More than just speed: the real-world benefits of FTTP for your business

Let’s be honest, your business broadband probably feels “fast enough” most of the time. But then you have a busy day. The whole team’s on a video call, someone’s trying to upload a huge file to the cloud, and the card machine starts to slow down.

“Whoah”, you think. Suddenly “fast enough” doesn’t feel that fast anymore.

As the world becomes more digital, the demands on our connectivity are constantly growing. Older, copper-based connections were never built for the way we work today. But the solution is actually quite simple. Instead of plugging away with that old copper connection, it’s time to take the plunge and open up a whole new world of business connectivity: full fibre (also called Fibre to the Premises, or FTTP).

What is FTTP?

It’s a lot simpler than it sounds. FTTP involves running a fibre optic cable directly into your business premises. This is different from the older “fibre” broadband (known as FTTC – Fibre to the Cabinet) that many businesses have used for years, which still relies on a slow, unreliable copper phone line for the final part of the journey from the street cabinet to your office. It may only be short, but that little bit of copper makes a huge difference.

Benefit 1: A lot more speed

The most obvious benefit of FTTP is the incredible speed, and we’re talking a lot faster than your regular traditional business broadband. With gigabit broadband for business, you can download large files in seconds, not minutes. But it’s about more than just one person downloading a file. It’s about having the capacity (the ‘bandwidth’) for your entire team to run multiple cloud applications, stream HD video, and browse the web without anyone’s connection slowing to a crawl.

Benefit 2: Rock-solid reliability

Copper phone lines are old technology. They’re susceptible to everything from bad weather to electrical interference, which can lead to an unstable connection. Fibre optic cables, on the other hand, are made of glass with broadband beamed to and from your premises using light waves (very clever stuff). They’re a lot more durable and stable, resulting in a connection you can rely on. For a business, that means less downtime, more productivity, and – ultimately – greater peace of mind.

Benefit 3: The power of symmetrical speeds

While all fibre is fast, some networks – like CityFibre - offer a benefit that’s even better for modern businesses: symmetrical speeds. This means your upload speed is just as fast as your download speed. But why does this matter?

• Cloud backups that finish in minutes instead of hours.
• Uploading high-resolution videos or large files without a hitch.
• Hosting your own servers or business applications smoothly.
• Crystal-clear, HD video conferencing where you’ll never be the one who’s frozen.

Benefit 4: A connection that’s ready for the future

A full fibre connection is an investment in your business’s future. The technology has far greater potential for speed and capacity than copper ever did. This means the connection you get today will be able to handle the next generation of business tools, apps and demands for many years to come.

As your needs evolve and grow, you’ll always have that reliable full fibre connection and if you ever need a speed boost – unless you’re already on the fastest possible connection - it’s easy.

Bringing full fibre to more businesses

At Zen, we believe that as many businesses as possible should have access to the power of full fibre. To make this a reality, we’ve partnered with some of the UK’s leading network builders. This includes not only the extensive Openreach network but also innovative “alt-nets” like CityFibre, who are building their own brand-new networks to bring full fibre to even more of the UK.

This partnership approach means we can offer CityFibre for business and other fantastic FTTP services to more locations than ever before.

Ready to see if your business can benefit from a full fibre connection? Use our postcode checker to find out what’s available at your address.