Radom, Illinois, Jul. 28 /Olamide Lieberman/ -- The way business connect to the digital universe is changing. More and more enterprises are discovering the new broadband options made available to them through a series of cost cutting measures by telecommunication providers. With the recent rush to consolidate, more and more features are being crammed into the current service offerings, which continue to fall in price bringing products like integrated T1 service into the price range of the vast majority of small to medium-size businesses.

"Even though we have been witnessing the re-consolidation of AT&T, we will never go back to the dark ages of telecom where customers were stuck with bad customer service and high prices" commented Troy Karlson, telecom analyst for e-STAR. "The competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), all whom own their own networks and compete directly with the Bells, have created products such as dynamic T1 service that enables its customers to connect to the Internet at 1.5 MBPS and have up to 24 regular voice lines, packed with a feature-rich suite of add-ons, all for under what it costs to have 6 regular phone lines from Qwest/AT&T/Verizon.

"When we moved into our new location here in Los Angeles" commented John Baker, a small business owner in San Diego, California, "we feared having to sign up for commercial telephone and internet service. Until about a year ago, the services being offered to us were TDM, which doesn't come cheap. Thankfully our Telarus commercial telecom broker recommended that we give TelePacific a try, and we did. One year later, we've never had an erroneous bill, our phone and data are all on one single dynamic T1, and we can focus on what we do best - brokering mortgages."

Illinois, ordinarily not known for its telecom prowace, has been a hotbed for businesses making the move to dynamic telecom lines. One local business owner - Linda Peterson - who operates a travel agency, recently told us that "I never expected the phone company to come out with anything that would help me lower my costs. On the contrary. Ma Bell has had a history of raising my rates and making my life difficult. When I heard about the XO Flex package (offering 10 dynamic voice lines and 1.5 mbps of high speed Internet) at a price of under $500, I couldn't move over fast enough." Since then Linda reported a $150/month savings in her telecom expenses.

The old-school integrated T-1 was analog in nature, and came with 24 configurable channels (called a trunk) which could be configured to carry either voice or data traffic. The new "dynamic" trunks are all-digital and can change on-the-fly to carry either data or voice traffic. This comes in handy when none of the voice lines are in use - all channels can revert to carrying data traffic, giving the end-use a full 1.5 MBPS of broadband. Each phone call requires only 64K of bandwidth, so even a small handful of calls only slows down the data connection by a nominal amount.

The adoption of any new telecommunications platform is never instantaneous. Many technologies, like VoIP for example, have been in the works for years without gaining much traction. Enterprises see communications as their life blood. Even though many are becoming aware of newer, cheaper mediums by which they can conduct business, the risk still outweighs the rewards in their minds. Couple the 'if it isn't broken, why fix it?' mind set with the telecom meltdown of the early 2000's and it isn't surprising that widespread adoption of new telecom services has lagged. However, the new technologies of IP-based voice systems are finally starting to gain an audience, and the chorus of satisfied customers continues to grow. As this momentum pushes forward, so does general acceptance of it viability.

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. Recent advances in technology, fostered by competition from growing CLECs, is bringing integrated T1 services to small business everywhere. And the trend doesn't look like it will change anytime soon. CLECs continue to grow their networks, offering more advanced services like metro ethernet, MPLS, and more.

Definition 1. - A type of high speed Internet connection that provides a great deal of bandwidth. Many businesses lease T1 lines to connect to the Internet, but because they are expensive and offer more bandwidth than most small businesses and homes need, they are not realistic solutions for small and low-demand Internet users.

Definition 2. - A high-speed digital connection capable of transmitting data at a rate of approximately 1.5 million bits per second. A T1 line is typically used by small and medium-sized companies with heavy network traffic. It is large enough to send and receive very large text files, graphics, sounds, and databases instantaneously, and is the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the Internet. Sometimes referred to as a leased line, a T1 is basically too large and too expensive for individual home use.

Definition 3. - The T1 (or T-1) carrier is the most commonly used digital line in the United States, Canada, and Japan. In these countries, it carries 24 pulse code modulation (PCM) signals using time-division multiplexing (TDM) at an overall rate of 1.544 million bits per second (Mbps). T1 lines use copper wire and span distances within and between major metropolitan areas. A T1 Outstate System has been developed for longer distances between cities.

Definition 4. - The T-carrier system, introduced by the Bell system in the US in the 1960's, was the first successful system that supported digitalised voice transmission. The original transmission rate (1.544 Mbps) in the Radom T1 line is in common use today in ISP (Internet Service Provider) connections to the Internet

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