Startup businesses: What broadband solution do you need for your company?

Startup businesses:

What broadband solution do you need for your company?

When your company is on the rise, and you’re thinking of getting Internet Business DSL? Cable? T1? How does one decide? I know some of you out there haven’t gotten around to subscribing an Internet service, yet. It’s a business move, and you want to make the best choice. What you decide on you will be stuck with, and in a contract for a very long time.

The market place is as diverse as the kinds of Internet service options available. I have had previous articles to help you decide on whether or not to upgrade your T1, and how to choose the service right for you. I will briefly explain which Internet connection would be best suited for your company, big or small.

For companies, such as gas stations and service stations, that need broadband to upload processing orders and credit card purchases, SDSL or ADSL with a static IP would be sufficient. DSL is fast enough to process the information in a timely manner, but won’t break the bank for station owners, and can be deployed across hundreds of locations and use MPLS or VPN as well to communicate with headquarters. Restaurants, cafes, and bars all need to handle the same types of purchase processing would also benefit from a connection of at least cable or ADSL, but I’d recommend SDSL. So think about it, whether you own and operate a mom and pop shop or a franchise chain, if you have to handle things like credit card processing, you’d need something ranging between cable and SDSL is optimal.

Well, the debate between cable and DSL transcends the business world. Regular home users have debated the question. One instance where you’d opt for cable would be for a business that needs fast uploads to send mail with attachments. An example of a company that would need cable is a real estate company. The reason is because cable can upload faster than DSL in many cases. If you are security conscious, DSL is a better alternative if the speed is acceptable because it is a private connection to the Internet whereas Cable is on a big LAN therefore far less secure and your computer systems are more easily able to be hacked.

Now for heavy duty Internet needs, T1 will have to be considered. Stock trading firms, medical offices, banks, and other such companies that need to send large files quickly and reliably need T1 or greater as a necessity. Medical offices, for example, need T1 for sending important medical data, like MRIs and records. Bonded T1 is even better if files are huge. Media companies, like recording studios or video production companies, need a minimum of SDSL or T1, but T3 is best because they have to send terabytes worth of files. Cable and ADSL are extremely advised against as they cannot provide the considerable upload speeds needed for a professional media company. That includes Business Cable as well, which costs the same as SDSL but is far inferior.
Also keep in mind that T1 and T3 have nifty features like VoIP and multiple phone lines to support medium-sized to large-sized offices. If Metro Ethernet exists in your area or you are in a "Lit Building" (a building that already has fiber preinstalled from a ISP or phone company), you may be able to get Ethernet service from some carriers, which has speeds up to 100 megabits, and can be relatively far cheaper than a T1 and faster to install, so you should check for the availability of Metro Ethernet if you require massive bandwidth for your organization. Every product has their bells and whistles, but first think about what your basic needs are and go from there.

Finding the best price for a T1 line

Finding the best price for a T1 line – Best Bang for Your Buck

What to look for and know how to look for it

Decisions… Decisions…

There are so many different Internet Service Providers out there that can provide a T1 service to you. Where do you even begin to choose?

DISTANCE

First thing to look for is who is close to you. The loop price varies due to distance to nearest point of presence (POP).

A business T1 circuit is repeater driven (repeaters reestablishing the digital signal every several thousand feet), it is available pretty much anywhere we want. Reestablishing a signal is duplicating the original signal perfectly at lightning quick speeds, so the quality of the signal is not hurt by the distance. Each time the signal is reestablished, there is a cost. There is also a cost for the facilities used when carrying the signal from the pop. Because of this, distance between the POP and the number of times that the signal has to be reestablished can affect pricing. This is why running a T1 line to a customer in a remote area will cost that customer a lot more than someone in a big city with a built-in infrastructure.

PORT CHARGES

Second of all, decide on how you want your service to be measured. A T1 is consists of a local loop connecting your location with the Tier 1 carrier’s backbone. The use of this network requires a port charge. A port charge is a charge for the connection to and use of the physical network port, burstable to the full capacity of the network. Typical port charges will range between $550/month to $1000/month. After taking distance and the number of loops into account, your bill can be lower or higher depending on how you want your T1 services billed.

1. Metered rates depend on how much usage you may incur on your T1 line. If you need the dependability and performance of a T1 line, but don’t think you’ll be using the bandwidth heavily, then this may be the route for you. Metered means your usage is monitored and you are responsible for any overages. There is a base monthly fee, plus a per MB charge for any data transfer beyond that base amount. Similar to the way cell phone minutes work. Metered pricing is usually the best choice for users that require speed, but light usage. Even so, metered rates are seldom used because of the better options of burstable and flat rates. Many times, flat rates are actually cheaper than this option.

2. Burstable rates, also called “burstable billing”, allows you to select more channels than you actually pay for. This rate allows you to “burst” up to the speed of a full T1 when in use, but keeps your bandwidth at a, otherwise, lower speed. This works by supplying a burstable T1 line. You only pay for 256kbps, but you’re allowed to “burst” at full T1 speeds periodically. At the end of each month, the billing company will drop the highest 5% bandwidth used and charge you for the rest. A burstable rate is offered on any connection over 128kpbs, and is very cost effective giving while providing you with a full T1.

