Highlights
The UK lost £17.6 billion due to fixed business connectivity outages last year, underscoring the need for robust, reliable Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs). A well-defined SLA lets you gauge how reliable a provider's infrastructure is. The more generous the SLA, the more confidence a provider has in their network capability and reliability. It also guarantees that you will be compensated if downtime occurs.
According to our Reliability and Compensation Report, authored by Assembly Research, the UK economy lost £17.6 billion in economic output in the past year due to fixed business connectivity outages.
Billions of pounds were wasted. It's a sobering figure.
How do you, as a business, guard yourself against this?
By getting to know your internet provider's service level agreement (SLA), and what it really means.
A transparent SLA lets you gauge how robust a provider's infrastructure is. The more generous the SLA, the more confidence a provider has in their network capability and reliability. It also guarantees that you will be compensated if downtime occurs.
So, what should you expect to see in the small print? Let's explore the world of SLAs.
What is an SLA?
An SLA is a contract that outlines and defines the type of service you can expect from your business internet provider.
It should lay out how they measure your service and what compensation they will give you if they do not deliver the promised service level.
We all know reliable connectivity is paramount to your business’ internal and external functions, so SLAs are very important. They allow you to mitigate some of the impact of connectivity outages, but more importantly they serve as an indicator of the quality of the infrastructure you rely on. By scrutinising the terms, you can make informed decisions, ensuring that you choose a service that aligns with your demands.
Many businesses are in the dark
There’s low awareness surrounding business internet providers’ SLAs—and that’s an issue.
Our research finds that almost a quarter (23%) of UK fixed business connectivity customers were unsure whether their contracts even included SLAs or SLGs.
Among those familiar with their SLA, 21% didn't know if their contract specified compensation arrangements if certain service quality levels weren’t met.
If you're in the dark about your SLA, your business could be vulnerable. Commitment to high levels of compensation from providers acts as motivation to technical teams to pre-empt issues, therefore fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
The good news is you can request an SLA from your business internet service provider (ISP) if they haven't issued you one (or you haven't seen one).
The economic toll of outages
Consistent connectivity is not a luxury.
Ofcom finds that 83% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) consider communications services fundamental to their business, so much so they could not function without them.
60% of companies in London reported one or more service losses over the past year, with 28% experiencing at least three outages.
Our analysis reveals that over the last year, the average loss of economic output to London businesses as a result of internet outages was £18,620. This equates to an average 314 lost hours of productivity (nearly 40 working days) per London business.
Staggering numbers to swallow.
This highlights the importance of transparency in contractual terms, as well as auto compensation. Businesses should not be left with minimal or no compensation if the worst occurs.
As things stand, the case is clear: businesses across the UK are losing out to connectivity outages.
Don’t leave money on the table
Despite the average UK business losing over £11,000 in economic output due to connectivity outages in the past year, 61% of UK businesses surveyed reported that they did not receive compensation from their ISP.
For those that didn’t ask for compensation, the main reasons given were that they believed it was not worth the time and effort or they didn’t expect to get compensation.
Only around a third of businesses surveyed reported receiving any compensation for connectivity outages in the past year.
If only they knew it could be a seamless and automatic process.
As a result of our findings, we’ve urged Ofcom to introduce an automatic compensation scheme for fixed business connectivity providers; we want this to become the standard.
Why we love SLAs
Business internet providers can hold themselves to account by including automatic compensation clauses in their SLAs. This indicates confidence in their infrastructure and a commitment to their customers.
This is how we use SLAs at Vorboss:
- To highlight our confidence in our network
- To ensure we compensate our customers fairly and automatically if outages occur
- To establish clear expectations between our customers and us (guaranteed uptime, response times, and compensation)
We’re raising the bar by providing the most competitive SLAs in the industry, automatically compensating businesses after just 4 minutes of downtime.
SLAs should be transparent and include automatic compensation to give customers greater trust in their providers—and encourage providers to improve service quality.
The bottom line
Read your SLA, whether it’s your existing one or you’re signing up for a new contract.
If there’s anything unclear, discuss it. If you don’t have one, ask for one.
If necessary, demand a more robust SLA to safeguard against connectivity issues.
If your SLA doesn’t include auto compensation, claim compensation for outages if they occur.
Every SLA should have a silver lining.
Tell us about yourself so we can serve you best.
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If you run a business in the UK, you’ve probably heard of 'fibre broadband'. But what does that mean – and are all fibre services the same?
The short answer: no.
Two companies might both be sold ‘fibre’ but get very different results. Speed, reliability, and consistency vary wildly depending on the underlying engineering.
Why? Because some connections still rely on outdated infrastructure. Others are shared with your neighbours, and often with residential customers too. Most don’t come with the guarantees modern businesses need.
Let’s break down the three most common types of connection you might be offered:
- FTTC
- FTTP
- direct internet access (DIA)
and why the difference between them matters.
