Business FTTH can be suitable for a small company; FTTO is justified when its commitments meet a specific requirement. Choose according to which activities stop without internet, the bandwidth actually required and the restoration contract. A technology label and an advertised maximum speed are insufficient to compare two quotes.
What the access types mean
FTTH uses a shared access infrastructure. It also serves business premises: “home” does not limit this technology to residential customers. FTTO uses a dedicated optical local loop with services aimed at businesses. “Dedicated” does not mean that the entire path across the internet is reserved for your company.
The 2026 Arcep guide, factsheet 3 also describes enhanced services over shared infrastructure, including FTTE. Compare the offers available at your address rather than assuming that all FTTH has no guarantees or every business needs FTTO. This guide concerns the French market; labels and contracts elsewhere may differ.
Choose useful commitments
FTTH, FTTE or FTTO labels do not replace these checks.
- NeedWhat must keep working
Priority activities, necessary bandwidth and acceptable downtime.
- ContractWhat is written
Guaranteed bandwidth, restoration or intervention, hours and exclusions.
- AcceptanceWhat works
Installation, applications, voice and backup tested.
Compare written commitments
An advertised maximum speed is a ceiling. Guaranteed bandwidth is a commitment whose value, upload/download direction and measurement scope must be specified. Symmetrical bandwidth means the stated upload and download speeds match; symmetry alone is not a bandwidth guarantee.
| Comparison point | What the quote should specify |
|---|---|
| Bandwidth | Guaranteed minimum in each direction and measurement scope |
| Restoration | Restoration commitment or intervention only; deadline and starting point |
| Coverage hours | Business hours only or also nights and weekends |
| Conditions | Exclusions, premises access requirements and compensation |
| Installation | Survey, works, charges and service activation date |
| Operations | Responsibility for the router, IP addressing, support and backup access |
| Contract term | Commitment, notice period, exit charges and total cost |
In French contracts, GTR refers to a restoration-time guarantee; GTI refers to intervention. Starting work is not the same as restoring service. A four-hour GTR should not be read as an unconditional promise that every outage will end within four hours. Consult the service-quality factsheet in the Arcep guide, then obtain the clauses applying to your offer.
Do not treat a blank quote field as an included service. In the supplied worksheet, an undocumented answer remains unconfirmed. Send the same questions to both providers.
Two fictional decision scenarios
A professional practice can keep working for several hours without its cloud application. Some tasks remain available locally and mobile backup supports urgent communications. Business FTTH may fit if backup tests and support conditions meet its needs. Having twenty employees is not, by itself, a reason to buy FTTO.
A workshop cannot dispatch orders without its remote application. Its acceptable interruption is shorter than the proposed restoration window. A stronger contract deserves consideration, potentially FTTE or FTTO. Even an enhanced restoration commitment still needs a backup operating mode that covers the interruption.
These are illustrative scenarios, not product recommendations. Ask the business owner to identify blocked tasks and the provider to match those requirements to offers actually available at the premises.
Confirm installation before cancelling the old line
An eligibility map does not settle every activation detail. Confirm the exact address, equipment room, building access, any work on private property and the party responsible for each intervention. Arcep's guide addresses business buildings and requests for multiple connections.
Allow the necessary overlap with the old connection until the new one passes acceptance tests. Check dependent services: telephony, VPN access, partner IP allowlists, monitoring and remotely accessible equipment. More bandwidth will not fix incompatible configuration. Our network audit guide helps identify these dependencies.
Make backup access a separate decision
Two subscriptions do not prove two independent routes. They may share cable ducts, equipment or power. Ask what is genuinely separate and test backup limitations: mobile coverage, usable bandwidth, data allowance, VPN and voice service.
Our backup internet guide covers failover tests. For this comparison, the essential distinction is that the main contract governs service and restoration while backup access supports priority work during the outage.
Compare two real quotes with the worksheet
First record essential activities and acceptable downtime. Then fill in each offer's written commitments and the costs of installation, subscription, equipment, backup and overlap over the same comparison period. Price fields are blank; no market price is assumed.
Reject an offer that fails a mandatory requirement even if its maximum speed is higher. If both qualify, compare total cost and operational responsibility. Our infrastructure services can help prepare installation and network acceptance tests.