The Leased Line Installation Process: What to Expect

A leased line gives your business dedicated, uncontended connectivity. The journey from request to go-live follows a predictable path. Below is a plain-English guide to each stage, what we’ll do, what we’ll need from you, and where decisions may be required.

Order

This is where we confirm the essentials: location, bandwidth and bearer (e.g. 100 Mb/1 Gb/10 Gb), contract term, and any resilience options.

What happens now:

• We raise your order with the carrier and issue a provisional delivery estimate.
• You’ll get a single point of contact and a project timeline subject to survey outcomes.

Survey

Engineers assess how best to bring fibre from the network to your premises. This typically includes a “desktop” review and, if needed, a site visit.

What they check:

• Existing ducts and chambers, building entry points, internal cable path, equipment location, power and rack space.
• Any permissions needed (e.g. landlord approvals).

Survey outcome:

• Either the build is standard (no additional works beyond the norm), or extra civil works are required.

Excess Construction Charges (ECCs)

If the survey finds extra work is needed—such as new ducting, traffic management, or specialist wayleave/permissions—the carrier will price these as Excess Construction Charges (ECCs) and present them for approval.

Your choices at this point:

• If ECCs are quoted: you may accept and proceed, or decline and cancel with no ECC cost.
• If no ECCs are quoted: the order automatically progresses and, from this point, cannot be cancelled.

We’ll talk you through the ECCs (if any), explain what’s driving them, and help you make an informed decision.

Installation

Once the survey is closed (and any ECCs accepted, if applicable), the carrier schedules build and installation activities.

Typical steps:

• Civils build: opening footways/carriageways where required, installing ducts/chambers, clearing blockages.
• Fibre delivery: pulling fibre from the network to your building, splicing, and testing light levels.
• Internal works: routing fibre to your comms room, fitting the Network Termination Equipment (NTE/NTU).
• CPE/router & firewall: we can supply and manage the router/firewall, integrate with your LAN/VLANs, and set up monitoring and failover.

We coordinate access, method statements and health & safety requirements with you throughout.

Delivery & Handover

When the circuit is built and the NTE is in place, the carrier performs final tests. We then complete service turn-up and handover.

What you receive:

• Confirmed handover date and test results (throughput, latency, light levels).
• IP addressing and routing details (as agreed).
• Go-live validation (speed tests, failover checks if resilience is included).
• Documentation and support contacts.

What can affect timelines (and how we help)

• Landlord/wayleave permissions: early engagement speeds approvals.
• Blocked ducts or collapsed chambers: identified at survey; resolved during civils.
• Access constraints: clear site contacts and agreed windows keep visits on track.

We manage these dependencies with the carrier and keep you updated at every step.

Your responsibilities (quick checklist)

• Provide a site contact for surveys/engineer visits.
• Reserve power and rack space near the handover point.
• Agree internal cabling route and patching to your equipment.
• Share any building access or induction requirements in advance.

Resilience options (recommended)

• A second leased line via a different route/provider.
• Fibre + wireless or fibre + broadband for diverse failover.
• Managed firewall and monitoring for automatic switchover and alerts.

Key takeaway

ECCs quoted? You decide: accept and proceed, or decline and cancel at that point.

No ECCs quoted? The build proceeds and the order can’t be cancelled.