When you’re choosing business connectivity, it is important to understand what an uncontended internet connection is and whether a connection is uncontended or not.

What is a contention ratio?

Contention ratio is the ratio of potential maximum demand (usually at the local exchange) to the actual available bandwidth. The higher the ratio the lower the maximum bandwidth will be, or the slower your connection will be. You may notice this slowdown at ‘peak times’ when more users are using the internet in the local area.

The highest maximum speed on a highly contended connection is usually only achieved at low usage times, for example during the night.

A 50:1 contention ratio would mean that up to 50 broadband users could be sharing the same bandwidth or ‘pipe’ to the local exchange at any one time.

What is an uncontended internet connection?

An uncontended internet connection is one that offers a contention ratio of 1:1, being used by only one organisation. Usually provided over a fibre optic leased line, this kind of connection is most likely to be used by businesses that need to transfer a lot of data and need guaranteed reliability and up-time.

Although an uncontended fibre leased line may not be feasible for every business, the broadband contention rates offered by your ISP will make a big difference to the peak speeds you are actually able to achieve on a normal working day.  Because we understand the importance of a steady and reliable connection for business, Beaming has built its broadband network to offer low contention rates.