T1 Lines for a Small Business

At home, you may be accustomed to getting Internet service through a DSL or cable connection, and for home use, this is more than adequate. SOHO businesses too, which have less than five employees, may also be able to get by on this type of connection with the addition of a small router to create a LAN. But for small businesses with more than just a few employees, more reliable Internet access is called for, and a T1 line may be the answer.

The biggest and most immediate difference between a home DSL or cable connection, and a business-class T1 connection, is that the home connections are shared-access. That is, the bandwidth you are getting is sent to your home out of a pool, which services several other homes in your area. It is a shared bandwidth arrangement, which means that if everybody in your neighborhood is online at the same time, your web browsing will go a little slower. A T1 connection however, is a dedicated line, so it overcomes that limitation, thereby delivering greater reliability and consistency for the business Internet experience.

That reliability makes the T1 more suited for business-critical tasks. Downtime in a business environment can be costly and even disastrous, if for an extended period of time; T1 lines will suffer less downtime, thereby making it a better choice for business environments. In addition, the reliability lends itself to deployment of voice, data, and video transmissions, including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls. Voice and video require high bandwidth with consistent service. When using VoIP in a business environment, call quality is essential, and it must be equivalent to ordinary phone service. This is dependent on a reliable, high-bandwidth connection. While VoIP can be achieved over a standard shared cable of DSL connection, quality may be inconsistent, depending on traffic on the provider network; this inconsistency would be unacceptable in a business environment.

Depending on your provider, you will probably be given a service level guarantee of some sort; examine the details of this guarantee closely. It will detail the degree of uptime, and will list very specifically what type of service the provider is offering. Ideally, it will also include remedies for shortfalls; for example, if service does not meet the guarantee, you may be offered a discount for the month’s service. In addition, your carrier may also offer you a package deal, which includes not only the T1 line, but also the routers, cables, and other equipment, all for a fixed monthly fee. There may be setup fees involved, although these may also be waived, depending on carrier, if you agree to a longer contract.

The price for T1 lines has become quite competitive, and well within the reach of most small businesses, and the deployment of one or more of these lines will give the small business a great competitive advantage. The standard dedicated full T1 line delivers 1.5 Mbps upstream and downstream, and this is capable of more than adequately serving a small business’s internet and VoIP requirements. The full T1 is actually made up of 24 channels transmitting at 64Kbps each, and can support up to about 50 end users. The price for a full T1 line may vary depending on carrier and your location; if your office is further away from the provider’s central office, the cost is likely to be higher. Most larger cities however, will not have that problem, and small businesses will have a choice of multiple providers.

While the full T1 line can support up to 50 users, a smaller business with substantially fewer users than that may only need a fractional T1 line. Since the full T1 is made up of 24 channels, it is possible to purchase a number of those channels instead of the whole line. However, the price of a full T1 is very competitive, and you will pay more proportionately for a fractional T1 per channel.

Even if your business is quite small and you do not see the immediate need for a full T1 line, it may still be advantageous, not only for the purpose of future scalability, but also because it can be used to incorporate multiple services, including both data and voice. An integrated T1 line for example, will allow you to run voice and data over the same circuit; with your business allocating some of the 24 channels to voice calls, and some for data; allowing you to take full advantage of the cost savings of VoIP. The integrated T1 line will include a separate device that will allocate the channels, based on need, to telephony and Internet access.

As you grow, it is also possible to join together multiple T1 lines, or to use a bonded T1 service that joins multiple T1 lines into a single pipe for higher bandwidth. T1 lines are also commonly used for dedicated VoIP service, replacing the standard telephone company. A full T1 line for example, could be used to bring in 24 telephone lines, or even more, if allocated dynamically based on maximum estimated simultaneous usage. Running your telephone service on a T1 line will give the advantage of cost savings through VoIP, along with additional services that are not usually available through the normal phone company, cheap long distance, and superior call quality. This service is delivered with a PRI (Primary Rate Interface) T1 line, which allows for digital trunking and advanced features.