T1 Internet Service Prices and Rates Quotes in Apple Valley

CLECs Gain Ground with SMBs

Friday April 17, 2009, 07:55 am ET

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Apr. 17 /Patrick Oborn/ -- Is there a resurgence in the popularity of telecommunications providers that compares with the late 1990's? The answer may surprise you. Since the crash of the Internet bubble, struggling telecoms have seen Darwin in action as many companies were forced with the choice of bankruptcy or forced consolidation. However, some companies chose the road less traveled: innovation. By offering customers more for less, many small to medium size business customers are finding that they can upgrade to integrated T1 service for the same cost of five regular phone lines.

"I think the telecom industry in general has turned a corner" opined Jerry Gold of Boston, Massachusetts. "They have finally developed products that are understandable by the industry outsider and, thanks to competition, priced these services in a range that most small businesses can afford. For over 20 years I dreaded dealing with 'the phone company'. But now that I've switched over to One Communications, my integrated T1 is doing everything I need it to, for under $450/month. One actually answers their customer service calls and makes me feel like I'm part of their family. It was a long time coming, but I'm finally able to end the fight with the phone company so I can focus on my sports memorabilia store."

"When we moved into our new location here in Los Angeles" commented John Baker, a small business owner in San Diego, California, "we feared having to sign up for commercial telephone and internet service. Until about a year ago, the services being offered to us were TDM, which doesn't come cheap. Thankfully our Telarus commercial telecom broker recommended that we give TelePacific a try, and we did. One year later, we've never had an erroneous bill, our phone and data are all on one single dynamic T1, and we can focus on what we do best - brokering mortgages."

The old-school integrated T-1 was analog in nature, and came with 24 configurable channels (called a trunk) which could be configured to carry either voice or data traffic. The new "dynamic" trunks are all-digital and can change on-the-fly to carry either data or voice traffic. This comes in handy when none of the voice lines are in use - all channels can revert to carrying data traffic, giving the end-use a full 1.5 MBPS of broadband. Each phone call requires only 64K of bandwidth, so even a small handful of calls only slows down the data connection by a nominal amount.

As the competitive local exchange carriers continue to compete by introducing new and exciting products at prices most small businesses can afford, they are coming up against increasing resistance from the RBOCs who are forces to lease their own copper lines to these CLECs at reduced rates. This reality has the CLECs rushing to deploy their own networks and fiber routes, but the FCC may ultimately relax the mandate - leaving all of us wondering how long the party is going to last. Change does not happen quickly in an industry as so heavily regulated as Telecommunications. Recent industry consolidation has provided huge alternatives to the incumbents, who are now under pressure to keep up with new technologies while charging better prices to retain and attract new customer bases.