3. Flat rates are pretty much what it sounds like. It’s a fixed charge regardless of use up to the maximum capacity. The most common in broadband access to the Internet in the USA and most other countries.

EQUIPMENT

The type of equipment used can increase your Internet bill. Equipment from companies like Cisco and Netopia can give you a variety of service options at extra costs. Many times such equipment will be provided by the Local ISP and it should fit your requirements. Extra features like VPN, firewalls, Frame Relay, VoIP, ATM, etc. may require a lot of hardware. Determine if you need all of those options. You can always add on services later down the line when you need them, but it may take time to install. Needless to say, all these extras will go towards your bill, especially if you rent out certain things, like the router. Pricing and options on equipment will usually be provided when you request quotes.

VOIP on Cell Phones

VOIP on Cell Phones

Great, the information superhighway has people talking on cell phones now.

A quickly developing technology in the telecom world today is VoIP over cell phones. The days where you had to shell out a large sum of money to make a long-distance call, or international long distance call are over. VoIP helps you save almost 40% of your calling costs. VoIP phones (a.k.a. Internet phone service) require the Internet to function. Your voice which is the analog signal format is sent via Internet after it is converted into small digital packets. These digital packets are then reconverted into analog signal format before they reach the final destination. Companies like Skype Technologies, a unit of eBay, are leading the way for this new technology. Skype’s mobile VoIP application already runs on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile software. Iskoot is also working with Skype to allow users to make or receive Internet calls on their mobile phones. Many instant messenger services also have built-in VoIP service. AIM, by AOL, has a VoIP service offered at $14.95/month for unlimited calls. Windows Live Messenger offers their VoIP service in cooperation with Verizon.

Avi Shechter and his team recently launched Fring, a peer-to-peer VoIP service that carries calls over cell-phone networks; not unlike the way PC-based Internet telephony services transport conversations over Wi-Fi or fixed-line broadband connections. It allows you to fill your contact list with other Fring users, or friends on other services, such as Skype. You can download the 200K-byte application to your handset for free. Fring is trying to widen the choice of handset compatibility by enabling the application to run on other operating systems as well, including Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. The problem with Fring, though, is that you may incur “roaming charges” when you make cross network calls, i.e. Fring to Skype users.

As of right now, there are two types of long-distance phone service available: paid service and free Internet phone service. There are a number of VoIP service providers offering Internet phone service free of charge. You can easily search for a provider giving free phone service and then download the dialer from their website. Dial the number with the proper country or area code, and voila! You’re connected like on a regular phone.

VoIP telephone service on cell phones is offered with VoIP built in, or usable through the use of installed applications. Many VoIP services are offered over Java-enabled mobile phones. You just need to install the company’s mobile VoIP application on a phone with Java features and you’re done. VoIP providers like Mino and Skype are leading the way in VoIP technology, which is widely popular in Europe.

There is a program called VoipBuster that is “free”. You just have to register an account, set up your phone’s Internet access point, and enjoy free VoIP phone calls on your cell phone. Charges will vary depending on your data plan, but if you’ve got Wi-Fi set up at home and/or work, then you’ll enjoy free VoIP phone calls. VoipBuster also allows you to make some free calls to landlines and cells, but I really don’t know the specifics as to how long you can talk, or how many of these calls you can make. The rates are supposedly low if you decide to go with the paid service to call these lines.Other VoIP providers offer services for a monthly price, and with per call charges. The problem with monthly fees is that consumers are already paying a monthly fee for a cell phone service. Consumers would have to be asked to pay another monthly charge, plus per-minute fees on top of the one they are already paying for using the same cell phone. One thing to keep in mind is that companies, like T-Mobile International AG & Co. KG, have banned the use of VoIP over its networks. Other operators may also introduce measures to block access to virtual mobile VOIP service providers, like Fring, that use their mobile data networks without commercial agreements. To offset any lost voice revenue from the switch to IP, such operators could charge a specific VOIP subscription fee, or offer a more expensive data package service fee for using VOIP or even bundle additional services for a higher fee. Telephone operators have invested far too much money in licenses, equipment and customer acquisition to not put up a fight. Like fixed-line telephone providers that first fought, and then adopted VOIP services, mobile operators must now deal with a technology that could radically change their business models. For obvious reasons, mobile phone companies are going to want to protect their huge telephone service revenues against new providers of VoIP-over-mobile services. VoIP services can cost as low as US$0.02/ minute for international calls compared to the $1/minute traditional mobile providers charge. It’s no surprise standard mobile companies are worried. I’ve always stated that VoIP is going to be one of the biggest developments in telecommunications. It’s here to stay.

We’ll have to wait and see how the drama plays out between the VoIP companies and mobile telephone service providers.To read up more about VoIP, please read my three part blog:

VoIP Telephony [ Part 1 Part 2 Part3 ]

Team Fortress 2 General things to know if you want to host your own server, and a quick review!

Team Fortress 2
General things to know if you want to host your own Team Fortress 2 TF2 server, and a quick review!

(I’m going to take a break from the usual Telecom/T1articles and throw in one for fun. If you don’t play video games, or you’re not interested in this article, don’t read this article and simply enjoy my past articles.)