1) FTTC (fibre to the cabinet): fibre, kind of
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FTTC runs fibre from your provider’s network to a street cabinet near you, then uses copper wires to reach your premises (while still selling you ‘fibre’).
Copper = outdated. Which means slower speeds, interference, and fluctuating performance – especially if the cabinet’s a few blocks away or shared by lots of users. And those cabinets? They’re exposed to weather and vandalism, adding yet another layer of risk.
FTTC might work for casual browsing, but if your business depends on video calls, cloud platforms, or remote collaboration, expect slow uploads, dropped connections, and no guarantees when things go wrong.
2) FTTP (fibre to the premises): better, but not ideal
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Unlike FTTC, FTTP is a fibre connection that runs straight from the exchange to your building. With no copper cabling involved, it offers better speed and stability.
But here’s the catch: while this is often what internet service providers call ‘business broadband’, you still share your connection with up to 30 others. And while the average speed range is typically quoted as 150 to 900Mbps, the reality is, you often won't always experience those speeds, particularly during peak times because you share your bandwidth with others.
For micro businesses or early-stage start-ups, FTTP may provide a half workable solution, especially as a stepping stone. But be prepared for pixelated, laggy video calls or a long wait to download a pitch deck during busy times and sometimes, for no apparent reason at all.
As we put it in our earlier blog comparing broadband to leased lines: ‘If it’s broadband, it’s shared’. FTTP is still broadband and not something that provides a genuine solution for reliable connectivity.
What to be aware of if you are considering buying FTTP
FTTP can sound a lot like a high-end business service. It’s full fibre. It promises impressive speeds. And it often comes with confident-sounding terms like ‘uptime guarantee’ or ‘symmetrical speeds’. But these features deserve a closer look, because what they offer in theory isn’t always what they deliver in practice.
Take ‘symmetrical speeds’. FTTP can technically offer equal upload and download speeds, but only if the network isn’t busy and your plan allows it. Most of the time, upload speeds drop off when everyone’s online.
Then there’s the ‘uptime guarantee’. Sounds great. But without automatic compensation for downtime or real SLAs, they're often just marketing phrases – not a sign of real accountability. Many providers only commit to a response or investigation window, rather than to actual fix times.
Other elements that sound impressive but don’t necessarily reflect business grade standards. Static IP addresses are promoted as a ‘business’ feature, but these are widely available as standard on home broadband. ‘Priority fault handling’ usually just means you’re ahead of domestic users - not first in line for a fix.
So, while FTTP is better than FTTC, it is still very much part of that ‘broadband’ family. It’s a strong consumer-grade product, but not a substitute for a business-grade connection.
3) Direct internet access (DIA): fibre built for business
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DIA, sometimes known as a ‘leased line’ or ‘dedicated internet’, is a full fibre connection exclusively allocated to a single business. Unlike FTTC or FTTP, it isn’t shared with neighbouring offices or homes, and it isn’t affected by the demands of other users on the network.
It’s your own, dedicated connection, built for performance, reliability, and security.
With DIA, you always get ‘actual’ symmetrical speeds, meaning your uploads are just as fast as your downloads. This makes a big difference for real-time communication, file transfers, and cloud tools. You also benefit from 1:1 contention, meaning your bandwidth is always your own and performance doesn’t drop at peak times - because there’s no one else on your line.
Most importantly, DIA comes with robust service-level agreements (SLAs). These go beyond vague promises, offering clear commitments on uptime guarantees, target fix times, and - with a good provider - automatic compensation if things go wrong.
It’s not just about speed; it’s about having trust in the service that underpins your operations.
DIA is especially valuable in scenarios where reliability directly impacts productivity:
- Cloud-heavy workflows: platforms like Salesforce, Azure, AWS, or cloud CRMs need reliable 24/7 access. Outages or slow speeds mean lost hours and lost business.
- Creative and media teams: agencies and production houses transferring large design files or uploading media to the cloud need fast, stable upload speeds. DIA’s symmetrical performance makes that possible.
- Security-focused organisations: if your business runs VPNs, firewalls, or handles sensitive data, you need a connection that supports uptime and compliance without compromise.
- Hybrid/remote teams: distributed workforces need reliable video calls, collaboration tools, and seamless file sharing. DIA keeps everyone connected – consistently.
At a glance: FTTC, FTTP, and direct internet (DIA)
The right fibre for the right job
FTTC, FTTP and DIA each have their place, but they’re not interchangeable. Unfortunately for many businesses, the differences become visible the moment the connection is put under pressure.
For businesses in this day and age, FTTP and FTTC are not fit for purpose. And being overly reliant on outdated infrastructure costs London businesses billions a year in outages.
DIA (whether you call it a leased line or dedicated internet) is designed with business in mind. For teams working in the cloud, relying on uptime or collaborating in real time, it offers a level of confidence that shared broadband simply can’t match.
Choose with care. The best internet solution is the one that will support the way your business works not only now, but also as it grows.
If you want to find out if DIA is right for your business, get in touch with our team. We're always happy to chat through your options.
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