T1 Internet Service Prices and Rates Quotes in Davis

Only the FCC Can Stop CLEC Momentum

Thursday May 14, 2009, 03:29 am ET

DRAPER, Utah, May. 14 /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.

According to a recent study conducted by PK Communications Telecom Brokers Inc., the average cost of a POTS (plain old telephone service) line serviced by the Bells (AT&T, Verizon, and Qwest) have changed very little over the 10 year span from 1996, the year the Clinton Administration signed into law the Telecommunications Act, to 2006. The real change in the industry came in the T-carrier class of products, where customers can get up to 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth and 24 digital phone lines all in one package. Some CLECs like XO, TelePacific, Nuvox, One Communications, and even Covad are now offering rates well below the $550/month level, making the change seem like a no-brainer to thousands of customers.

"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."

South Dakota is a place that we found was a hot spot for small business owners making the move over to dynamic T-1 lines. One business owner that we interviewed gave glowing reviews of his move to TelePacific's "OnePac" dynamic product. Keith Gray explained "I used to have a regular integrated T1 with 10 voice lines and 14 data channels. When no one was using the phone in my office, we were limited to just 896 KB of bandwidth. After searching on the Internet for better options, I found that I could reduce my price from $850/month to $500/month, and at the same time have 14 voice lines and 1.5 mbps of broadband. I didn't take long for me to pull the trigger and make the change."

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. Until deregulation allowed smaller, hungrier telecommunications companies the ability to compete, the United States was stuck with technologies that were quickly becoming out of date. Now that the Bells actually have to innovate to keep up with the smaller CLECs, customer everywhere are reaping the benefits.