After nearly ten years after it was first announced, and many failed designs, the Valve Corporation has finally released Team Fortress 2. I’ve been playing it since the first week of Beta and I have to say, the game is more fun than words can explain. For those of you who don’t know, Team Fortress 2 is a multiplayer team-based FPS (First Person Shooter). The original Team Fortress was a free mod created with the Quake game engine. Team Fortress 2, or TF2 as the Internet crowd fondly calls it, was also originally supposed to be free until the Valve Corporation came in to employ the development team behind the game. A simple port of the original Quake Team Fortress game was released under the name Team Fortress Classic (TFC), to buy time as the sequel was being developed.As this happened, an entirely new game called Team Fortress 2 was being developed with features that sounded a lot like what would appear in the Electronic Arts’ “Battlefield” franchise (Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2, etc). All news on the game abruptly ended and news about the game and its release came and went several times. During a July 2006 Electronic Arts conference, Valve announced that Team Fortress 2 would be released with Half-Life 2: Episode Two. The beta version of the game was available in the Orange Box pre-sale package September 17, 2007 on Steam, followed by the official release of Orange Box on October 10, 2007.


IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HOSTING:

Since this game is designed for 24 players in a server (some servers may set their max at 32 players), you’re going to need a decent system and broadband provider to play efficiently. For those of you who want to run a server, you’re going to need to look into the various companies that offer servers to host your personal or clan server.The most important thing for a server is its ping and stability.

When players search for a game, they want to find the server with the best latency. Once they decide which server to join, they’ll play and will stay if the server runs the game without any chocks, lag or lockups. If it’s a personal server and you’re hosting the game on an Ethernet connection, like say, out of a PC Gaming place or for a LAN party, it would be recommended to at least have Cable or DSL. With that being said, you shouldn’t expect to be able to host more than one server, and it may lag for anyone connecting out of the actual LAN.

The best bet for you if you wanted a consistent, dedicated server is to rent out server with 100 ticks, and a solid T1 line. If you want better than a T1 line, you should go for a 100 Meg fast Ethernet line at a collocation data center. Ask the host provider if their T1 lines or Ethernet lines are oversubscribed. An oversubscribed line can lead to lag and other problems that will make your server less desirable to other players. Find out the subscription ratio. 2:1 ratio or less is best. The prices may range between $50 to $100 dollars depending on what hosting company you decide to go with. Remember to compare different plans and the different features each company offers. Some may offer multiple servers in their price, whereas some may only provide one. Plus, see if you can get an SLA to guarantee quality of service. You don’t want to sign a contract and not have any protection against a shady hosting company. You’re paying for a dedicated service and your game should have continuous streaming.

You should also think about whether or not you want people on the other side of the country connecting to your server. Many servers ping over 100 or more to players in Los Angeles if the host is in New York. The ping may range between 300-700 if someone in Los Angeles was to connect to a server in London, or vice versa. I remember the days when I used dial-up to play video games, and 150 ping was pretty good, but anything over 100 will get complaints from gamers nowadays. A good hosting provider will have low ping guarantees for roundtrip packet times across the country which should be detailed in their SLA agreement. The lower ms the better. Networks with good peering should be highly considered. Good peering arrangements on the ISP’s network will guarantee good playability for everyone regardless of where they are located and what network they are on. I’ve even seem some servers ask for donations to keep it up and running. That may be an option for you if your server is highly popular. Assuming some of the visitors of your server actually donate, you can save some cash.

QUICK REVIEW OF THE GAME:

The designers of the game seem to have everything perfectly balanced. Spawn camping, a problem with many FPS games, is difficult to accomplish for long. Team classes also have counter-classes (i.e. Pyro counter spy, but spy counters engineers, etc) so that no one class is the dominating class. In fact, this is a game where even if you’re not being Rambo by single-handedly taking out the opposing team, you can still feel like you’re contributing big; either by healing as a medic, providing defense with sentry guns as an engineer, or scouting as a spy from behind the enemy. Valve really emphasized the “team” in Team Fortress. Personally, I think this game is off the hook. One problem with the game is its little number of maps, but Valve assures us that they are working on new maps. The cartoony style that resembles that of Disney/Pixar’s “The Incredibles” really gives a fun atmosphere when you play. I can go on and on about this game that was 9 years in the making.Will this beat Counter-Strike (another game that was originally a free mod that Valve bought rights to) in popularity? I don’t know, Counter-Strike was ridiculously popular, and still has a huge fan base. I think Team Fortress will hold its own, though. After being one of the most highly anticipated games for 9 years and still not disappoint, Valve has another winner in its hands.

If you play, you can visit my clan’s ([Comrade]) server New York server hosted by Nationwidebandwidth.com.

67.90.47.47:27015

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:Minimum: 1.7 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, DirectX® 8 level Graphics Card, Windows® Vista/XP/2000, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet ConnectionRecommended: Pentium 4 processor (3.0GHz, or better), 1GB RAM, DirectX® 9 level Graphics Card, Windows® Vista/XP/2000, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection

Price Shopping for a T1 Line

Price Shopping for a T1 Line

Don’t Buy on Price Alone!

All my past blogs on different types of T1 services, how it’s delivered, and what to look for in the service have come down to this: How to shop for a T1 line. I have said few times that you should do your homework and research before making a decision on which service best suits your needs.

