How to compare business connectivity providers: reliability, resilience and support
The right connectivity partner can improve network resilience, minimise downtime, support business growth and help ensure critical sites stay connected when issues arise. It's worth choosing carefully because you'll work with them for the whole of the contract. This guide explains how mid-sized and enterprise organisations in the UK can compare business connectivity providers. If you're still determining the most suitable type of connection, our guides to business broadband vs leased lines and our connectivity checklist provide a useful starting point. Here, we focus on the factors that differentiate providers, including reliability, resilience, support, scalability and business continuity, along with a practical scorecard to help you decide. Start with what your business needs from a provider The easiest way to run a fair service comparison is to agree your requirements before you speak to anyone. When every proposal is judged against the same list, it's much harder for a polished sales pitch to outweigh the detail that matters to your teams. We'd suggest capturing five things: Your sites, and how critical each one is. A head office, a data centre and a small branch need different levels of protection, so give each site a priority level. The applications that depend on the network. Cloud platforms, voice, payments and video all behave differently when a connection slows down. With the PSTN switch-off due to finish by January 2027, your phone lines and alarm or lift lines will rely on your data network too. What an hour of downtime costs you. Our guide to the true cost of downtime for UK businesses can help you put a figure on it, and RTO and RPO targets tell you how quickly each service needs to be back. Where you're heading. New sites, acquisitions, more hybrid working or heavier cloud use all change what you'll need over the life of the contract. Our guide to planning a scalable UK network covers this in more depth. Your compliance and contractual commitments. If you promise uptime to your own customers, or work in a regulated sector, your provider's service levels need to support those promises. Once you've got this list, turn it into weighted criteria. You'll find a ready-made scorecard further down this guide. How to compare network reliability between providers Reliability starts with the network itself. Ask each provider whether they run their own core network, and how many access networks they can connect your sites through. A provider with interconnects to several national and regional fibre networks can choose the best route for each site, rather than fitting every location to one network. It also gives them more options when a site needs a second, diverse connection. Ask where your traffic goes too. If your sites talk to each other or to a data centre, you'll usually get more consistent performance when that traffic stays on the provider's own network for as much of its route as possible. Check resilience and continuity readiness Even the most reliable circuit can be cut by roadworks or a power failure at an exchange. Resilience is about keeping your sites connected when that happens, so ask each provider to show you how they'd design around single points of failure at your most important locations. A true backup takes a different physical path from your main connection. Two circuits that share the same duct, cabinet or exchange can fail together, so ask for route diversity to be confirmed in the design. For many sites, a backup over a different technology, such as a 4G or 5G data plan, is a sensible way to add a separate path. The table below compares common resilience designs to help you match the level of protection to each site. Resilience design How it works Typically suits Single circuit with 4G or 5G backup Traffic switches to a mobile connection if the fixed line fails Small offices, branches and retail stores Two circuits from one provider on diverse routes Separate physical paths into the building, managed by one provider Regional offices and busy sites Two circuits over different access networks Each circuit runs over a separate underlying network, removing a shared point of failure Head offices, contact centres and data centres SD-WAN across mixed connections Traffic is steered across several links automatically, based on performance Multi-site estates and cloud-heavy organisations Ask about the provider's own continuity plans Your connectivity is part of your business continuity plan, so your provider's own readiness matters too. Ask whether they hold ISO 22301 certification for business continuity, how often they test their recovery plans, and how they keep you updated during a major incident. It's also worth asking whether they'll take part in your own continuity exercises. If you're mapping where connectivity sits in your wider plans, our guides to business dependencies in continuity and disaster recovery vs business continuity can help. You can also explore our business continuity services. Look closely at how support works Support is where you'll feel the difference between connectivity providers most, often at the moments that matter. Ask each provider to walk you through exactly what happens when a circuit goes down at 2am on a Sunday, from the first alert to the fix. These are the questions we'd ask: Who spots the fault first? With proactive 24/7 monitoring, the provider often knows about a problem before your users do and can raise it with the carrier straight away. Who owns the fault from start to finish? If your provider manages the underlying carriers on your behalf, you have one number to call and one team accountable for the fix. Where is the support team, and what hours do they work? Check that the team handling your faults is available at the times your sites operate. How do escalations work? Ask for a named escalation path, and whether you'll have an account manager or service manager who knows your estate. If you'd rather hand day-to-day network management to a specialist, managed IT services and network intelligence tools can give your team clearer visibility with less effort. Our questions to ask before choosing an MSP cover the wider managed service relationship. Plan for scalability and contract flexibility Your needs will change during the contract, so look for connectivity solutions that can change with them. A good starting point is to ask how bandwidth upgrades work. With fibre ethernet, you can often scale bandwidth up on the existing circuit, which is quicker and simpler than ordering a new line. Our guide to how much internet speed your business needs can help you size each site today. It's also worth checking how easily you can add, move or close sites. Ask whether new sites can be added on terms that line up with your existing contract end date, so your whole estate comes up for renewal at the same time. That makes your next review far simpler. Finally, think about how your wide area network will grow. If you're moving away from MPLS or adding security at the