01380 888 088
01380 888 088
ADSL/SDSL Ethernet First Mile (EFM) Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) Bonded Broadband Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) Satellite Broadband
BROADBAND
As the Internet continues to play a pivotal and ever increasing role in the education of students, the demand for a safe, secure and responsive Education Broadband solution has become a necessity.
​
Combining fast speeds, unlimited bandwidth and innovative technology with BECTA approved webfiltering and essential threat protection an OIS School Broadband package is tailor made for the Education sector.
​
Fast, safe and reliable. Three key components of a good school Internet connectivity package.
Getting the correct broadband connection is an essential element of your school’s broadband provision. If you are not sure which connection is right for your school, our experienced consultants will be able to determine the best options available to you. We are able to provide connections from a number of approved providers including BT and Virgin Media, with connections up to 1000Mbps.
We are also able to use our unique OIS bonding technology to provide fast broadband connections in poor broadband locations or to provide extremely fast broadband connections by bonding Fibre to the Cabinet lines.
VIEW OUR BROADBAND OPTIONS
ADSL/SDSL
ADSL is an abbreviation of asymmetric digital subscriber line – which basically refers to broadband through a telephone line. A characteristic of an ADSL connection is that the movement of data is greater in one direction than it is in the other – hence the name ‘asymmetric’. Typically download speeds are considerably greater than upload speeds. As a consequence, ADSL broadband is usually marketed towards standard Internet customers who rely on downloads but have little need for large or constant uploads. ADSL broadband is widely available in the UK – with 99% coverage.
Range of speeds
​
The speed of your ADSL connection can vary depending on your location. Much like your home broadband you will be connected to the Internet directly via a local exchange. Upload speeds are considerably lower than download speeds and as such we cannot offer a guaranteed speed but typically we expect a rural setting to experience up to 5Mbps download and up to 0.8Mbps upload speed. In a town or urban environment speeds are expected to achieve up to 19.5Mbps download and up to 1.5Mbps for upload.
​
Who is this service type ideal for?
​
Single ADSL solutions are well suited to small businesses or institutions with a very limited I.T. budget as they are widely available which often means there will be minimal, if any, extra requirement to route additional cabling to your site.
ETHERNET FIRST MILE (EFM)
Ethernet First Mile is a lower-cost version of a leased line service. Ethernet First Mile provides a high-speed symmetrical Internet connection. Ethernet First Mile is a relatively new solution and UK availability is low. However telco’s are working to improve availability of the service.
How Does Ethernet First Mile Work?
​
Unlike a standard leased line, Ethernet First Mile uses existing copper lines to connect your premises to the local exchange instead of fibre. This means it is quicker, easier and cheaper to install. Because Ethernet First Mile uses standard copper lines that are already installed in the ground it means that excess construction charges, which can be tens of thousands of pounds, are eliminated in most cases.
​
What Speeds Can I Expect?
​
An Ethernet First Mile leased line solution can provide dedicated Internet access speeds ranging from 2Mbps up to 10Mbps. As it is a symmetric connection the download and uploads speeds will be equal.
FIBRE TO THE PREMISES (FTTP)
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) provides an end-to-end fibre optic connection to the Internet. As the full distance from the exchange to your site is connected via fibre cable there is no copper lag resulting in much higher speeds. FTTP will also provide a symmetrical connection to the Internet meaning upload and download speeds are the same.
What Speeds can I expect?
​
When choosing a FTTP service you must first choose the bearer size, which will dictate the maximum capacity of the line installed. You will then be able to choose a speed “cap” within that bearer, usually in 10Mbps or 100Mbps chunks. E.g. a 100Mbps bearer will provide a maximum upload and download speed of 100Mbps, usually advertised as a 100/100 line. If you have a 100Mbps bearer installed but only require 50Mbps upload and download then the line will be capped and the price will be lower. This would be advertised as a 50/100 line.
​
As the initial installation costs can be high and lead times ranging up to 90 working days, if you are considering a FTTP service it is important to have a 3-5 year technology plan in your mind so that you can ensure the bearer size is correct. You wouldn’t want to replace your 100Mbps fibre line in a year or two because you needed a 200Mbps connection. It would be much more cost effective to purchase a 1000Mbps bearer and cap it at 100Mbps for the first year or so.
​
Who is this service type ideal for?
​
FTTP is an absolute must have for a lot of secondary schools, colleges and universities, particularly as the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture grows. Some primary schools who are in an “on net” location in the UK could also benefit from a FTTP connection at a very appealing price.
BONDED BROADBAND
Bonded Broadband – the right way to combine multiple connections
What is OIS Internet Bonding?
The OIS Internet Bonding solution involves having multiple broadband lines installed at your premises and using specialist OIS bonding equipment to link them together. The bonding equipment splits the Internet data up at a packet level, then sends it across all of your available broadband lines. The data is then put back together again using the core OIS bonding equipment within the Private Network. The data is then sent to the Internet. This process occurs for both uploading and downloading Internet data.
