Friday, May 2, 2008

PCCW Global

Operating in over 70 countries and 700 cities, PCCW Global is an international powerhouse that spans their services conveniently across the United States, Europe, and Asia (with some provisions in the Middle East and parts of Africa as well). With several headquarters within their areas of service, they can offer local support to businesses in need. This far-reaching capability is good for a multitude of businesses, from the ones in smaller neighborhoods to larger companies working in multiple locations in different time zones.

The general consensus of the average cost for their T1 line appears to be roughly $500 – within the mid range of T1 costs. They provide trouble-free one-stop solution for Internet access and router equipment provisioning within most cities, and you can opt for Voice-over-IP and Video-over-IP (although at a small cost). The internet connection is reliable for the most part, but that simply means you won’t experience much downtime, if any.

That, however, doesn’t mean you’ll receive the full T1 capacity. They’re very careful to say that the speeds may be “64 Kbps up to 2 Mbps” with the “maximum speed varying in different countries.” Depending on where you’re located, it can be oversubscribed, leaving you and everyone else with reduced bandwidth. For $500 per month, you may want to consider if this is worth it. And, as stated, that cost doesn’t give you additional services with the internet connection.

The good: International businesses will find that the ability to remain connected across the globe under a single service is always easier to manage.

The bad: The pricing is fair, but only if you’re in an area that probably won’t be oversubscribed with users. If you’re located in a major city, it’s a safe bet that your bandwidth will be limited. Also, additional services that are offered free by other T1 providers will cost you extra with PCCW Global.

The bottom line: This is really up to you. If you find that you can make use of PCCW Global’s international connectivity and the bandwidth isn’t really going to affect you much in your (hopefully) smaller area, then go for it. Otherwise, you’ve been warned.

0 comments: