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Contrasting A T1 Line With Dsl And Cable
By: unsecured
If you are even thinking this question, it probably says that your business is currently using DSL or cable instead of a T1, and you find yourself being sick and tired of DSL and cable's inevitable downtime when you need it most, as well as their inherent unreliability. Or perhaps you find that you can almost take a long lunch hour while waiting to send that spreadsheet to your biggest client, who is not impressed with your choice for Internet connectivity.
You need to fully understand that DSL and cable were not designed for business use. They do an acceptable job for home use in most cases, but they fall far short for business use if you have more than 3-4 people that need to be online at the same time. If you are in that situation, you definitely need to start shopping for a T1 line for your business.
How does a T1 line compare to DSL or cable? That is very tough question because they are not even in the same ballpark. How do you compare an apple to a pencil? They are very different things. DSL and cable (and FIOS is really just cable with all the inherent problems and disadvantages of cable) were designed to be over-subscribed, which means that nobody, not even the carrier you bought it from, can promise you how many bandwidth is going to be available to you at any point in time. Do they disagree with that statement? If so, ask them to put it in writing and have it notarized and see what they say.
By huge and stark contrast, a T1 line provides you with a DEDICATED connection to the Internet, not a SHARED connection that DSL and cable provide. You have a written guarantee from the T1 provider that you have that much bandwidth (ie, "speed") available to you 24x7 with a 99.99% uptime guarantee. And this is in writing via a service contract. You will never get that from your DSL or cable provider, since they only provide "best efforts".
You say your DSL or cable provider advertises that you get 5 MB speed, or 10 MB speed, or perhaps even more? There are three things they are not telling you when you read a statement like that:
1. They are not GUARANTEEING that speed. You see, with DSL and cable you are SHARING that circuit with 50-100 or more businesses and residences in your area, and that speed is only theoretically possible if those 50-100 other businesses and residences are not using the circuit at the same time you are. In other words, it will happen rarely, if at all.
2. Whatever speed you get on the "down" side (coming FROM the Internet), your "up" speed (from your computer TO the Internet) is dramatically lower, in many cases rivaling the speed of a dialup connection, but nowhere near the advertised speed which is "down only".
3. Whatever speed you get with DSL and cable is not guaranteed, nor is it dedicated, nor is it likely to be the same 5 minutes from now. Since it is shared, it is inconsistent.
Yes, a T1 line costs more than DSL or cable but it does not have all the disadvantages of DSL and cable. A T1 line has guaranteed up time, the same speed up and down, and that speed is guaranteed to be available to you 24x7. And you get these guarantees in writing with your carrier's service contract. Yes, a Lexus costs more than a Yugo, even though they are both a "car". The same analogy applies to circuits, where you get what you pay for.
Start your shopping for a T1 line where you can compare prices from first tier quality carriers. Using second tier or third tier carriers can frequently cause you even more problems, and in your business, you are looking for a SOLUTION, not more problems, right?
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