Friday, May 2, 2008

One Communications

Although One Communications prides themselves on being a company with a wealth of experience in business applications (well over 23 years’ worth), the recent mergers and dealings of this company poses a question of stability. But all other things aside, let’s examine how reliable their product is.

This is a moderate-sized company that provides services to roughly 38,000 customers and employs about 595 sales, technical, and support staff in 22 offices from Maine to New Jersey. For this company, expect to pay upwards from $499 for a full dedicated T1 line. Their services are available within Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Pennsysvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

There’s nothing really exceptional about this company. Their commitments are within the average range with 55ms latency, 99.99% packet delivery, and 99.99% network availability – most providers will offer the same. There are also no mention of any reimbursement if their network experiences technical troubles; the only guarantee that is specifically offered is a 90 day guarantee following installation where you may be reimbursed for the installation charges of switching back to your previous provider if you are not satisfied with One Communications’ T1 line. From some reviews gathered from several customers, it seems their limited lines may be oversubscribed, and you will be paying the full price for fractional service.

Essentially, One Communications is like vanilla: nothing special – just the plain services that are enough to get you operational.

The good: The price isn’t too bad. Neither is the latency, which may actually be slightly better than a lot of other providers.

The bad: Limited service to just the northeast. Also has a high potential of being oversubscribed.

The bottom line: This one is really up to you. If you’re in an area where there are few companies and you doubt it’ll be too oversubscribed for the price you’ll pay, go for it. If not, there’s a whole market of other providers to choose from.

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