Flexible Products, Lower Prices
Friday May 01, 2009,
12:46 pm ET
CEDAR HILLS, Utah, May. 01 /Patrick Oborn/ --
The digital universe, and the way people connect to it, is changing. Small businesses, in
particular, are discovering new high-speed Internet and telecom options that are now
squarely within their budgets. Through a myriad of mergers and acquisitions, telecommunication
providers have greatly enhanced their integrated T1 products with features that businesses
can't live without, all while dropping the price to about half of what they were just
two years ago.
Prior to the advent of the "all digital" integrated T-1 in 2005, customers only had
one choice when it came to dedicated service: analog trunks (24 line bundles).
Not only where analog trunks expensive - the average cost ranging from $800 to
$1500 per month depending on the user's geographic proximity to the LECs point
of presence - they could not re-allocate unused voice channels to carry data.
Digital trunks, on the other hand, can reclaim voice lines not in use and put
them to work carrying high-speed data packets. That means users enjoy the full
1.5 Mbps of broadband when they are not on the phone.
One might think that, given the cost - benefit analysis of the integrated T1 value
proposition, more businesses would be changing over to the new platform. However,
the rate of adaptation is rather slow. Rob Butler, head of the Telecommunications
Research Institute, thinks that "phone companies have a problem with trust amongst
their user base. For many years, customers have dealt with increasing rates, long
hold times, and frustration in general. Now, it appears, the ice is finally starting
to melt and customers are opening themselves up to new technology.
To see how customers are reacting to this new product, we interviewed a series of
small business owners in Missouri who are currently using the service. One such
individual shared with us his enthusiasm for the enhanced capabilities dynamic
service offers. "When I was first contacted about the dynamic integrated T1,
I was deeply skeptical of what I was hearing. Over the course of my brief
dealings with telephone companies, all I got was less service with more cost.
Now I am happy to say that I am getting more for less, which makes for one
very happy customer."
The recent progress made by CLECs leaves us thinking in hypotheticals. "What if the
Clinton administration wouldn't have passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, requiring
RBOCs to lease their lines at reduces rates to the CLECs?" "Will the FCC continue to
enforce this law, or will it be overturned by the powerful AT&T and Verizon lobbyists?"
It is impossible to know either way, but for the time being we can just be grateful
that the industry has evolved to the point were small businesses can actually benefit
from telecommunications at an affordable rate.
Evolution has lead to a better, cheaper alternative to TDM services that the Bells were
peddling for decades in a vacuum of competition. Now the industry, lead by the innovation
and great business practices of the CLECs, seems to have turned a corner - leaving the
incumbents playing catchup. Obviously, the main benefactor of all of this competition
is the small to medium size business - a segment of the market that was taken for granted
until today.
Gentry County Internet T1 Service Provider Index