​
Why OIS Internet Bonding?
​
A number of providers advertise Internet bonding but are actually providing Internet load balancing. As shown in the load balancing diagram each user is only able to utilise the bandwidth of a single line. Our true bonding solution gives you the combined bandwidth from all of the lines.
​
Load Balancing compared to Bonded Broadband
​
Can my organisation benefit from Internet Bonding?
​
OIS Internet bonding is a cost effective, scalable Internet solution whether you are in a poorly connected broadband area or in a good one. Rural businesses who struggle to obtain a high quality Internet connection from one line alone will benefit hugely from OIS Internet bonding.
A faster Internet connection can allow access to cloud hosted solutions, VoIP telephone systems, video conferencing and other facilities previously impossible to use.
A large number of businesses in high quality broadband areas are also turning to an OIS bonded FTTC solution as an alternative to a FTTP line. A FTTP line can easily provide a 100Mbps symmetric Internet connection but typically costs tens of thousands of pounds per year in addition to potentially large open ended installation fees for any excess construction work..
As an alternative to a FTTP line a 100Mbps+ bonded FTTC connection could save 60% of the cost, with a low, fixed, installation fee.
​
​
​
Bonded Broadband
Bonded broadband involves the aggregation of all lines attached to the router so that both download and upload speeds are “bonded” together thus making it a considerably superior connection to a single or even load balanced connection.
With the Internet now taking leaps and bounds toward a far higher degree of interactive content with the addition of extra services like voice and video communications the combined bandwidth of a bonded connection has become a real alternative to the much higher cost leased lines that were once required. Additionally, in a rural setting where typical broadband speeds are much lower, bonding combines multiple slower lines into one fast connection.
​
​
​
Load Balancing
With load balancing, your broadband lines are connected to a special router that intelligently switches connection to an additional line when the bandwidth from a primary line is exceeded.
It sounds impressive, and perhaps technically it is, but one has to consider that load balancing still only utilises the same bandwidth available from a single line for each connection and as such there is no combined bandwidth.
​
​
​
FIBRE TO THE CABINET (FTTC)
FTTC stands for “Fibre to the Cabinet”. The ‘cabinet’ in “FTTC” refers to the roadside cabinets you see dotted around the UK (usually small green boxes). FTTC works in a similar way to the ADSL as it is also delivered over the telephone network. However, due to the lower resistance found in Fibre Optic lines (compared to copper lines) the connection between your local cabinet and the rest of the Internet is considerably faster. FTTC still uses a copper telephone line to connect your premises so there will be some, yet minimal, slowdown.
As this is still a relatively new technology it has not yet received nationwide coverage. FTTC may not be available to all customers but Telco providers are investing heavily to make this more available.
What speed can I expect from fibre broadband? (FTTC)
​
The speed of your connection will vary depending on the distance to the fibre cabinet that serves your premises. On average however OIS expects to see speeds up to 78Mbps download and 18Mbps upload.
​
Who is this service type ideal for?
​
FTTC services can be suitable for many organizations. Small to medium sized businesses and hotels will all benefit from a FTTC connection. However organisations that require good upload and download speeds may require further investment as FTTC is still an asymmetric connection, meaning that the upload speed is far poorer than the download speed. This can be overcome by investing in a FTTP service or using the OIS bonding technology both of which will improve download and upload speeds.
SATELLITE BROADBAND
Satellite broadband uses a satellite dish to provide two-way access to broadband services. The main advantage of satellite broadband is that it can be provided virtually anywhere in the world. It is becoming more popular in the UK, mainly to provide broadband coverage in rural locations.
What Speeds Can I Expect?
The latest satellite technology can provide up to 20Mbps download and up to 6Mbps upload speeds. However it is important to know that satellite connections carry a heavier latency rate, making the broadband seem slower when loading a website, particularly for the first time. For this reason satellite broadband is not considered a good solution for web based applications or Internet based telephone systems (VoIP)
​
Who is this type of service ideal for?
​
Despite being branded “unlimited” by the supplier satellite connectivity packages often have a fair use policy applied to them and as such satellite broadband needs to be carefully considered before adopting as a viable option.
​
Typically, if a user or organisation is excessively consuming resources and having a negative impact on other users their connection can be forced down to a lower speed for a defined period of time, usually for an hour or so but with some providers this could be for longer periods. For this reason we often advise that this would not be the best connection type for most businesses that use a large number of hosted applications, such as those provided to FSA regulated organisations due to the amount of latency experienced with the solution. Similarly, schools with a high number of students and a dependency on remote access for all students are also not advised to use a satellite package.
​
However, satellite broadband has been successfully improving over the years and can quite adequately provide a good, solid broadband connection for very small rural schools. If you are severely limited when it comes to connectivity choices and satellite broadband is a real contender OIS are happy to provide a free consultation to make sure that you get the right package – satellite or otherwise.