Let me ask you a question: When you buy a car, would you go for the cheaper, older vehicle or the higher-priced, more reliable model?

Depending on your needs and your resources, you’d have to take the time to think it over, dig up information on the products, and weigh your options.

So why can’t you just have one product with everything you want? Well, even though you can, having an all-in-one package does cost money. Just look at all those new and expensive “all-in-one” gadgets like the iPhone. That principle applies everywhere, and T1 providers aren’t any different. Except instead of looking at how many miles are on the car, or if a phone has a built-in MP3 player, you’re looking at the type of T1 line and service you’re getting (eg. Bonded T1, Burstable T1, etc.).

Prices vary, but it’s a sure bet that a T1 Line is going to run anywhere between $400 to well over $1,000 per month; occasionally, you may come upon a deal for a lower price. If you’re going to spend that much for Internet, make sure you look at every factor before you spend your cash. Simply choosing the cheapest may not be wise. Here we go again: “You get what you pay for.” Let’s look at some of the things you should pay attention to.

Location

This is a given. Before you even begin to consider the other factors involved, you need to see whether the company can provide a line to your site. Some providers only offer their services in the major cities like Los Angeles and New York, while others are regional/coastal providers that only offer service within a certain state or district. You must make sure the service is available within your area before moving on to the next items. The most critical factor of price is determined by your distance from the T1 Providers POP (Point of Presence), prices for a T1 line will vary simply because your distance to each T1 Provider is different.

Quality

Just because it’s a T1 Service and you receive a dedicated 1.5Mbps line doesn’t mean that’s the end of it. You have to look for other factors, including but not limited to maximum latency and restoration time. You may want to look for providers that commit to a low maximum latency, which can vary from 50 to 100+ ms. Remember to check the providers’ CIRs to guarantee your available bandwidth. Many companies will offer credit if the latency peaks past this ceiling, and you should see what that credit is. Carefully make sure all of the details are written in your SLA, and do request monitoring reports. If you operate a business, restoration time may be the more important factor. The success of a trade or negotiation depends on proper processing, access, and communication so you need to look out for the downtime, which could heavily disrupt that flow. The maximum time needed for T1 Providers to repair their system and your connection should be no more than four hours. Make sure they guarantee such commitment in their SLAs and know what is offered (credit or otherwise) if this isn’t met. Check to see if you have an oversubscribed line, and that the good bandwidth ratio is good if it is. These are necessary things to look into to ensure you get the most reliable service possible.

Service and Support

Is the company’s support line operating 24/7? Will they keep you on hold forever? Can their staff communicate to resolve problems? Will they take a long time? Often times, a business will need to lapse into overtime to complete any given work, and problems can arise. If they did, would the provider’s service number be available? Is there going to be a representative on the other end to guide you through the issue, or do their support technicians only work during regular business hours on weekdays? How about when outages happen? Does that mean you’ll be out of business after hours until the next business day when the support staff comes in the next morning? Again, check that Service Level Agreement. Don’t forget, it’s also negotiable!

Installation/Termination

Yes, this is important. How long would it take for a technician to install the service? It could require upwards to 45 days before your T1 line is set up, so you may want to consider this. Some companies offer better commitments for provisioning so if time is of the essence, this is something to look for. Some T1 providers will even credit you for every day their installation is late. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to read the company’s policy on service termination. Some will allow you 30 days to try their service and if you’re not satisfied, they will refund your money without further obligation. Then there are the others who will charge you absurd fees, ranging into the thousands of dollars, for early termination, depending on how many years are left in the contract. You may end up purchasing a low quality T1 line and have to pay even more to get rid of it. This is why research is so important. Back to the car analogy: you don’t want to buy a cheap car in which requires more money to fix or tow away later, do you?

Extras

Sometimes, the provider will include some additional services with your connection. This generally entails email, and web hosting, but can include other items such as teleconferencing services, like VoIP.

Web mail can provide every employee with emails without the need to install software. Perhaps your company grows and requires more IPs for your employees. You would want to have an option where more IPs can be added later down the line without any extra charge. A DNS (Domain Name System/Service/Server) can also be implemented into your connection for free DNS hosting. This can save you money if you transfer an existing website over to your service provider or need to set up reverse DNS.

Really, there are a lot of things to consider when browsing for the right T1 service provider. Think of it as an employee package – when you sign on for a job, you’re not just looking at the salary (at least, you shouldn’t) but also at the competitive bonuses and options like health plans and 401(k). Similarly, you should think over what any T1 provider has to offer before settling on one.

Billing

Do you need Online 24x7 Billing versus calling, the ability to update your information online and purchase upgrades online? Do you need the convenience of updating your credit card information and making payments online? Some companies have poor billing practices and can mangle your bill fast. They will double bill you, or bill you inaccurately, and may terminate your service or suspend you accidentally due to the company’s own billing errors. This is common and there are real some horror stories you would not believe. Some charge extra taxes, surcharges, and fees. These charges can quickly add up and hike up your bill depending on what state you are in; or charge high late fees, thereby negating any savings you may have thought you had.

