Dundalk, Maryland, Jun. 19 /Jeff Johnson/ -- Higher productivity for small to medium sized businesses is just around the corner thanks to commercial grade broadband services that are now being delivered at a fraction of their previous cost. Due to the ever increasing competitive marketplace and a mad dash to consolidate networks, telecoms are offering their premium business services to small businesses for a fraction of what they used to cost just a few years ago. Businesses who use more than four regular phone lines can now upgrade to dynamic integrated T-carrier circuits for the same price.

To illustrate the types of decisions that small business owners are faced with on a daily basis, we interviewed Glenda Probst, small business owner in Los Angeles, California, about her recent move to a dynamic integrated T-1. "I was in a quandary about how to go about expanding the number of voice lines to my business. Before making the move to a dynamic integrated line, I was using POTs lines. After the fifth line, my bill was above $300/month, not including my $100/month DSL connection. Now, I have 12 pure digital voice lines, 1.5 MB of broadband, and I pay under $400 for it. It was a major upgrade in service with a reduction in total price. I only wish I'd learned about this product sooner."

The two basic Integrated T1 line configurations, as they exist in today's market, are analog and digital. Commonly referred to as "trunks", these 24-channel bundles transmit TDM signals directly to the service provider's network via a local loop. Unlike analog trunks, whose configuration can not change once the channels have been allocated, digital "dynamic" lines can change reconfigure themselves from data, to voice, and back again. This ability to reclaim voice channels for data broadband access when not in use gives the user the performance of two T1's in one.

But how much longer will we continue to see improved technology, services, and prices? It's all in the hands of the Federal Communications Commission, as they have the power to sqwash the CLECs by proxy. No wonder AT&T and Verizon are the two biggest lobbying powers in Washington. It makes you wonder what kind of services they would be able to offer had they plowed that money into R&D instead of politics.

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companies the ability to compete, the United States was stuck with technologies that were quickly becoming out of date.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.

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 Dundalk T1 line is in common use today in ISP (Internet Service Provider) connections to the Internet

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