T1 Internet Service Prices and Rates Quotes in Purdon

CLECs Gain Ground with SMBs

Thursday July 17, 2008, 02:58 am ET

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jul. 17 /Patrick Oborn/ -- For many small to medium size businesses, higher productivity with relation to their broadband and voice services is just around the corner. Thanks in part to the recent price reduction trend in the industry, carriers have deemed it necessary to consolidate in order to offer more services at a lower cost than their rivals. Overlapping networks have been consolidated into leaner, more feature-rich versions of their previous selves, dramatically lowering the price small businesses pay for the popular dynamic integrated T-carrier (T-1) lines that combine local voice and high-speed Internet service into one connection.

With any new advancement in technology there is usually a lag in the time it take users known as "early adapters" to try out and begin using the new services themselves. Although dynamic T1 service has been available in many US markets since 2005, it's just now that we have observed people beginning to embrace the new technology. One such business that recently changed from a voice PRI and data T1 line on to one, dynamic T1 line is Jason Oliver, a small business owner in Los Angeles, California. "When I found out that I could replace my two T1's with one single dynamic integrated circuit (offered by TelePacific Communications), I had two thoughts: 1- where do I sign, and 2- why didn't someone tell me about this sooner!"

"The average cost of a business phone line from the Local Bell Operating Company (ILEC) has remained constant for the past ten years" noted Edwin Jones, a senior market analyst and telecom industry expert. "At the same time the prices of T-1 lines have declined from near $1000 per month to a staggering $350. Keeping in mind that a T1 connection is the equivalent of 24 regular phone lines all bundled into one, it comes as no surprise that demand for these services in on the rise."

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.

Will this train of innovation, lower prices, and services that add value to SMB's continue to roll down the tracks of progress? It's all up to our government - and which political party controls the FCC. Without the deregulation act of 1996, we would have never known just how much the CLECs were capable of. 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.