A business ordinarily gets dedicated Internet access by leasing a line from a service provider or carrier, who then installs this data pipe running directly from their office to the customer's site. The customer is then connected to the Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Dedicated lines can also be installed to directly connect a company's different office sites across geographically far-flung areas. This type of configuration is called a wide area network or WAN, and allows distant offices to share databases and network resources in a high performance, secure manner. All of these lines can simultaneously carry voice and data, although using them for voice will detract from the bandwidth that can be used for data.
Prices vary widely, depending on the bandwidth and configuration.
Interested buyers may want to figure out what their requirements are before shopping around for a dedicated line. A T-1 line is a digital carrier line capable of transmitting a digital signal at 1.544 Mbps. These lines are generally used by businesses rather than home users, and provide a direct dedicated connection to the Internet. A burstable line has the ability to expand its bandwidth capabilities during times of high traffic or for information-rich applications such as video conferencing. The advantage to the consumer is that rather than paying to have that high capacity all of the time, the customer pays for a lower bandwidth that will accommodate normal traffic, and pays a slight premium for that additional, burstable capacity.