Different T1s and Services - All T1s Are Not the Same

Different T1s and Services

All T1s Are Not the Same

This blog is a very important one. Today, I am going to go over the different types of T1s and the four reasons why they each may be optimized or slowed down.

First off T1 Internet consists of two parts: The local loop and the port.

Pricing for the local loop is covered under a tariff filed with your state Commerce commission. The T1 circuit is provided by the ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) such as SBC, Qwest, Ameritech, Verizon and the rest of the Baby Bells and includes the local loop, the copper, and the initial configuration. A clear channel full T1 loop is made to provide 1.544 Mbps full-duplex (1.5 Mbps upload/download at the same time.)

The second component is called the “port.” The port is the pipe to the Internet at your Internet Service Provider. All ports are not the same and may be sold as fractional, burstable, shared, full, protected, tiered, or bonded. The reliability and performance of your Internet connection highly depends on the quality, capability, connectivity, and engineering of your ISP. In other words, if your ISP has a shoddy or oversubscribed port to distribute your Internet, you’ll get a shoddy connection. It’s sort of like getting clean drinking water pumped into a dirty system. Clogs in a bad water distributing system can back water pressure and that clean water can become dirty and undesirable. This is why T1s will show a huge discrepancy amongst different vendors. So remember, your T1 and local loop (the actual physical circuit from you to the ISP provided by the ILEC phone company) may be able to carry 1.5Mbps of data, but your ISP may not have the bandwidth to deliver that much data. This is why you some T1 lines sold as full 1.5Mpbs will only perform at 768kbps. The line is 1.5Mbps but the port or service isn’t.

Let’s look at a breakdown for some of the different lines.

• Frame Relay T1 is pretty self-explanatory. They are T1s with bandwidth that runs over a frame relay network
• Bonded T1 is more than one regular T1 line “bonded” or joined together to increase bandwidth speeds. You would estimate an additional 1.5Mbps for each bonded T1, so 2 lines equate to 3MB, 3 lines equals 4.5, and so on.
• Hybrid T1 is a T1 plugged into a DSLAM and runs over a DSL ATM/Frame Relay network. DSL quality bandwidth, poor “DSL” network quality, lacks a T1 backbone connection, and no prioritizing of your packets or service. It is also known as FRoDSL (Frame Relay over DSL), TeleXtend, or Frame Relay T1.
• Shared T1 is usually run to an MTU (multi-tenant unit) and split up into separate data networks for customers that choose to use the Internet service. This is generally an excellent and cost effective solution if the T1, routing, and firewalls, are properly designed and managed by a competent ISP.
• Fractional T1 means you would be sharing a T1 line with one or more subscribers. The fractional T1 still maintain their speeds, so for the average user, it’s still more than enough. Just like cable and DSL, there are different plans you can choose from, such as speeds of 386kbps, 512kbps or 768kbps.
• Burstable T1 is a T1 that won’t guarantee full speed at any time.
• Protected T1 is a T1 that’s wired with a redundant dedicated wireless T1 connection, on diverse paths, with intelligent routing for increased reliability. If the wired T1 local loop fails for any reason, the routing will automatically switch to the wireless loop. Internal and external IPs, VPNs, and service is all maintained without interruption.
• Clear Channel Full T1 is a real full T1 to the backbone or to the reseller that takes you to the backbone.

The above types of T1s make your decision pretty difficult when shopping for T1s, especially when you don’t know about all the different types of services available. Advertising is broad with the way they word things; like “cheap T1 service.” I can tell you that I’m selling cheap cell phone service, but you would immediately be leery of what you’re offered, the phone you get, the network, etc. Treat buying a T1 line the same way you would buy anything else.

Now the above mentioned T1 lines all have their benefits, which affect pricing, so make sure you know what you’re willing to spend and what do you expect for your price. Once you’ve read this blog or researched the different T1 lines available, look into the way the ISPs you’re interested in administers their service.

Let’s say you decided on the Clear Channel T1 because it’s a full T1 line. Done deal right? Wrong. Different service providers may skimp you while you’re unaware. I’ve covered most of these things in this blog, but let’s review and make an overview look at things you should pay attention to.

• Committed Information Rates (CIR): This is the guaranteed bandwidth you are guaranteed, usually spelled out in the SLA. A 90% CIR means that you will have at least 90% of your bandwidth available to you at all times. How an ISP can screw you is they may be a frame relay provider and offer you DSL-like prices speeds for full T1 prices. As I said in my CIR article: “if you are paying for a 1544K frame relay T1 and your provider offers a 384K CIR, this means your ISP will guarantee only 384K Speed for your 1544K T1. YES this means you will be paying FULL PRICE for essentially what is a 384K T1 Line, that may or may never reach the full 1544K speeds you think you are paying for. Worse, most frame relay providers such as the local phone company will only guarantee 128K, or 64K, or even 0% CIR. You could wind up being stuck in a contract for 2 or 3 years paying close to $400 a month for a 64K dial-up speed T1 line.”

