abstract:A leased line is a service contract between a provider and a customer, whereby the provider agrees to deliver a symmetric telecommunications line connecting two or more locations in exchange for a monthly rent (hence the term lease). It is sometimes known as a "private circuit" or "data line" in the UK.
The 16-digit account number stored in your card's magnetic stripe zooms across a leased phone line to the merchant's bank, zips under the Pacific to Visa's data center outside Tokyo and rides the Visa network to the data center of your issuing bank in Delaware.