BT Leased Line Costs and BTnet Calculator

A BT leased line, known as BTnet, gives your business a dedicated, symmetrical connection direct to BT's network. Whether you're pricing your first BT business leased line or checking a quote you've already been given, the calculator above gives you an indicative monthly cost in minutes.

Netify is an independent UK connectivity marketplace and BT Authorised Partner. Once you're ready, open your secure quote room and we'll confirm your best price directly with BT.

We've designed our calculator for the following three types of buyer:

Budgeting a first circuit: Organisations that are establishing an initial budget for their first leased line or dedicated internet connection, with no pre-existing BT quote to compare against.

Upgrading from broadband: Multi-site organisations that are considering the move from Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) or Single Order Generic Ethernet Access (SOGEA) broadband connections - typically looking for symmetrical speeds, an uncontended circuit or SLAs (that broadband can't offer).

Checking a quote: Procurement teams who have already got a BT quote but would like to check it against the market before signing anything.

For Resellers: If you're an IT company or MSP looking to start reselling BTnet to your own customers, we'd recommend that you visit our BT Business Internet reseller programme page, where we've broken down pricing and commercial terms.

A BT leased line (or BTnet), is a dedicated fibre circuit connected directly from your premises to BT's network for uncontended connectivity - unlike BT's broadband offering which connects into a shared, aggregated access point, allowing your organisation to benefit from not having to share it's connection with other customers at the circuit level and enabling you to harness the full bandwidth of the connection.

With a dedicated BTnet connection, you'll have access to symmetrical upload and download speeds, meaning that uploading large files, backing up to the cloud or hosting outbound video calls perform just as well as downloading does. Broadband on the other hand, including FTTP, remains asymmetrical, with upload speeds typically well below download speeds, and performance that can vary with contention on the shared network.

Another benefit of BTnet circuits not being shared is that it also supports lower and more predictable latency and jitter than a typical broadband connection - BT publishes latency guarantees of 20 milliseconds or less on its UK core network and 95 milliseconds or less on the transatlantic network - meaning that your real-time traffic (such as voice calls, video conferencing and other time-sensitive cloud applications) are best positioned to perform well, unlike with a shared connection, which is more prone to variable performance at busy times.

Bandwidth and bearers: BTnet bandwidth scales from lower business tiers up to multi-gigabit circuits, delivered on 1Gb or 10Gb bearers, and ordering a larger bearer than you need today (for example provisioning a 1Gb bearer even if your current requirement is lower) means you can increase bandwidth later as a straightforward configuration change rather than a new circuit build.

BTnet versus broadband at a glance: In summary, BTnet circuits are a dedicated connectivity solution for your business that can outperform the likes of shared broadband, offering benefits such as symmetrical speeds rather than asymmetrical, and comes with SLAs to protect your operations on availability, performance and fix times. The only downside to BTnet being that broadband remains the lower-cost, higher-availability alternative for organisations whose needs don't yet demand a dedicated circuit.

BTnet comes backed by a service level agreement covering availability, network performance and delivery, with service credits kicking in if BT misses its own targets. BT commits to 100% service availability, aims to fix faults within five hours day or night, and guarantees latency of 20 milliseconds or less on its UK core network, or 95 milliseconds or less across the transatlantic network, whilst support is UK-based and available 24/7. Full SLA terms are published at bt.com/terms.

Traffic on a BTnet circuit largely stays on BT's own UK, European and Global IP network, rather than crossing onto other providers' infrastructure along the way. Fewer hops on a single network tends to help the performance of cloud applications, voice and video in particular, where consistency ends up mattering just as much as raw bandwidth.

Where downtime would genuinely hurt the business, BTnet offers two resilience options: Failover, where a second circuit takes over automatically the moment the primary line fails, and Load Balancing, where both circuits stay active together and share the traffic, so the surviving line simply carries the full load if one goes down. Each is delivered as a second Openreach circuit running alongside your primary line.