• Tier or Upstream Provider (affects quality): The unwritten “tier hierarchy” are they are: Tier 1 (A network that peers with every other network to reach the Internet), Tier 2 (A network that peers with some networks, but still purchases IP transit to reach at least some portion of the Internet), and Tier 3 (A network that solely purchases transit from other networks to reach the Internet.) A Tier 1 does not have any alternate transit paths so Internet traffic between any two Tier 1 networks is critically dependent on the peering relationship. If two Tier 1 networks arrive at a deadlock and discontinue peering with each other (usually a decision by one side), single-homed customers of each network will not be able to reach the customers of the other network. This effectively "partitions" the Internet, so that one portion cannot talk to another portion, which has happened several times during the history of the Internet. Those portions of the Internet typically remain partitioned until one side purchases transit (thus losing its "Tier 1" status), or until the collective pain of the outage and/or threat of litigation motivates the two networks to resume voluntary peering. It is important to remark here that Tier-2 (and lower) ISP and their customers are normally unaffected by these partitions because they can have traffic with more than one tier-1 provider. Because the "tier" ranking system is used in marketing and sales, a long-held though generally misguided view among customers is that they should "only purchase from a Tier 1". Because of this, many networks claim to be Tier 1 even though they are not, while honest networks may lose business to those who only wish to purchase from a Tier 1. The frequent misuse of the term has led to a corruption of the meaning, whereby almost every network claims to be a Tier 1 even though it is not. The issue is further complicated by the almost universal use of non-disclosure agreements among Tier 1 networks, which prevent the disclosure of details regarding their settlement-free interconnections.

• Service Level Agreement (SLA): Every company will have one of these, and most of them have it posted on their websites. An SLA is part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined. The main purpose of an SLA is to specify the levels of availability, serviceability, performance, operation or other attributes of the services like billing, or even penalties in the case of violation of the SLA. SLAs protect businesses by making access providers pay penalties to the customer for downtime that exceeds a specified total in availability. When agreeing upon the Service Level Agreement, you may want to include additional provisions, such as negotiating a more reliable connection that includes alternate routes for your data, create on-call backup circuits, and attempt to specify more severe penalties for service provider failures.

• Oversubscription Ratio: Oversubscription is a practice used by ISPs to optimize their resources and maximize profits. Full Clear Channel T1 lines are exclusive to one customer at 1:1, but it’s common to find 4:1 to 20:1 user to line ratios. In my blog on oversubscription, I stressed not to mistake a T1 line with T1 service. You may have a T1 line running into your building, but it may be connected to a DSL network or something. With oversubscription, an ISP can be deceptive and claim you are getting a full T1 at 1.5Mbps which is true because the T1 line circuit capacity itself is 1.5Mbps, but that doesn’t mean the bandwidth or throughput speed coming through it will be. On top of this, even if it’s not frame relay, the T1 could be oversubscribed and you would not get your speed throughput all the time. So if that happens, you are averaging 384k all day because the line is oversubscribed to lots of people. You are essentially paying somewhere around $399 for a “discount T1” at 384K when you could have bought a clear channel T1 for $499. You would be guaranteed no oversubscription and get 4x the speed for $100 more. It's basically paying $399 for a cable modem since there is no consistent speed which amounts to one big rip-off.

If these problems exist to degrade performance of a clear channel T1, can you imagine how much worse it would make your Hybrid T1 or Burstable T1 connection?

All these above can affect your T1 quality and performance and determine whether you are getting a good value for what you are paying or getting ripped off. A reoccurring theme in this blog is to do your research and to read your contracts before making any decisions. I keep stressing that the contract you sign maybe the service you stay with for the next 2-3 years, so why not make it a good 2-3 years for your company.

One last special thing worth mentioning: VPN (Virtual Private Networks): if you plan on setting up a VPN network then making sure you can get the fastest most reliable bandwidth possible with your T1 service. This is because when your VPN can slow your traffic considerably on a network that is already considerably slow at times. Your speeds can take up to a 50% performance hit when using a VPN connection. This can cause a major disruption in your business and severely hurt your productivity and you will need to add bandwidth. But if your provider is already giving you 1.5Mbps, you can’t, and so you’d be stuck.

I hope I’ve helped you guys so far in your search for an Internet service that will benefit your company. For years, T1 retailers have been selling subpar service to unsuspecting customers. Hopefully you found this blog very informative. Please read my next article: price shopping for a T1 line, to supplement the information I gave today.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

This blog has been dedicated to helping guys like you choose the Internet service that’s best for you. I want to shift focus to what’s next after you’ve done the research (like reading my blogs *wink*), and got your checkbook ready.

When you’ve settled with a particular ISP, make sure you read and pay attention to the Service Level Agreement (SLA). Every company will have one of these, and most of them have it posted on their websites. An SLA is part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined. In our case, it’ll be a contract between the customers and the service providers. The contract states the common understanding about services, priorities, responsibilities, guarantee, etc. The main purpose of an SLA is to specify the levels of availability, serviceability, performance, operation or other attributes of the services like billing, or even penalties in the case of violation of the SLA. You are usually guaranteed 99.99% availability, so request monitoring reports that track downtime. Most providers will make this information available to you upon request. Think about it, if you don’t make a payment on time, you get penalized. Why not make sure you get everything you’re paying for then? A contract goes both ways folks.

