EFM vs Fibre-Optic Leased Lines
EFM stands for Ethernet-in-the-first-mile and is one of the most popular connections for a huge range of people. However, a number of people are also preferring to turn to the efficiency and speed of fibre-optic leased lines, causing the argument of which is the best. In order to help you decide whether EFM or Fibre-Optic leased lines will suit you and your business more, we’ve put together a quick list of the differences, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Cost
The biggest difference between EFM and fibre-optic leased lines are the cost. While this will generally depend on the location of your business, EFM connections will generally be cheaper than fibre-optic. Nevertheless, there are some areas where fibre-leased lines may be cheaper than EFM. A lot of this will depend on where your provider is located, so it is important to ensure you are comparing the two prices before making your final decision.
Installation Times
One of the major benefits to EFM is that the installation times are often quicker to put together. This is because EFM generally uses copper circuits that are already located in the ground, and will also use existing ducts, in order to ensure that the entire circuit can be wired up as quickly as possible. This means there is no need for any civil engineering work – which is one of the things that may boost the cost of your leased lines installation. Fibre-optic leased lines on the other hand are completely bespoke to each office, as they are not using the existing copper wires or circuits that your business may already have access to. This can cause some delays to your installation times, so if you’re in a rush to have a faster internet connection, then EFM may be the better option.
Disadvantages To EFM
So far, everything that we’ve said about EFM has been positive, compared to fibre-optic leased lines. Nevertheless, there are a number of advantages that fibre-optic leased lines have over Ethernet First Mile. Firstly, Fibre can offer you higher connection speeds than what EFM can offer, and these are also slightly more reliable than EFM too. Fibre optic also provides a smaller delay than what copper leased lines can offer.
Reliability
The reason why fibre optic leased lines are slightly more reliable than fibre-optic leased lines is generally due to the fact that the fibre optic cables use light in order to transmit data. The further away from an exchange a copper wire is, the weaker the electrical signals, meaning data can be generally transmitted in a slower manner. In addition to this, there have been previous reports suggesting that faulty electrical devices and phone signals have interfered with EFM connections, which do not interfere with fibre-optic connections. Nevertheless, there are ways to correct these errors quite quickly.
Connection Speed
Generally, EFM connections will offer speeds of around 35Mb/s, whereas fibre-optic alternatives can offer speeds of up to 100Mb/s or even 10Gb depending on the provider. It is important to ensure that no matter which you choose, you should ensure that it is the correct fit for your business. If you’re only going to use speeds of up to 35Mb/s then there’s not much point in paying for more. If you’re going to use more however, then fibre-optic leased lines are generally the best way to go.
Get in touch with a member of our expert team in order to determine how fibre-optic leased lines can help you with your business, or for more information about the benefits of EFM today!
