T1 Internet Service Prices and Rates Quotes in West Newark

Momentum Builds for CLECs

Tuesday November 04, 2008, 08:21 am ET

DRAPER, Utah, Nov. 04 /Patrick Oborn/ -- Business broadband, its price, and who can afford it, are changing. Every day an increasing number of business are finding the new broadband services made available to them by the "new" telecommunications companies that are emerging from the latest round of mergers and acquisitions. Overlapping networks are being consolidated into bigger and leaner footprints, lowering the cost of dynamic integrated digital signal 1 (DS1) service to the price range of about five regular phone lines. Small to medium size business can now afford services once reserved for the Fortune 1000 companies.

The question remains, if this new technology is so progressive, why did it take over five years to gain broad appeal to SMB's across the country? One industry analyst from the Telecommunications Research Institute observed that many customers who consume commercial-grade phone service became very untrusting of telecom providers after the Internet bubble burst in 2000 and the MCI bankruptcy proceedings full of allegations of fraud and embezzlement. After all, no customer wants to come to work one day just to find out that their connection to the outside world has been shut down due to financially unstable service providers not being able to run a profitable or ethical business. Now, due to a series of acquisitions and mergers, the "survivors" are offering great products at rates that SMB's can't continue to ignore. The CLEC's and Bells are quickly gaining traction with the very important demographic.

The adoption of any new telecommunications platform is never instantaneous. Many technologies, like VoIP for example, have been in the works for years without gaining much traction. Enterprises see communications as their life blood. Even though many are becoming aware of newer, cheaper mediums by which they can conduct business, the risk still outweighs the rewards in their minds. Couple the 'if it isn't broken, why fix it?' mind set with the telecom meltdown of the early 2000's and it isn't surprising that widespread adoption of new telecom services has lagged. However, the new technologies of IP-based voice systems are finally starting to gain an audience, and the chorus of satisfied customers continues to grow. As this momentum pushes forward, so does general acceptance of it viability.

"True convergence means that I can finally have just one phone company, without being at the mercy of Ma Bell" added Steven Lankto of Jersey City. "Having a data pipe that is intelligent enough to know when it needs to become a voice pipe, without any input from me, is genius. I'm glad that the technology is here and in the price range of businesses like mine." Mr. Lankto isn't alone; there is now widespread acceptance of integrated voice and data service in the New York metro area and across most larger U.S. cities.

Hopefully the CLECs can continue to push the boundaries of innovation and economics. The only thing that can keep them from the promise land is the gatekeeper of competition: the Federal Communications Commission, and the huge Bells (AT&T and Verizon - that's you) who make it a point to spend more money lobbying in Washington DC than Exxon Mobile. Looking in the crystal ball of the future, it is clear that new an innovated services being offered by the few super-CLECs remaining will drive innovation higher and prices lower. New technology is being pressed to the forefront by lower prices that the mainstream of small businesses everywhere can comfortably afford.