Shared vs Dedicated Internet

Shared and dedicated broadband are two different types of internet access but the question we are asked a lot is which one is better. Well, that depends on a number of factors that will be covered in this article but before we get to that, let us talk about what each type means.

Shared Internet Line

Shared internet access is commonly used for homes and businesses and the chances are, you are probably using the internet on a shared line in your home. It basically means that there are a number of users using the same internet connection to access the internet. However, this does not mean that the speed is slow as the internet connection you have might be a superfast speed.

Dedicated Internet Line

Dedicated internet is a personal internet line that is solely for your use only where nobody else has access to it except for people using your line i.e. staff members etc. This means that you will receive the full speed at any time even at peak internet times during the day. Obviously, this does depend on how many users you have under you and what they are doing on the web i.e. downloading or sending extremely large files.


Points To Consider Choosing Shared Or Dedicated Lines

When choosing between dedicated or shared internet for an office space or business there are a number of things to take into consideration, as both types can be as good as the other. These considerations include bandwidth, the amount of users, speed, and type of use. Below are the different factors in more detail.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is a metric term for the internet speed and is also referred to as megabytes per second (Mbps) which normally varies between 2 – 100 Mbps. On a dedicated line, the Mbps is quite low as that is all it requires due to fewer users. Shared lines normally have a larger Mbps as there are a greater number of users. It is important to note that only demanding companies such as media or film companies need a high bandwidth due to heavy download and upload requirements. A box standard company using the internet solely for emails and general internet browsing will probably not even notice the difference.

Amount Of Users

For both types of internet access, this point is probably worth consideration. If there is an extremely large amount of businesses using a shared connection in an office rental building then it is more than likely that the shared line has a very high bandwidth that will cope. If the speed is not high though, then slow internet speeds are probably going to be noticed by companies in the commercial property. However, just because the speed is not that high does not mean that you will experience a slow connection. There are actually a number of ways to overcome this problem and that is to have a few shared lines in the building with a certain amount of users for each line. In general, a lot of well-established office providers and IT companies do a fairly good job at achieving good speeds and it is obviously in their best interest to do so as they would probably go out of business if they didn’t.

For dedicated lines, unless you have a large organisation or demanding internet use then this issue should not be a problem. If in doubt though, when it comes to choosing a dedicated line there will normally be someone who will go through your company requirements anyway in order to recommend the best speed to go for.

Type of Use

The type of use refers to what you plan to use the internet for and how demanding your requirements are. For everyday emails and frequent browsing, a dedicated and shared line is normally fine. However, for heavy downloads and uploads for example films and very large amounts of images or data, then a higher speed is recommended. As mentioned before, unless you are a film or media company then it is more than likely that you will need a high bandwidth and therefore it is worth speaking to one of our professionals regarding this.


Summary

To summarize everything, in our opinion there is not much difference for the average company or business to use either shared or dedicated lines. However, this does depend on the considerations mentioned above on whether it will be right for your organisation. For more information on what would be right for your business or if you would like to discuss your Internet requirement, feel free to contact us and we would be glad to help.