Dedicated or shared?
Know the difference.

01 / The fundamentals

Where is the capacity shared?

Dedicated access: The customer receives committed capacity over a specified part of the connection. The provider should explain where that commitment begins and ends, and whether it applies to both upload and download. A dedicated connection does not make every link beyond the access circuit exclusive.

Shared access: Multiple customers can use a common pool of capacity, which can help keep costs lower. A shared connection can perform consistently when sufficient capacity is available. When simultaneous demand approaches or exceeds the shared capacity, customers may experience slower transfers, increased delay, or packet loss. Whether this happens and how noticeable it becomes depend on how the provider designs, monitors, and expands its network.

An oversubscription ratio compares the capacity customers can request with the capacity available on a shared segment. For example, if ten customers each have access to a 1 Gbps service and share a 5 Gbps segment, their combined advertised capacity is 10 Gbps against 5 Gbps on that segment. This is a 2:1 oversubscription ratio. That does not mean each customer gets 500 Mbps: actual performance depends on simultaneous demand, traffic management, and the rest of the network. A ratio on its own does not establish the performance of a service.

Dedicated capacity reduces exposure to contention within the committed service boundary. Traffic can still encounter shared capacity or congestion beyond that boundary, including in other networks or at the destination.

Fiber, cable, and wireless describe how a connection is delivered. Those labels alone do not tell you whether the service is dedicated or shared, whether upload and download speeds match, or whether a service level agreement (SLA) is included.

02 / Side by side

What should you compare?

These are common patterns, not promises. A written proposal and the applicable service agreement are the basis for comparison.

03 / Beyond the speed

How does it perform when the network is busy?

A connection can have a high advertised speed and still feel slow if a link is congested, Wi-Fi is weak, a firewall is overloaded, or an application is delayed elsewhere. Ask providers which performance metrics they measure and where.

On a shared access network, traffic may wait while the provider allocates capacity or transmits other customers’ data. This can increase latency and jitter, especially during busy periods. Some technologies also schedule upload traffic; the delay depends on how the network is designed and configured. Dedicated access can reduce waiting on the reserved portion of the connection, while other parts of the path can still introduce delay.

The effect depends on the work. A shop using email and cloud applications may not notice occasional variation if the connection meets its needs. Large file transfers and cloud backups may take longer. Video meetings, remote desktops, and real-time financial applications can be more sensitive to delay, jitter, and loss. For interactive AI, network responsiveness is one part of the experience; application and model processing also affect response time.

When comparing measurements, record the endpoint, direction, time window, and method. A single speed test is a useful observation, but it cannot describe every application or path.

04 / When it matters most

What happens when service is interrupted?

A service level agreement (SLA) can define availability, where and how it is measured, exclusions, and remedies. Read the terms carefully: an availability percentage is not a guarantee that an outage will never occur, and a credit does not restore lost time.

Consider how quickly support responds, how an issue is escalated, and the reliability of building entry, equipment, and power. If you need a second connection, ask whether it shares a conduit, building entrance, switch, or upstream path with the first.

05 / The full proposal

Compare the total commitment.

Request the monthly price, installation and construction charges, equipment fees, contract term, renewal conditions, upgrade options, and cancellation terms. Confirm any taxes or surcharges that apply to the specific offer.

A lower monthly price may be the right decision. A higher price may be justified by capacity commitments, support, resilience, or other features. The value depends on what the business needs and what the agreement actually provides.

06 / Fit for your business

Match the service to the work.

Some organizations use both: a primary circuit and a separate backup. Check how independent the connections are and test that traffic switches to the backup before relying on it.

07 / Provider checklist

Questions for any provider.

• Where is capacity dedicated or shared? What is the committed rate in each direction?
• Are the advertised speeds maximums or contractual commitments?
• What latency and jitter should I expect when the connection is busy? Where are they measured, and are there contractual targets?
• What do your SLA and support commitments cover, and what are the exclusions?
• What does the complete monthly and installation cost include?
• What equipment, interface, IP addresses, and routing options are available?
• What would a separate backup circuit actually share with this one?
• How are performance issues reported, measured, and escalated?
• What is the contract term, renewal process, and cancellation obligation?

For a deeper look at capacity planning, see our Dedicated Internet buyer’s guide and its bandwidth estimator.