Resilient circuits can go a step further too, architected with genuinely diverse routing so the two circuits enter the building via different physical paths and, subject to survey, originate from separate exchanges, with their own equipment at each connection point. That cuts down, though it can't remove entirely, the risk of one fault taking out the whole connection. How much diversity is actually achievable comes down to the specific building and site, and only gets confirmed once the survey's back.

BTnet pairs with a standard router, a Cisco Meraki appliance, or a Fortinet device, each available as an optional add-on. Depending on which device and licence you go for, this can bring a cloud-managed firewall, intrusion detection and prevention, malware inspection, and content or web filtering to control what users can actually access, with built-in Wi-Fi thrown in on the Meraki option. These security features sit inside a wider SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) approach, where SD-WAN forms one part of a converged network and security service rather than standing alone as a separate product. Exactly what's included, and what's optional, gets confirmed once we scope your specific circuit.

Scope clarification: BTnet Security is the Cisco Meraki option. A Fortinet managed firewall, SD-WAN or SASE service is separately scoped and quoted; it is not included automatically with the leased line. Wi-Fi and security capabilities depend on the equipment and licences ordered. Compare the BT security routes.

BTnet is built to work well alongside cloud platforms such as Google Workspace, Microsoft Azure and AWS, and gets commonly paired with BT Cloud Voice or other SIP-based calling. Quality of Service settings mean you can prioritise voice and video traffic ahead of other data, and combined with BTnet's low latency and symmetrical bandwidth, that adds up to a more consistent calling and conferencing experience than a shared connection can typically manage.

We’ve typically seen BTnet leased line prices vary due to a number of factors, with the more common ones including:

Bandwidth and bearer:  A higher bandwidth tier comes at a higher cost, and the bearer size you order on (1Gb or 10Gb) has a similar effect on price too. We would, wherever possible, recommend ordering a larger bearer than your current bandwidth need, for example a 1Gb bearer for a lower initial speed, as this will allow you scale up later without new civil works.

Existing fibre at the site: Buildings already served by BT fibre typically price at the lower end of a band and install faster than sites needing new fibre installation.

Contract term: Longer terms typically comes with lower costs, bringing the monthly rental down in exchange for a longer commitment, so it's worth weighing the saving against how likely you are to move site (or want to retender sooner).

Delivery location: Circuits delivered into a supported UK data centre are typically cheaper and quicker to install than premises delivery, primarily due to access infrastructure already being in place.

Resilience: Failover, Load Balancing and lower-cost backup options each affect the price differently - a second full circuit will cost more than a backup broadband connection.

Excess construction: A standard contribution toward excess construction costs applies on most orders – and rural or harder-to-reach sites can exceed this.

Security: Your choice of edge device (standard router, Cisco Meraki or Fortinet), any additional licences, and additional Wi-Fi access points where needed can all come at an extra cost.

Most buyers fix on the monthly cost and overlook the lead time entirely. Delivery into a supported UK data centre tends to move considerably faster than delivery to your own premises, especially where new fibre or civil works turn out to be needed on site, so your project timeline is better built around what the survey actually finds rather than a headline delivery figure, decoupling your fit-out dates from the order date wherever that's possible until the survey's back.

It's also worth considering a larger bearer than your initial bandwidth actually needs. The monthly cost creeps up a little, but it means stepping up to a higher speed later becomes a simple configuration change rather than a whole new circuit build, which counts for a lot if you're expecting the business to need more bandwidth before the contract term's up.

Resilience tends to be the classic afterthought. Add Failover or Load Balancing once you're already live and you're effectively starting a second delivery project from nothing, complete with its own survey and lead time, so deciding whether downtime would genuinely hurt the business is far better done before the original order goes in than after an outage's already happened. There's also a lower-cost backup connection available for organisations wanting some protection without paying for a second full leased line.

Lastly, build contingency into the budget. Excess construction costs and any further civil works only get confirmed once the site survey's back, and rural or awkward locations run a much higher chance of exceeding the standard construction allowance than urban sites already close to existing fibre.

Once your order is placed, delivery moves through five main stages, delivered jointly by BT and Openreach.