network edge, a provider that offers SD-WAN and managed SD-WAN alongside the circuits can support each step without a change of supplier. Our guide to evaluating SD-WAN explains the options in more detail. Treat your provider as a key supplier in your security plans Your data, calls and cloud traffic travel over your provider's network every day, which makes them one of your most important suppliers. The government's Cyber security breaches survey 2025 found that 45% of large businesses and 32% of medium businesses formally review the risks posed by their immediate suppliers. Building that review into your provider selection puts you in a stronger position from day one. The NCSC's supply chain security guidance sets out principles for understanding and managing supplier risk, and it's a helpful framework for your evaluation. For connectivity, we'd focus on these areas: Certifications that are independently audited, such as ISO 27001 for information security and Cyber Essentials Plus. How the provider meets its legal security duties. Public telecoms providers in the UK have security duties under the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021, supported by the government's Telecommunications security code of practice, so ask how they apply it to the services you're buying. Security built into the service, such as DDoS protection and firewall management. How they'd support you during a cyber incident, and how quickly they'd share information that affects your services. If you'd like one partner for both your network and your security, take a look at our cyber security services. A scorecard for comparing business connectivity providers A weighted scorecard keeps your service comparison objective and gives you a clear record of why you chose a provider. Score each provider from 1 to 5 against each criterion, multiply by the weighting, and add up the totals. The weightings below are a starting point, so adjust them to match your own priorities. Criterion Suggested weighting What good evidence looks like Network reliability 25% Own core network, wide choice of access networks, clear SLA schedule with committed fix times Resilience and continuity 20% Confirmed route diversity, backup options for every site type, ISO 22301 certification Support 20% 24/7 proactive monitoring, end-to-end fault ownership, named escalation path, customer portal Scalability and flexibility 15% Bandwidth upgrades on existing circuits, co-terminous site additions and SD-WAN options Security and compliance 10% ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus, a clear approach to telecoms security duties Commercials 10% Transparent pricing, including installation and excess construction charges, with fair exit terms Six steps to a confident provider selection Document your sites, applications, downtime costs and growth plans. Shortlist providers and share the same written requirements with each one. Ask for a site-by-site design showing availability, proposed connections and route diversity. Review case studies and speak to customers with a similar size and spread of sites. Score each proposal against your weighted scorecard, then review the SLA schedule and contract terms in detail. Agree a migration plan that protects live services, especially for sites with phone, alarm or lift lines affected by the PSTN switch-off. If you buy through public sector routes, check which procurement frameworks each provider is on, as this can save you time at step two. How we help you choose the right connectivity We run our own core network, with interconnects to national and alternative fibre networks across the UK. That means we can design each of your sites around the access network that suits it best, add diverse routes where you need them, and keep traffic between your sites on our network. Our intelligent network connectivity covers everything from leased lines and fibre ethernet at up to 10Gbps to business broadband, SD-WAN and managed LAN and WiFi, all backed by 24/7 support. We hold ISO 22301, ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus, alongside the other certifications listed on our site, and we're a supplier on Government Commercial Agency (formerly Crown Commercial Service) frameworks. You can see how we've supported organisations such as Manchester City Council, The Entertainer and Costain in our case studies. If you're comparing business connectivity providers for your next contract, talk to us. We'll review your sites, share a design with clear SLAs and help you build the business case. Frequently asked questions What should I look for in a business connectivity provider? Look at five areas: network reliability, resilience, support, scalability and security. In practice, that means a provider with its own core network and a wide choice of access networks, confirmed route diversity, 24/7 proactive monitoring, flexible bandwidth upgrades and independently audited certifications such as ISO 27001 and ISO 22301. How do I compare business internet services from different providers? Share the same written requirements with every provider, then score their proposals with a weighted scorecard. Compare the SLA schedules line by line, including how availability is measured, committed fix times and service credits, so you're comparing like for like and looking beyond the headline price. What's a good uptime SLA for business connectivity? It depends on the site. Leased lines typically come with availability SLAs of 99.95% or higher, which allows about 4.4 hours of downtime a year. Business broadband SLAs are usually lower. Match the SLA to how critical each site is and add a backup connection where downtime would be costly. What's the difference between response time and fix time in an SLA? Response time is how quickly an engineer starts working on a fault. Fix time is how quickly your service is restored. Fix time has the bigger impact on your business, so check whether it's a committed time or a target, and whether it applies around the clock. How can I make my business connectivity more resilient? Add a backup connection that takes a different physical route from your main line, ideally over a different technology such as 4G or 5G, or over a separate access network. SD-WAN can then switch traffic between connections automatically, so your sites stay online if one link fails. Should I use one connectivity provider or several? One provider managing all your sites gives you a single point of contact, one set of SLAs and end-to-end fault ownership. A provider with interconnects to several access networks can still give you diverse connections, so you get resilience without managing several suppliers yourself. Does the PSTN switch-off affect my choice of provider? Yes. Once the PSTN switch-off completes in January 2027, phone lines, alarms, lift lines and payment terminals that used copper lines will rely on your data connections. Your connectivity provider should help you identify these services and plan their move to digital alternatives as part of your migration.
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