“If a full T1 isn't in your budget, you need to consider Integrated T1 service or even our wireless T1 service.”

The Secrets of Integrated T1

Written by: Michael Bremmer- November 07, 2005

If a full T1 isn't in your budget, you need to consider a Integrated T1 line that combines your local and long distance phone service with your internet service giving many small business the best of both worlds. Why not get all the advantages of T1 even if you are not in a market for a full T1? For many people the biggest factors in their decision is reliability and if reliability is critical to the applications you run over your connection you should seriously consider replacing your DSL connection with a Integrated T1. DSL is a quick and cost effective method of acquiring high speed bandwidth however it is not intended to support commercial applications or large numbers of users as are T1 connections.

One drawback to Integrated T1 service is the fact if the T1 does fail, you will lose your phone service. Even though this is a rare event, perhaps 1-2 times yearly for 10-15 minutes, it does happen.  Also even though you won't have a full T1 you will be paying quite a bit more than you did for your DSL connection. This is due to the structure of T1 pricing. A T1 connection is established by providing a "loop" or wire from the user's premises to the CO where the service provider has equipment. Part of the cost of a T1 is the "loop charge" or the monthly rental fee for the wire that is rented from the local phone company. Once the connection reaches the CO it can access the carriers network and reach any destination. This loop is paid in full whether you use a fraction of the available bandwidth or the full 1.5Mbps and therefore your price for a 768Kbps fractional T1 connection will never be half the price of a 1.5mbps full T1 connection.

However many times, the combination of sharing your phone and internet services can be a cost savings because some carriers include free calling as part of their packages.  Also, the increased productivity and stability of the T1 internet service along with the fact most features such as voicemail and caller ID are normally included in monthly pricing of Integrated T1's.

Although the price reduction is not what you might expect it to be, this may put a T1 in your budget and be a great way to get dedicated service into your building. Fractional service typically comes in 256Kbps increments from 256Kbps all the way to a full T1 at 1.5Mbps and some carriers even dynamically allocate the bandwidth to increase your company's productivity. Find the service that's right for you, but if you are supporting critical services think reliability. Reliability becomes critical when customers or employees depend on your connection for immediate responses. If your customers use your connection to access your databases or your server or the internet then reliability of your connection is critical. If your employees depend on your connections because you host the e-mail server in house or host web servers or ASP type products, your connections is considered critical. A critical connection can be viewed much like a lifeline, without which your business would be negatively impacted.

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