When connecting your business's various locations, you face a fundamental choice between a private network and the public internet. For a long time, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) was the standard for its reliable performance and security, acting as a private highway for company data. However, using the internet for connectivity presents a compelling alternative with greater flexibility and potential cost savings. This guide will compare both options to help you determine the most suitable networking solution for your organization.
What is MPLS?
Multiprotocol Label Switching, or MPLS, is a networking technology that directs data from one node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses. Imagine it as a dedicated courier service for your company's data. Instead of having each router perform a complex lookup of the final destination address, data packets are assigned a simple label upon entering the network. This label dictates a specific, predetermined path for the packet to follow.
This labeling mechanism allows network operators to create virtual private networks that operate independently of the public internet. Essentially, it builds a private highway for your traffic over the provider's infrastructure. Because the route is established beforehand and isolated from general internet traffic, MPLS avoids common issues like congestion and unpredictable latency. This results in a highly reliable and performant connection, making it a trusted choice for businesses that require consistent quality for applications like voice, video, and critical data transfer between their sites.
What is the Internet?
In contrast to the private nature of MPLS, the internet is a global, public network of interconnected computer systems. When used for business connectivity, your data travels over this shared infrastructure. If MPLS is a private highway, think of the internet as the public road system—open to all traffic, from streaming services to other companies' data.
Data is broken into packets, and each packet is sent independently across the network. Routers direct traffic based on the most efficient path available at that moment, rather than a single predetermined route. This decentralized approach offers enormous flexibility and reach, connecting your business to a worldwide web of resources and users without requiring a dedicated, pre-planned circuit for your traffic.
Key Differences Between MPLS and Internet
While both MPLS and the internet connect your business locations, they operate on fundamentally different principles. Understanding these distinctions is key to evaluating which approach aligns with your operational needs. Here’s a breakdown of the core differences an IT leader should consider.
First, let's talk about performance. The two options offer vastly different levels of predictability.
- Performance and Reliability: MPLS delivers consistent, predictable performance. Because it’s a private network, carriers provide Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that guarantee specific metrics like uptime, latency, and packet delivery. This is possible because your data travels along a pre-engineered path, avoiding the congestion of the public web. In contrast, the internet operates on a "best-effort" basis. Performance can be inconsistent, as your data competes with all other traffic. While business internet plans often come with uptime guarantees, they typically don't offer the same granular performance assurances for latency or packet loss.
Next up is security. The inherent design of each network creates different security postures from the start.
- Security Model: MPLS provides built-in security through isolation. Since your traffic never touches the public internet, it's shielded from many common external threats. Think of it as a walled garden; access is restricted by design. The internet, however, exposes data to the public domain. To secure traffic, you must implement additional technologies like VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) and firewalls. Security is an active, ongoing effort rather than a built-in feature of the transport itself.
Finally, consider how each network handles traffic prioritization and cost.
- Traffic Management and Cost: MPLS excels at managing traffic with native Quality of Service (QoS). This allows you to prioritize time-sensitive applications, ensuring your video calls don't stutter because someone is downloading a large file. This premium service comes at a higher cost, which scales with bandwidth and the number of sites. The internet offers a more budget-friendly alternative, providing high bandwidth for a fraction of the price. It lacks end-to-end QoS, meaning once your data leaves your office, you have little control over its priority. This makes it highly scalable for general connectivity but less controlled for specific applications.
Pros and Cons of Using MPLS
The biggest advantage of MPLS is its dependability. For businesses that can't afford any disruption to their core applications, the guaranteed performance is a major draw. Beyond just reliability, MPLS can also simplify network oversight for your IT team. Since the provider manages the complex core routing and pathing, your team can focus on other priorities instead of troubleshooting transport issues across the wide area network.
However, this robust framework comes with its own set of challenges. A significant drawback is the long lead time for deployment; getting a new MPLS circuit up and running can take weeks or even months, which hinders rapid expansion. Furthermore, its architecture was created before the rise of cloud computing. It's designed for traffic between your own sites, not for efficient connections to cloud applications. This can lead to sluggish performance for cloud-based tools, as data often has to travel back to a central hub before reaching the internet, adding both latency and cost.
Pros and Cons of Using the Internet
The internet's primary advantage is its agility and direct access to the cloud. Unlike the lengthy setup times associated with private networks, a business internet connection can be established quickly, which is a major benefit for companies that need to expand or adapt on the fly. It also provides a direct path to cloud-based applications and services, which is essential for modern work. This avoids the performance issues that can arise when traffic has to be routed back through a central data center. Of course, the cost is also a significant factor; the internet offers far more bandwidth for your budget, giving you greater capacity for less money.
