (1) Static IP — business plans typically include a fixed IP address; home plans don't. Required for VoIP, VPN, remote access, hosted services. (2) Business SLA — uptime guarantees with fix-time commitments. Home plans have no SLA. (3) Business-grade routing equipment — proper firewall, VLAN support, QoS configuration, multi-WAN failover capability. Home routers don't do these. The £20-50/month premium for business over equivalent-speed home is worth it for any business actually depending on the connection.
Do I need a static IP?
Probably yes. UK businesses need a static IP for: (1) Site-to-site VPN setup, (2) Remote-worker VPN access into your office network, (3) Hosting any service that's externally accessible (mail server, web server, ERP/CRM accessed remotely), (4) Some business VoIP setups that whitelist your IP, (5) CCTV remote viewing, (6) Specific industry requirements (compliance, banking, etc). Most Telexico business broadband plans include 1 static IP standard, with /29 (5 usable) or /28 (13 usable) blocks available for businesses needing multiple.
Should I get 4G/5G failover?
For any UK business where 2-4 hours of broadband downtime would hurt the operation: yes. 4G/5G failover is multi-network SIMs (switching between EE, Vodafone, O2, Three) that automatically take over when your primary broadband fails. Sub-second cutover means card payments keep working, VoIP calls don't drop, cloud apps stay accessible. Typical cost £25-50/month additional. For typical UK SMEs, failover pays for itself the first time it activates (one avoided downtime event covers years of failover subscription).
How long does business broadband install take?
Typical UK timelines in 2026: FTTP install 7-14 working days at urban/suburban locations where Openreach or alt-net fibre is already in the area. FTTC install 5-10 days. Leased line 30-90 days. Rural sites or locations needing new fibre runs to your premises: 30-90 days for FTTP, 60-120+ days for leased line. Major civil engineering work pushes timelines significantly. We provide realistic timelines in the proposal — no 'should be a few weeks' open-ended commitments.
What's the contract length?
Standard UK business broadband contracts are 12, 24, or 36 months. 24-month is typical sweet spot. Longer contracts get marginally better monthly pricing but lock you in longer. Most major UK providers add CPI+3.9% mid-contract rises — your year-2 monthly bill is 7-8% higher than year-1. Telexico contracts lock pricing for the contract term and don't auto-renew silently. Always read the contract for: notice period, mid-contract rise terms, early-exit fees, what 'business hours' means for SLA fix times.
Can I get multiple providers' fibre at the same site?
Yes — and it's often the right resilience answer for businesses where downtime cost is significant. Two FTTP connections from different carriers (e.g. Openreach + CityFibre, or Openreach + alt-net) with SD-WAN router gives bandwidth aggregation + automatic failover at lower cost than equivalent leased line. Not all postcodes have multiple carriers available — use the coverage checker to see what's at your postcode.
What about Starlink for business?
Starlink is genuinely useful for: (1) Rural sites where FTTP isn't and won't be available, (2) Construction sites needing temporary connectivity, (3) Remote operations far from fibre infrastructure, (4) Failover for sites that need genuine network-independent backup (Starlink uses satellites, completely independent of UK terrestrial network). Cost typically £75-100/month plus £450 hardware. Latency is good for non-real-time use (cloud apps, video calls fine); slightly higher than fibre for ultra-latency-sensitive use (high-frequency trading, competitive gaming). For most UK business sites with fibre availability, Starlink is failover-only, not primary.
Tailored around your business.
Send us your current setup. We'll review what you have, what you pay, and where we can simplify, consolidate or improve it — no hard sell, no fixed-package pressure.