All Access To The Goodies

Last month our business (who processes a lot of large medical images) was growing fast, it became evident that we required more bandwidth.Our T1 line just wasn’t cutting it anymore. We had no choice but to upgrade.

Being head of the IT department, I was asked to renegotiating our existing contract. Our 3 year contract was almost over, so we were able to shop around for different alternatives.

The most apparent answer would have been to change from a single t1 to a bonded T1. Nevertheless with our current growth rate, it would not take long before that also would not be sufficient.

Our sales rep at this carrier (who will remain unidentified here) was happy to point me to a bigger and far more high-priced solution: a DS3 (T3 line) which has a capacity of 45 Mbps. Obviously that would be bandwidth enough taking our envisioned growth into consideration, it was perhaps even way too much. And monthly cost was in the higher 4 digit figures, something my boss wasn’t too happy with of course.

I found something that sounded too good to be true. A new technology (or at least new to me) which enables carriers to deliver bandwidth via an Ethernet port over plain old telephone lines, Ethernet over Copper. The pricing was super; we were able to get 10Mbps for less than a 3mb bonded t1!

Another significant benefit of is that it is very scalable. We can just add bandwidth by simply ordering more, in small incremental steps, even all the way up to a gigabit Ethernet circuit.

So when upgrading any services, be sure to shop around with several carriers and make sure you are aware of new technologies (or use a telecommunications consultant that is).