Until a few years ago, SLAs were not widely offered by Internet access providers, but they are now standard for high-speed Internet access like T1. DSL and Cable modem Internet are “best effort” services without a guaranteed level of service. To get credited for service outage, I’ve personally had to call, wait an hour to reach an actual human being on the line, and then chew out the unfortunate customer service rep that received my phone call before they even offered to give me credit. Even then, you don’t know when your Internet connection will be up again. Now take a look at getting a high-speed connection, like T1 lines, with a solid SLA with the guarantee of immediate attention when you have problems, and you’ve got a winner among businesses. It’s arguable that SLAs are one of the main reasons T1 lines are the most popular choice for Internet access among businesses.

SLAs protect businesses by making access providers pay penalties to the customer for downtime that exceeds a specified total in availability. With that being said, some SLAs are pretty pitiful. When your service is down, the poor SLAs will only reward you credit for the time your service is down. If you’re running a company and you don’t have the Internet for your day to day work, you’re missing out on a considerable amount of money. Service provider Netifice has a good example of a strong SLA. They will credit you a week if you are down 4 hours and a month if you are down a day. Sure, you’re losing the income from the day your Internet is down, but at least you’re being compensated with something.

When agreeing upon the Service Level Agreement, you may want to include additional provisions, such as negotiating a more reliable connection that includes alternate routes for your data, create on-call backup circuits, and attempt to specify more severe penalties for service provider failures. Like I said, if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain, you get bad credit, etc. Make sure this business deal benefits both parties. Try to discuss SLAs up front with the provider since the agreements are negotiable.

To sum things up, you want to make sure your SLA draws out terms of availability, performance, and measurement. You want to know if the service is available and if it’s good enough. Make sure your SLA is one that clearly defines responsibilities, is attainable, meaningful, cost effective, and mutually acceptable.

Frame Relay Over DSL – Hybrid T1

Another Possible Service Option, but Not Quite Worth It

Frame relay over DSL (FRoDSL), also known as Hybrid T1, Covad TeleXtend, Rhythms T1, TDSL, TransEdge T1 (New Edge Networks) and more, is a cost-effective means of obtaining the reliability of T1’s. There is a satisfaction with frame relay, ATM, MPLS-based VPNs and Internet-based IPSec VPNs. WorldCom lists frame relay as its number two source of revenue after long-distance voice, so there is still money to be made through this older technology. A way to extend the life of an existing frame relay infrastructure is to use DSL services to access it. FRoDSL service is considered a great option for companies who currently use frame relay services, but would like to explore lower cost network options.

FRoDSL access use DSL technology to access a service provider’s existing frame relay infrastructure. What happens is that the provider will run a T1 line local loop then plug it into a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM), a mechanism at a phone company's central location that links many customer DSL connections to a single high-speed ATM line. From there, the line runs over Covad’s ATM network and its frame relay Internet.

This leads to price advantages because of the way the service is delivered. FRoDSL can be extended over greater distances, but at a fraction of T1 speeds. Because of this, FRoDSL will not need the use of repeaters in to relay data, meaning fewer lines are in use.

The service could possibly cost even less because the guaranteed response time is longer, but this doesn't necessarily mean that FRoDSL is any less reliable in terms of the mean-time-between-failure (MTBF). However, since fast response cost money, the guaranteed mean-time-to-repair (MTTR) may be somewhat longer than with a traditional service.

The problem comes when some service providers advertising FRoDSL as “T1 service”. Ultimately, the service is a T1 line that goes through DSL equipment. There is no way you can get speeds comparable to T1 by running the connection through DSL equipment. Frame relay networks also don’t come with a CIR. CIRs, if you recall, guarantees you your level of service with a T1 service. Since you’re essentially getting a DSL connection, they can only guarantee 384k of bandwidth, tops.

The only real T1 line is the line going into the phone company (eg Verizon) central office. Basically, FRoDSL delivers DSL service using a physical T1 line instead of a phone line. Unknowing customers see the T1 infrastructure being installed and figure they’re getting T1. Therefore, paying top dollar for T1, but only getting DSL. Following me guys?

Seriously, FRoDSL is strictly for those who are too far for DSL and can’t afford real T1. Customers should know what it is they’re paying for. A real Clear Channel T1 costs $100-200 more a month for 3X times the speed, which isn’t much more in terms of business costs. If you need reliability and performance, a FRoDSL connection can hurt your business, and should be avoided.

It is not a wise-choice for those who want to get what they pay for. Surfers expecting real T1 performance will be sorely mistaken. Imagine a company stock trading firm that heavily relies on their Internet service. If they were to use FRoDSL without a guarantee of reliability, they can lose an unspeakable amount of money when the system slows down or cuts off. Not only that, they’re stuck in a multi-year contract with the unreliable product.

The only benefit with a T1 line instead of a phone line is that, if the physical line breaks, Verizon (as an example) will fix it within four hours. A regular phone line can take days. Your DSL can be down for days if your phone line is on the fritz.

The main reason FRoDSL is offered is because traditional DSL only goes 20,000 feet. T1 can go on forever so you can get your DSL at longer distances through the T1 line. If service providers advertised that they can deliver DSL service anywhere, that’d be great, but they don’t. They try to market FRoDSL as a real T1 service though a T1 line. The line does not mean the service. The legitimate way of advertising this service is “DSL over T1” or something to that effect.