On the other hand, this flexibility comes with trade-offs. The most significant challenge is the lack of performance guarantees. Because your data travels over a shared public network, it can be subject to unpredictable delays and jitter, which can disrupt real-time applications like voice and video calls. Security is another key consideration. The public nature of the internet means you are responsible for building and managing your own defenses using firewalls and VPNs. This adds a layer of operational complexity and requires constant attention from your IT team to protect against external threats.
How to Choose Between MPLS and Internet for Your Business
Deciding between MPLS and the internet isn't about which technology is superior overall, but which is the right fit for your company’s specific operational realities. The best choice depends on a careful look at your applications, security posture, and future growth plans. By asking the right questions, you can find the network foundation that supports your business goals.
Assess Your Application Portfolio
To begin, take stock of the applications your business depends on. Are your daily operations built around real-time services like Voice over IP (VoIP), video conferencing, or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)? These applications are highly sensitive to delays and packet loss. For them, the predictable, low-latency environment of an MPLS network provides a stable user experience. If an employee’s choppy video call could derail a client presentation, the performance guarantees of MPLS are a strong point in its favor.
On the other hand, if your workforce primarily uses cloud-based SaaS applications and general web browsing, a high-bandwidth internet connection is often more than adequate. These tools are designed to function well over public networks, and the raw capacity of business internet can be a greater asset than the controlled environment of MPLS.
Factor in Your Security and Compliance Needs
Next, consider your security requirements. MPLS offers security through isolation; since it’s a private network, your data is separated from public internet traffic by default. This can be a significant advantage for organizations in regulated industries like finance or healthcare, where data privacy is a primary concern. It simplifies the security model because the transport layer itself is private.
Using the internet for your WAN means you are responsible for building your own security on top of a public foundation. This involves implementing and managing firewalls, SD-WAN overlays, and VPNs to encrypt and protect your data. This approach can be perfectly secure, but it requires active management and expertise from your IT team. The question becomes: do you have the internal resources to manage that security infrastructure effectively across all your locations?
Align with Your Growth and Cloud Strategy
Finally, look at your company's direction. If your strategy involves rapid expansion or a "cloud-first" approach, the internet offers clear advantages. New internet circuits can be set up in days or weeks, not months, allowing you to bring new sites online quickly. It also provides direct, efficient access to public cloud platforms like AWS and Azure, avoiding the traffic backhauling that can slow down performance on a traditional MPLS network.
Conversely, if your business has a stable number of locations and relies heavily on applications hosted in private data centers, MPLS remains a very effective solution. Its hub-and-spoke model is well-suited for connecting branch offices back to a central headquarters or data center with high reliability.
Making the Right Network Choice for Your Needs
The decision between MPLS and the internet comes down to your specific business priorities. If your company's key applications, like voice or video conferencing, cannot tolerate performance issues, then the guaranteed reliability of MPLS makes it a strong contender. On the other hand, for businesses that are heavily invested in cloud services and need to add new locations quickly, the internet offers greater agility and cost efficiency.
Furthermore, the choice is no longer a strict 'either/or' decision. Many organizations now adopt a hybrid networking model. By using technologies like SD-WAN, you can direct traffic over the most appropriate path—sending sensitive application data over a stable MPLS circuit while routing general traffic over a business internet connection. This approach gives you a balanced mix of performance and cost.
Ultimately, a clear-eyed assessment of your application portfolio, security requirements, and growth strategy will point you to the right solution. Whether you opt for MPLS, the internet, or a combination of both, the goal is to build a network foundation that supports your company's operations without getting in the way.
Need Help Managing Your Network? Lightyear Can Help
Whether you choose MPLS, internet, or a hybrid approach, making the right decision requires data. Lightyear helps you compare options with real-time pricing and procurement intelligence, so you can build the right network for your needs.
By automating network service procurement, inventory management, and bill consolidation, Lightyear removes the complexity from telecom management. The hundreds of enterprises who trust us achieve over 70% time savings and 20% cost savings on their network services.
Sign up for a free account to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions about MPLS vs Internet
Is MPLS technology outdated?
Not at all. While many companies are adding internet-based connections, MPLS remains valuable for its high reliability. It's often used alongside the internet in a hybrid setup to guarantee performance for critical applications like voice or video, where stability is key.
How does SD-WAN change the MPLS vs. internet debate?
SD-WAN acts as a smart traffic controller over your network. It lets you use both MPLS and internet connections together, automatically sending applications over the best path. This gives you the reliability of MPLS and the cost-effectiveness of the internet in one managed solution.
If my business is moving to the cloud, do I still need MPLS?
It depends. For direct access to public cloud services like AWS or Azure, an internet connection is usually more efficient. However, if you have private cloud applications or need a secure, stable link back to a data center, MPLS can still play an important role.
