Decision Guide
Leased Line vs SD-WAN vs Bridge: A Decision Framework
Three ways to connect a site, and a framework for matching each one to the requirement.
What's inside
Key takeaways
- "Which is best" is the wrong question — a leased line, bonded SD-WAN, and Integra Bridge solve different problems.
- Five factors decide the fit: lead time, location, workload, permanence, and resilience.
- The strongest estates rarely pick one product — they match each site to its requirement and layer resilience behind it.
- Where Fibre is ordered but months away, the answer isn't "wait" — it's Bridge now, leased line later, Bridge stays as failover.
"The decision framework" — a decision matrix or flow mapping site characteristics (lead-time need, Fibre availability, permanence, workload, resilience need) to recommended option(s).
The wrong question
When a site needs connectivity, the instinct is to ask "which option is best?" It's the wrong question — and asking it leads to bad decisions, because it assumes there's a winner.
There isn't. A leased line, bonded SD-WAN, and Integra Bridge aren't competing for the same slot. They solve different problems, on different timelines, for different kinds of site. The useful question isn't "which is best" — it's "which fits this site, given what it needs and when it needs it." This piece is a framework for answering that.
The three options
Leased line. A dedicated Fibre circuit — symmetric, uncontended, SLA-backed. The gold standard for a permanent site that can't afford downtime. Its weaknesses are lead time and, where civils are involved, an excess construction charge that can run into five figures.
Bonded SD-WAN. Multiple 4G/5G carriers combined into one resilient connection — load balanced or bonded. Live in around fourteen days, with no Openreach dependency. The right answer where Fibre can't reach a site, takes too long to install, or costs too much to bring in.
Integra Bridge. Bonded Starlink and 5G/4G delivered over Layer 2 from our data centre — enterprise-grade connectivity in around ten days, purpose-built for the gap while a permanent circuit is being constructed. When the Fibre lands, Bridge doesn't get removed; it stays on as automatic failover.
The five decision factors
Five questions decide the fit. Run a site through all five and the answer usually resolves itself.
Lead time. When does the site actually need to be live? If the answer is "before the leased line install date" — and it often is — then the immediate decision isn't a leased-line decision at all. It's a Bridge or SD-WAN decision, very possibly running alongside the leased line order rather than instead of it.
Location. Can Fibre reach the site economically? A quote that comes back with a heavy excess construction charge, or stalls on a wayleave, isn't a reason to wait — it's a signal that SD-WAN has stopped being the compromise and become the better primary.
Workload. What actually runs on the connection?
A site that needs inbound access — VPNs terminating on-site, CCTV, remote support — needs a static IP, which points firmly toward a leased line or a bonded configuration rather than a basic load-balanced setup.
Permanence. Forever site, or temporary one? A construction site that relocates every six months is never a leased-line decision — the circuit would be obsolete before it paid back. A head office is the opposite. Match the contract length and the technology to the life of the site.
Resilience. Single circuit, or no single point of failure? This is the factor most often skipped. Any of the three options can serve as a primary; any can serve as a backup. The strongest sites run a primary circuit and an independent wireless connection that fails over automatically — so the question isn't only "what's the primary," it's "what's behind it."
“The useful question isn't "which is best." It's "which fits this site, given what it needs and when it needs it."”
The framework
Run those factors and most decisions resolve cleanly:
- Permanent site, Fibre available, timeline works → leased line.
- Permanent site, Fibre can't reach or costs too much → bonded SD-WAN as the primary.
- Permanent site, Fibre ordered but months away → Bridge now, leased line later, Bridge stays as failover.
- Temporary or moving site → SD-WAN, every time.
- Any site that genuinely can't go dark → a primary circuit plus an independent wireless failover, whatever the primary is.
Why it's usually a combination
Here's the part the "which is best" framing misses entirely: for anything bigger than a single site, the right answer is almost never one product.
An estate has a head office that warrants a leased line, regional sites where SD-WAN is the sensible primary, a new location where Bridge covers the gap until Fibre arrives, and a temporary site that will only ever be wireless. A connectivity strategy isn't picking a winner — it's matching each site to what it needs, and layering the right resilience behind each one.
The job of the framework isn't to crown a product. It's to make every individual decision quick, defensible, and right for that site.
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