T1 Alternative: Ethernet Bandwidth?
Last year our company (that processes a lot of large medical images) was growing fast, it became obvious that we needed more bandwidth.Our T1 line just wasnt cutting it any longer (T1 bandwidth is only 1.5 megabits). We had to upgrade to something bigger .
As head of IT, I started renegotiating our current contract. Luckily our 1 year contract was almost over, so our company was in the position to look at different alternatives.
The most obvious answer would have been to change from a single t1 to a bonded T1. Nevertheless pretty soon that also would not be enough.
Our sales rep with this bandwidth provider (who will remain unidentified here) was glad to point me to a bigger and far more high-priced solution: a ds3 line (T3 line) with a capacity of 45 Mbps. Obviously that would be bandwidth enough taking our envisioned growth into consideration, it was possibly even way too much. And the cost per month was in the higher 4 digit figures, something my boss wasnt too happy with of course.
I found a new solution though. A new technology (or at least new to me) that can deliver bandwidth via an Ethernet port over phone lines, Ethernet over Copper. The pricing was superb; we were able to get a 10 meg port for less than a 3mb bonded t-1!
Another significant benefit of carrier ethernet bandwidth is the scalability. It is possible to add bandwidth by simply ordering more, in small incremental steps, even all the way up to a gigabit Ethernet circuit.
Be sure to shop around with several carriers and make sure you are aware of new technologies (or use a telecom consultant that is).