Openreach runs an initial survey to work out the route from your local BT exchange to your premises, and to check whether any resilience or diversity options you've ordered can actually be delivered. That survey covers circuit path feasibility, any geographical obstacles such as waterways or motorways, and whether a street works licence is needed for work on public highways. Where the survey turns up significant excess construction work, you can cancel the order without penalty before committing any further.

Scope clarification: Cancellation rights, survey costs and any charges depend on the applicable BT order and terms. Obtain written confirmation before cancelling; a survey does not create an unconditional right to cancel every order without charges. BTnet service schedule.

Where cables need to cross third-party land, or where structural changes such as poles, masts or work to a listed building come into play, the relevant permissions and wayleave agreements have to be in place before any work can start. Landlord negotiations over wayleave terms, along with local authority approvals for planning permission or listed building consent, tend to be the most common source of delay at this stage, so getting in touch with your landlord early can genuinely help keep things moving.

Where new ducting or trenching's needed, groundwork gets carried out to lay cabling beneath pavements, roads or private land, which can itself call for a street works licence or landowner consent. From there, fibre gets pulled or blown through existing or new ducts from the exchange to your premises and spliced in, with the circuit terminating at an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) on site. Adding a second circuit for diversity can stretch this stage out further still, since a genuinely separate physical route has to be found or built from scratch.

BT installs and configures your chosen router, whether that's a standard router or a Cisco Meraki appliance, along with your IP addressing and any additional security or SD-WAN configuration. The choice of device affects what's available afterwards: a Meraki appliance adds built-in Wi-Fi and a cloud-managed dashboard alongside the security options described above.

Before handover, BT runs bit error rate, latency and throughput tests to confirm the circuit meets the agreed specification, and configures routing protocols so your network is fully connected to the internet. Service is considered delivered once your managed equipment and dedicated circuit are both in place.

BT confirms a customer committed date (CCD) once your site survey is complete. For complex deliveries, BT may instead provide an expected completion date (ECD), which isn't covered by the delivery SLA. If BT misses the CCD, you're entitled to service credits against your connection charge, scaled to the length of the delay.

Once live, your circuit is covered by 24/7 UK-based support and BT's service level agreement, with BT aiming to fix faults within five hours. Basic bandwidth monitoring is available as standard, with more granular reporting on latency and packet loss available through the Meraki dashboard where that device is in use. If you need to change bandwidth later, upgrading is handled as a modify order rather than a new circuit build, which is one of the reasons ordering on a larger bearer than you currently need can be worthwhile. It's also worth reviewing your circuit's capacity periodically, and planning your own backup or disaster recovery approach, so the service continues to match how the business is actually using it.

Reliable connectivity underpins everything from live online lessons and research computing to exam systems and day-to-day administration. A BTnet leased line gives schools, colleges and universities a dedicated, symmetrical connection, so learning management systems, cloud applications and video conferencing keep performing consistently, including during peak periods such as exams or the start of term, when many broadband connections would show the effects of shared, contended bandwidth.

Bigger campuses typically need a network that can flex across lecture halls, research labs and multiple buildings, ideally with centralised visibility and control rather than managing each building separately. A cloud-managed approach makes it easier to adapt to changing usage across a large site, monitor network health, and scale Wi-Fi and security consistently as the campus grows, without each addition becoming a separate project.

Smaller school sites benefit from the same dedicated connectivity with simpler, centrally managed security, without needing extensive in-house IT expertise. Built-in identity-based access control, DNS protection and automated firmware updates on the security appliance mean day-to-day administration doesn't need to fall to teaching staff or a small IT team stretched across other duties.

Scope clarification: The leased line itself does not provide identity-based access control or DNS protection. Confirm these features, Wi-Fi hardware, licensing and management responsibilities in the proposed security design. BT security products and responsibilities.

Cybersecurity is a growing priority in education, particularly with the rise of bring-your-own-device access across campus and home working, and the amount of sensitive student and staff data institutions hold. BTnet leased lines can be paired with Meraki or Fortinet security options, giving institutions firewall protection and content or web filtering to manage what students can access, alongside threat monitoring, depending on the device and licence chosen.

