So you’ve ordered your office furniture, selected your new wastepaper bin, selected your weekly flower subscription, and are all set for your big office move next week….

 Oh no… Do you also need an internet connection by next week? Is this possible? Perhaps not.

 Many businesses are unaware of the complexities involved in moving or installing an internet connection. It should also be noted that not all services are available everywhere, and that these things can take some time to plan.

WHAT TYPE OF CONNECTION?

Different connection types serve different purposes and are priced differently. It is important to consider minimising downtime or having a backup service to fall back on if complications arise. Especially if your company relies on the internet to accept payments, monitor CCTV, or provide services to customers.

Fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband is becoming more common, but it is not yet available everywhere.

We’ve had customers who wanted to order FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) or FTTP services that were available locally but couldn’t seem to progress for some reason. This can sometimes occur when the local green cabinet or serving exchange is at full capacity, i.e. no spare ports are available to connect new users to.

When this happens, a customer could be waiting an unknown amount of time for space to become available, and even if you do wait, someone else may beat you to it.

We recommend that you speak with your service provider or communications partner as soon as possible to explore options and evaluate the situation when renewing, reviewing, moving, expanding, or relocating. The last thing anyone wants is NO CONNECTIVITY.

BROADBAND 

As long as there is sufficient capacity and infrastructure in place, a typical broadband service (fibre or copper) can usually be provided in a week or two. ADSL, FTTC, and SOGEA are examples of copper-delivered broadband services. If a new physical line is required, it could take around 9-15 working days.

For FTTP, if you already have an ONT (Optical Network Termination point) in your property, activation could take between 5-10 working days after your order is placed and accepted by the provider.

If you do not have an ONT and FTTP is available locally, but work is required to connect your premises, this could take around 33 working days. It could take longer due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure work (duct and fibre) and local engineer availability.

DEDICATED INTERNET

Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) or Ethernet Access Direct (EAD) services are usually the type of service used by organisations where uptime is mission critical or they need a larger number of users, such as large school, college, council or business where downtime is not an option. Compared to broadband these can take quite a lot longer to deploy.  

Typical lead times can be anything from 20-40 days but sometimes up to around 120 working days depending on the location, service provider, and complexity of the installation. 

THINGS TO CONSIDER

• Availability: In many rural places especially, decent internet connections can be scarce. However there are some rural broadband operators who provide their own fibre and Fibre to the premise is being offered where feasible and there is sufficient demand.  Dedicated internet needs the right type of infrastructure. This includes ducts,  network connecting wire, fibre, cable, and specialised network equipment in the exchange/node.

• Permits and regulations: A dedicated internet connection may require local permits and adhere to laws which may add to the time to deliver. Backlogs: If dedicated internet connections are in great demand, installations may be delayed. This can delay the connection too.

• Technical difficulties: Before connecting, technical issues may develop during installation. These can include equipment and wiring concerns.

• Quality Checks: installation may require additional quality checks before activation. which may take time.

• Wayleaves – permission from landowners can sometimes be required to provide connectivity on their land. If digging is required the landlord would need to approve, and this can occasionally be refused if it affects aesthetics of the property.

• Planning – Council meetings are held periodically to discuss planned road closures and or traffic management. These can also be a factor in time to install. Depending on the frequency of these meetings, they may not get heard until the next session which can add time.

• Desk survey / site survey – in some cases a desk based survey will be sufficient to progress an order, other times a physical survey may be required to assess the situation which can add to the order journey time.

As noted above, there are a number of factors that can cause an internet connection to take longer than initially expected.  In some cases a provider or comms partner such as HM Network,  may be able to provide an alternative connection type such as 4G/5G, as a temporary solution while your required service is being installed.  There are also satellite internet services available that can be set up in a relatively short amount of time but can be subject to equipment and setup fees,  fair usage policies and varying levels of contention.

 We are always happy to talk to our customers to explore options for them.