Rocket Speed Uploads and Downloads for your School

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Are you looking to improve your schools broadband?

Here at Unite 6 we can offer schools the fastest, superior leased line broadband for cheaper than any competitor, we can often even offer leased lines cheaper than your current FTTP or FTTC broadband. This is because we do not rely on spending lots of money on fancy ad campaigns and celebrity endorsements to sell our broadband services. We know how good our product is and we want our services to sell themselves. Why would you pay more to a huge company when you can support smaller local businesses which can offer the same for less.

So, what is a leased line?

A leased line is a private telecommunications circuit between two or more locations provided according to a commercial contract. It is sometimes also known as a private circuit, and as a data line in the UK. A leased line is also the highest grade and most business ready for all connectivity options. The other 3 options, one of which you most likely use already are; Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC), Ethernet over Fibre to the Cabinet (EoFTTC) and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP).

Broadband and leased lines connect to your business premises in different ways. They both still come through a cable, but the difference is to do with how they get to you. With the regular broadband package, you get your internet from the local cabinet, one of those green cabinets that you would see on the side of the road on your street. The green box will have many different cables, copper-wire or fibre that deliver internet to you. The difference comes with how cables are split as the internet gets to you. With regular broadband, the cable gets split between all the premises on your street using that broadband but with leased line, you will get a dedicated circuit that’s only used for you. Enabling for much faster internet as there is no sharing.

Schools face the challenge of large numbers of users which stresses most broadband systems leading to slower speeds. But with a leased line this will not happen. There is no reduced speed with higher numbers of users, and this is because your school is the only premises using that leased line giving you the maximum possible speed for your school.

With a leased line broadband, the upload and download speeds would be pretty much the same, seeing speeds of 100Mb to 1GB per second download speed that is up to 30x faster than other services. The leased line 100 package also allows a school to have the best in what security can offer as it includes: filtering for every device; filtering for pupils at home; reporting; firewall; SLA backed connectivity; and safeguarding training. These are all features directly aimed at schools and keeping pupils safe within the school environment. A great all round package for quality learning and safety.

If you would like anymore information regarding leased line broadband, please get in touch.

Leased Lines, The future of online learning?

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With the onset of COVID-19, online learning has come to the forefront of education, enabling students to still access high-quality education while isolating at home. The phenomena of online learning is not a new one, especially at higher education facilities such as universities. For many higher education institutions, the move to online lectures has reduced overhead costs such as maintaining teaching facilities. Even online meetings are increasing in popularity as it reduces travel costs and time lost from travelling while also reducing the carbon footprint of businesses. Due to the increased demand for online learning and virtual meetings, the use of leased lines has also increased significantly.

So, what is a leased line?
Here comes the nerdy answer, a leased line is a private telecommunications circuit between two or more locations provided according to a commercial contract. It is sometimes also known as a private circuit, and as a data line in the UK. Examples of this are Microsoft teams and Google classrooms. A leased-line is also the highest grade and most suited to business use for all connectivity options. The other 3 options, one of which you most likely already use are; Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC), Ethernet over Fibre to the Cabinet (EoFTTC) and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP).

In short, a leased line allows to the have private, secure and high-speed connection throughout your school organisation.

So, what’s the difference between leased lines and broadband?
Broadband and leased lines connect to your school premises in different ways. They both still come through a cable, but the difference is to do with how they get to you. With regular broadband packages, you get your internet from the local cabinet, one of those green cabinets that you would see on the side of the road on your street. The green box will have many different cables, copper-wire or fibre that deliver internet to you. The difference comes with how cables are split as the internet gets to you. With regular broadband, the cable gets split between all the premises on your street using that broadband but with a leased line, you will get a dedicated circuit that’s only used for you. Enabling you to access much faster internet as there is no sharing.

Digital and online learning services require consistent, reliable and fast internet speeds which is why so many schools have been struggling with internet connectivity issues during COVID-19. This issue is made worse by having multiple people using each household internet line, parents working from home, teenagers trying to learn and younger siblings playing computer games all put a huge strain on broadband services. But by using a leased line schools can avoid all these issues hence improving productivity, teaching experience and interactivity. By choosing a leased line your school internet will be much more capable of dealing with a large number of uses and vary demands that schools often face.

How much could a leased line improve our connectivity?
Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty! We’ll compare a leased line against regular broadband. First of all, the cost, one of the only downfalls of a leased line. A leased line will usually cost significantly more per month, however, at Unite 6 our price promise means we promise to find you the best possible value for your school’s specific needs, depending on the number of users and speeds required.

Now looking at speeds, there is simply no comparison, on leased lines, the connection speed can be incredibly high compared to normal broadband. Leased lines can see as high as 2GBps with usual broadband having a UK average of 64Mbps. That’s 30x faster for a leased line! Now that is astonishing!

Are there any disadvantages to using a leased line?
At Unite6 we believe that all schools who regularly use digital teaching tools and cloud services should consider using leased lines. Leased lines do require experienced IT and connectivity support from a provider who understands your specific security needs as a school. But at Unite 6 we specialise in providing telecommunications to schools and have extensive industry experience in the education sector, therefore we can provide expert specialised support for your school.

So, what are you waiting for? If you think a leased line might suit yourselves, why not get in touch?

Home working and Remote Learning

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Ensuring devices are secure wherever they are being used is of central importance to any modern school. In the current climate, more hacking attacks are taking place than ever before. Hackers see an opportunity to target those working remotely who are likely to have lower security at home compared to at work or in school, because of this so schools really need to be vigilant.

To ensure security home working devices should use either a VPN (virtual private network) or RDS (remote desktop services). A VPN works by routing your device’s internet connection through your chosen VPN’s private server rather than your internet service provider (ISP) so that when your data is transmitted to the internet, it comes from the VPN rather than your computer. The VPN hides your passwords and IP Address as it works as an intermediatory. An RDS work very similarly. Both of these systems rely on a strong, fast and consistent broadband service.

Which is why we offer a leased line option as part of our broadband services. By using a leased line, you can transform your remote working broadband speed and strength, helping your teachers and pupils to be secure and protected when accessing digital school resources.

At Unite6 we want to help you in these uncertain times and help you provide seamless broadband which is protected and for a good price. If you think that’s a good idea, don’t be afraid to get in touch.

Find out more on our packages page.