When budgeting for a leased line, plan around your academic calendar rather than just the monthly cost. Ordering early, and building in time for the site survey, any permissions and civil works, and testing, makes it less likely that installation work lands during term time or exam periods. As with any leased line, contract term and bandwidth choice are the two levers with the biggest effect on ongoing cost, so it's worth sizing bandwidth to genuine peak usage (live lessons, exams and research computing) rather than average day-to-day traffic.

The cost of a BT leased line typically comes down to the amount of bandwidth you opt for, the length of contract chosen, delivery location and any resilience options you choose to add on top, therefore we strongly recommend configuring your circuit in the calculator above to get a full indicative monthly range, which you can then open into a secure quote room whenever you're ready for your confirmed price (straight from BT).

Quotes change based on bandwidth and bearer size (alongside the likes of contract term, delivery location, any excess construction work the survey turns up, and whatever resilience or security options get added on top) - meaning that even two sites in the same town can actually have two vastly different figures once local fibre presence and civil engineering needs come into play.

Yes - standard connection is included on qualifying contract terms, as well as wherever a site survey shows that additional civil engineering work is required, BT will put a contribution toward the excess construction costs, and you'll get a quote for anything above that before you're locked into the order at all.

Scope clarification: Connection allowances and any cancellation rights are subject to the agreed order and applicable BT terms. Confirm the survey outcome and any excess charges in writing. BTnet service schedule.

As to be expected, with longer contract terms comes greater discounts, bringing the monthly rental down in exchange for a longer commitment. We’d recommend considering your refresh cycles, line affordability and weighing the saving against how likely you are to move site or want to retender sooner.

BTnet is a dedicated, uncontended circuit with symmetrical upload and download speeds, meanwhile broadband is shared with other customers on the network and is typically asymmetrical. This makes BTnet better suited to businesses that depend on consistent performance for cloud applications, voice or video.

The easiest way to differentiate failover and load balancing is that load balancing is the always active component that splits traffic over multiple circuits to maximise performance, meanwhile failover keeps a second circuit on standby, which takes over automatically if your primary line fails.

Yes – BT allows you to upgrade your bandwidth but only if you order on a bearer larger than your current bandwidth need, all of which is handled as a configuration change rather than a new circuit build.

Yes - BTnet's dedicated, low-latency connection is specifically designed to support consistent performance for cloud platforms and multi-cloud set-ups across all of these platforms.

To get the best BTnet price, we’d recommend that you start by configuring your circuit in our price calculator above to view potential quotes, then open your secure quote room with a work email. A Netify BT specialist takes your exact scenario to BT's pricing desk, and your best price is sent to you usually within one working day.

BTnet includes 24/7 UK-based support, with BT aiming to fix faults within five hours.

No - BTnet is actually used by organisations of all sizes, from small and medium-sized businesses through to large enterprises, with the bandwidth, resilience and security options all scaled to match these differing business needs

A dedicated, symmetrical connection helps online learning platforms, cloud applications and video conferencing run consistently, including during peak periods such as exams or the start of term, and supports the security and content controls institutions need for student and staff access.

At Netify, we typically see that most BTnet buyers also opt for BT Cloud Voice for calling. With us, you can also price per-user licences, call plans and handsets via our BT Cloud Voice pricing calculator.

What is a BT leased line (BTnet)? See "What is a BT leased line" above.

Why choose BTnet: key benefits explained. See "Why choose BTnet" above.

BT leased line installation and lead times. See "Installation procedure and lead times" above.

BT leased lines for schools and universities. See "Schools and universities" above.

The BTnet Fortinet NGFW option for security-led deployments.

BT Cloud Voice pricing calculator for the voice service most BTnet buyers attach.

Resell BT Business Internet if you are an IT company selling to your own customers.

If you're an IT company or MSP, Netify's Reseller Programme of BT products and services lets you resell BT Business Internet and BTnet leased lines to your own customers, backed by Netify's experience as a BT Authorised Partner and our existing relationship with BT's pricing desk.

Rather than pricing each deal from scratch, you get access to the same underlying BT product set covered on our buyer-facing pages, with channel terms and onboarding handled through the Reseller Programme rather than through the calculator above.