UK ISP IDNet has this week connected its first 100Mbps customer via their new Ethernet Direct Leased Line service for businesses, which promises a dedicated fibre delivered directly to the premises. The service is un-contended with symmetrical connection speeds (downstream and upstream speeds are the same) and can also be delivered over existing copper phone lines for speeds of up to 10Mbps.

Ethernet Direct Leased-Line Features:

* Symmetrical, un-contended bandwidth connections to the Internet or between two Ethernet ports in a point-to-point, point-to-multipoint or meshed configuration over both copper and fibre.

* Extensive UK availability as the 21CN network is rolled out without distance limitations (with the exception of the local access).

* A wide choice of fibre access links at speeds of 10Mbit/s, 100Mbit/s and 1Gbit/s and circuit bandwidths from 1Mbit/s right through to 1Gbit/s.

* Flexibility with easy scalability when extra bandwidth is needed or more sites are added.

* No expensive hardware required - a 1U fibre termination box is installed with a standard RJ45 ethernet connector to connect to your existing firewall, router, or switch. Furthermore, we can supply a pre-configured fully managed router for you if required.

* Fast, simple and cost-effective bandwidth upgrades with no need to invest in new CPE or engineers’ visits.

* Resilience and security for mission-critical data traffic with 99.95% service availability plus the added confidence of maintenance services 24/7.

* Fast repair service; Openreach will respond within 4 hours of receipt of a fault report, unless agreed otherwise in writing by the parties; clear a reported fault in a service within 5 hours (fibre) or 24 hours for a copper connection.

Prices start from £210 +vat per month for a 2Mbps connection over copper (excludes the one-off connection charge), although it'll cost a lot more if you want the top 1000Mbps (1Gbps) service over a proper fibre optic link.

As usual Leased Line services are considerably more expensive than consumer-style broadband options, yet over the past 5 years their prices have continued to fall and as a result they have become much more viable.