Posts Tagged ‘broadband’

The Right Broadband Service

Defining Good Broadband Service

When searching for broadband service, there are a few shopping tips you should follow closely before committing to a contract. Whether it’s for business or personal use, there are some factors that can make the decision of leasing your Internet access a disaster.

Some things that could go wrong include failed unified technology deployment in the workplace and/or home as well as committed contracts and lousy Internet service. Hopefully this article will help you in selecting the services necessary to make your lease process more informed and satisfactory.

Evaluate Your Broadband Service Needs

Before shopping for broadband service you need to ask yourself exactly what you will be needing your service for. In knowing what you plan to use your Internet bandwidth for, you will better determine the bandwidth and service type needed for satisfactory services.

Some questions to ask yourself should include the following:

1. Will I be using VoIP? Many providers now offer optional phone service with their plans. If you plan to save more on your calling expenses though you can go through a separate VoIP provider instead, but you will need to plan for the bandwidth the VoIP will be using up on your Internet line. If you are a business planning on deploying Voice over Internet Protocol with multiple lines, a T1 line or T3 line may be a better choice over typical cable and DSL bandwidths.

2. Will I be online gaming? If you do a lot of real-time multiuser gaming online, you will want to make sure you have enough bandwidth to enjoy your games with fellow users. You may find you will want to buy an expanded broadband service that allows for online gaming. As a matter of fact, many providers offer gaming packages specifically for this purpose.

3. Will I be hosting a server? If you are going to be hosting a server then you will more than likely not want to be using DSL or cable Internet services especially if you are a business. You will want to deploy your servers over more reliable bandwidth options such as T1, T3, OC3, etc.

4. Do I want television services with that? Many Internet service providers (mainly cable Internet) now offer bundled services that include cable television packages. In many cases this option saves you on your entertainment expenses as well as bandwidth expenses. Even businesses are now using this option to keep up to date on news at the workplace.

>> Shop Business Broadband Service

>> Shop Residential Broadband Service

What to Look for In a Broadband Provider

1. Contract Term - Closely evaluate your contract with the broadband service provider before committing. While you usually get the best deals with lengthier contracts, you do not want to be stuck with a substandard bandwidth provider for the long run. 6-12 months is the average for residential packages while business packages typically can be anywhere from 1-3 years. More commonly residential services are month to month these days.

2. Evaluate QoS Terms - In your contract make sure there is a quality of service guarantee. This is most important for business broadband, which can help you leave a contract if services are not as promised.

3. Trial Offers - A trial offer is an excellent way to try services first before being committed to a service. While not very common, this is a great option for those unsure of a provider.

4. Look at the Little Guys Too - While you can search online for Internet providers, you will more than likely only find the bigger providers such as AT&T and Verizon. Look in your yellow pages and you may find other ISP services available locally that aren’t as big, but can be just as good.

5. Shopping by Price - It is not advised that you shop by price alone, especially if you have special needs or plan on using excessive bandwidth. Make sure you are getting the right amount of bandwidth first before getting fixated on special pricing.

6. Install Fees - When putting together the budget for your Internet bill, remember that the installation fees will be added to your first bill. Make sure to include this into your budget for your broadband service expenses.

Many companies today are utilizing OC3 – OC48 – OC192 services to put them ahead and to maintain a competitive edge in their market places. Learn about this SONET bandwidth and what it can do for your growing business today.

In today’s ever growing competitive markets your business needs whatever advantages it can get to maintain a healthy profit margin. With budgets tightening it can be easy to pay more attention to marketing and development overlooking the I.T. sector in the effort to boost profits. By ignoring the communications department though you can be making a big mistake. Before we continue this discussion let us take a closer look at what OC3 is first.

OC3/OC-3 is one of the many backbone bandwidths of the SONET family. SONET stands for Synchronous Optical NETwork and offers many flavors of optical carrier bandwidths including OC12, OC48, OC192, and OC768 to name a few. OC levels are for the most part a T1 line on steroids allowing for larger data and voice traffic payloads for businesses in growth or in current demand for larger communication needs. One OC3 circuit alone is equivalent to 84 T1 lines or 3 T3 lines and runs at the speed of 155 Mbps.

Get OC3 Business Quotes here.

Other OC-x Speeds:

OC9        466 Mbps = 252 T1′s

OC12       622 Mbps = 336 T1′s

OC18       933 Mbps = 504 T1′s

OC24      1.2 Gbps  = 672 T1′s

OC36      1.8 Gbps  = 1,008 T1′s

OC48      2.4 Gbps  = 1,344 T1′s

OC96      4.9 Gbps  = 2,688 T1′s

OC192     9.9 Gbps  = 5,376 T1′s

OC768    39.8 Gbps  = 21,504 T1′s

Common uses  in large enterprises include hosting servers, WANs, ISP, VoIP, SIP Trunking, PBX voice, and other applications. As a matter of fact, when it comes to voice use for call centers, an OC3 is capable of handling the transmission of over 2,000 lines of voice traffic simultaneously. These larger capacities can be accredited to the capacity associated with fiber optics.

One feature that makes this bandwidth type a popular choice for large businesses is the redundancy (reliability) normally associated with the SONET architecture. Reliability is obviously necessary for productive continuity in the workplace for any successful business so this is a main selling point. This can help keep money allocated in other areas as there is usually less expense for technician for downtime analysis and repairs as well as lost revenue to paid employees for man hours during such outages.

Your company saves more per Mb in larger quantities of bandwidth making a partial port, full port, or burstable OC3 driving your business Internet and voice communications more economical in a belt squeezing economy. This is yet another attractive selling point for many corporations in America in these trying times.

Get OC3 Business Quotes here.

The future of  applications associated with many bandwidth technologies will require extensive liquidation of hardware and the purchase of new technologies which can drain any hardened bottom line. The beauty of the SONET standard is it’s seamless integration with newer technologies as they present themselves saving your enterprise the hassle of implementing new hardware as well as the purchase of it.

Ultimately, when you are able to combine added productivity and functionality to your everyday operations with cost considerations in place, your business can then allocate funds into other areas that can keep your business growing to the capacity of your market increasing profitability.

There are other features and options for OC3 that may or may not be right for your business so consulting with your I.T. staff as well as a good broker specialist can help you find both the right bandwidth and a cost effective solution suitable for your growing network needs.

Get OC3 Business Quotes here.