What is SoGEA, fttc, and fttp, and why should I upgrade to it? – 2023 Updated

Written by Billy Dowdall, MID Communications

Fibre Broadband lines give us so much more flexibility on how we work and run our businesses. They’re faster, can handle more data, more reliable, and have the potential for huge upgrades as technology progresses. In our homes, with the likes of Virgin media, we’re already seeing consumer lines get speeds of up to 1gbps downloads! With BT’s older copper line services, small business packages would be stuck in the region of 5-40mbps downloads, which simply isn’t keeping up with the data-only way employees and business want to work.

No matter what industry you’re in, working practices are going online. Employees require a hybrid approach to work, and fibre broadband is what’s making it possible.

So what are your options in upgrading your old business broadband to something fibre? Well, there are 3 main types of connections to choose from! Each offer much faster speeds with huge potential down the line.

SoGEA, or Single Order Generic Ethernet Access, is a line to your business dedicated to just broadband. This means you don’t need a phone line installing, and the infrastructure to do this is probably already installed at your place of work. If you’ve got a green comms cabinet somewhere on your street, then you’re able to get a SoGEA Connection (and even if it’s not on your street it’ll be somewhere nearby). This means smaller engineering costs, and a cheaper & more reliable internet service. The line sent to your building using a SoGEA connection will be shared by the people around you, but simply because it’s a fibre connection and therefore can handle faster speeds and more data, you’re far less likely to encounter peak-time speed dips.

The benefits of a SoGEA Connection are;

• Faster, and more reliable than your standard ADSL, PSTN, or ISDN line
• Cheaper than other types of Fibre Broadband (FTTC or FTTP), as well as now being cheaper than your old copper connections too!
• Easier to install with little to no engineering costs
• As it’s 1 line, problems can be fixed quickly, easily, and cost effectively

FTTC is basically a SoGEA connection that includes a voice line as well. There’s still a place for dedicated voice lines, and if your business relies on a phone line, then having a Unified Communications AND a phone line will be essential.

Benefits of an FTTC

• Dedicated Voice and Data lines, keeping them separate will help with your overall speeds.
• 99.8% of Connections in the UK are FTTC, so engineering costs are low as engineers are generally most experienced with them.
• It’s much faster than your standard copper lines, and can carry larger packets of data

Does what it says on the tin, your fibre connection goes right to your doorstep! Instead of the line stopping at the Roadside Comms Cabinet and turning back into a copper line, it’s instead taken straight to your business. This means you get an uninterrupted broadband and phone line connection that is often much faster, more reliable, and doesn’t get affected from peak time slow-downs.

Benefits of an FTTP

• A dedicated full fibre connection to your business means you won’t get those peak time slow downs.
• Capable of super-fast speeds compared to SoGEA or FTTC, and will seem impossibly fast next to a copper line!
• Companies like City Fibre and Faster Britain, as well as the big names, are investing huge amounts into a full fibre network. As amazing as FTTP is now, it’s only going to get better!

The real benefit of going for an FTTP connection over something like SoGEA or FTTC is that it’s fibre cables all the way! On SoGEA and FTTC, your fibre connection is from the local exchange to the roadside comms cabinet but with an FTTP it takes those fibre cables, bypasses the cabinet and connects straight to you, ensuring you get the maximum speeds possible.

If you’d like to find out more about what type of connectivity would suite your business the best why not contact us to see how we can help.

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