Saving Money with a Better Internet Connection

The Point

Traditional inexpensive Internet provider options do not work for small businesses using cloud based technologies. Circuit/T-1 technology prices have decreased as demand and competition increased. Customers with four telephone lines, DSL or cable Internet, and long distance will typically spend about the same amount as if they were to use a T-1.

T-1 Prices

Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) and Centrex are becoming obsolete exponentially fast. Small businesses can afford converged circuit technologies today. Managed Internet T-1s use to cost as much as $1,600.00 per month or more ten years ago. Today, the range is $300.00 to $600.00 per month for an Internet T-1 with the majority of your voice, data, and long distance services running over the same circuit. Businesses can add second, third, and forth T-1s for $200.00 to $400.00 per circuit.

Cloud Services

Cloud services give the advantage of economy of scale. Many businesses can share resources that each would have to budget for individually. Businesses can use the expertise of hosted service providers and eliminate purchasing expensive servers, software and technical support to meet their requirements.

The Internet Survivability

The Internet becomes a vital part of businesses when they commit to cloud services used to manage scheduling, billing, compliance requirements, and more. Internet options should be reviewed as part of the process of weighing the benefits of saving money by sharing resources, connecting multiple offices, and accessing records from almost anywhere.

DSL and Cable Internet Options

Most small offices rely on the least expensive Internet options available like DSL or cable. These services typically have four major issues if you are going to run your business over the Internet.

They do not provide any Service Level Agreement. The Internet provider does not have any obligation to keep the Internet up or remedy issues in a timely manner if the Internet stops working.
They typically do not provide a fast enough upload speeds for the session requirements of cloud services. Most Internet traffic is downloading when surfing from page to page. Cloud based service require your employees to upload your daily business activities.
Speeds usually depend on the cable distance from the provider’s equipment. Internet speeds decrease for users as they get further from the central office or remote terminal because signals get weaker over distance. Most inexpensive Internet options have "up to" speeds for upload/download ranges.
Bandwidth speeds are not guaranteed. Most providers do not provide enough Internet access for busy hours like when kids get home from school and jump on the Internet.

Circuit/T-1 Reliability

Phone companies are required to keep their customers up the five nines (99.999 percent of the time) or pay penalties. This is best guarantee in the industry.

AllSource Telecom is a strategic RANAC partner. Please contact Brian Bohde at AllSource Telecom for more information. You may reach him either by calling at 317 / 202-3000 or via email at bbohde@allsourcetel.com.