Another name it’s known by in the industry is TeleXtend (TDSL). TeleXtend is the name of the FRoDSL product Covad offers “comparable” to T1 service. TeleXtend is a T1 loop into the Central Office (CO) where it hits Covad's DSLAM. From that point on it rides the ATM backbone like SDSL or ADSL, then to the internet via frame relay.

The service provider XO sells real T1s for $499. Covad offers their product for $399. You’ll be paying around $400 for 35% CIR, but $500 would offer 100%. Why not just shell out the extra cash.

New Edge, another ISP, sells both real T1 and TeleXtend. They call their FRoDSL “TeleXtend Burstable T1”, or just Burstable T1. New Edge states that their “burstable T1 Internet access service offers high-speed T1 Internet access in tier 2 and 3 markets at 50% below traditional T1 prices. New Edge's burstable T1 service is available in speeds ranging from 384k, to 768K, to 1.1 mbps, to 1.5 mbps with 35% guaranteed CIR and burstable up to 100%.” Though a bit wordy and possibly misleading, they’re at least telling you the truth. Also, just to point out, the guaranteed 35% CIR is about the speed of a normal DSL line.

When purchasing a T1 service, make sure you ask the competing companies whether or not they’re selling Covad’s TeleXtend T1/FRoDSL. Find out if they’re offering you a Clear Channel T1 or Frame over DSL. T1 connections are capable of delivering 1.5Mbps, and while DSL connections are also capable of delivering this speed, they’re not nearly as reliable. Depending on the size of your business and its needs, consider getting an actual T1 connection. A full service T1 will support up to 50 workstations.

A list of Wholesale FRoDSL aka TDSL providers and their resellers:

FRoDSL Wholesaler:	Resold by:
Covad TeleXtend T1	Covad, Megapath, Speakeasy, DSL.Net, Bway
New Edge Networks T1	Transedge, Speakeasy, Earthlink
MCI-Rhythms NetConnections T1	MCI, Verizon, Intermedia, Telocity (DirecTV DSL)

Oversubscription - You knew it was too good to be true

Hey guys, I’m sure some of you out there are running off a T1 line and thinking you got a sweet deal with your T1 line. Do you know if you really have the full T1 line at your disposal? If not, is it a fractional T1 service?

Oversubscription Explained
Internet providers are measured in “Tiers.” A Tier 1 provider maintains their own national network and provides their customers with a 1:1 user to bandwidth ratio. Bandwidth ratio means if you order a 1000kbps connection, then that 1000kbps connection is strictly dedicated to you and not “shared” between multiple customers. The lower the ratio, the less your bandwidth is shared amongst other customers. ISPs that are connected to Tier 1s would begin the oversubscription process as they resell the bandwidth. This is why DSL sees the highest ratio of oversubscription, 100:1 for ADSL. Cable Internet also suffers from gross oversubscription, which explains why speeds can vary greatly during the day and at night.

Why do ISPs oversubscribe?
Oversubscription is a way for ISPs to optimize their resources. Most users will not be on at the same time, so what ISPs will do is subscribe multiple users to the same port. Oversubscription allows some carriers to collect more revenues than other carriers, by optimizing their pipeline usage. Based on a bandwidth ratio that ranges between 4:1 and 20:1 depending on the service being provided, oversubscription may actually occur several times before it reaches the end user. Though common practice, users should be careful because they may experience poor performance during high network usage.

It’s possible to have a dedicated line to yourself, but you’d have to pay a premium and negotiate service-level agreements (SLA) to ensure performance. For instance a 2mb/s (Megabits per second) DSL connection may cost $500 a month while a Fractional T3 with a committed bandwidth of 2mb/s will likely cost over $2000 a month. Even then, if all users of the ISP were to download all at once, there would be a connection slowdown, also referred to as the “Internet rush hour” aka “peak hours.”

Do not confuse a T1 Line with T1 Service
Remember, your ISP isn’t selling you a connection to the Internet; they are selling you a connection to their network that is connected to their own provider network, and so on. The networks connected lead up to the top Tier 1 networks, which, combined with servers and end users’ computers, make up the Internet.

Even T1 providers can be guilty of oversubscribing their pipeline to you. Make sure that you have exclusive use of your 1.544Mbps. Don’t be fooled by your ISP telling you they are selling you a Full T1 Line. Their line might be 1.544Mbps but that does not mean their service is. Remember, I’ve always said on this site that you get what you pay for. The cheaper you pay for T1, the more likely you’re getting shortchanged. Either there’s a fractional connection you don’t know about or it’s oversubscribed service. ISPs may advertise 1.544Mpbs for a T1 line, which would be true since that’s the maximum bandwidth, but you may never get to use it.
For example, T1 provider A might offer an oversubscribed T1 for $395 per month, while T1 provider B might offer a 1:1 ratio T1 for $495. Is it worth it to save $100 per month on the $395 T1 where you only average 384K speed most of the time? Or do you think it makes more sense to spend the extra $100 per month and be guaranteed to get 1544K speed all of the time, almost 5X the speed and guaranteed in writing? Which three year contract would you like to get stuck in? Remember, most providers will expect you to sign for two or three years and you will be stuck with poor performance, so do your homework!

At $395 per month for a oversubscribed T1 that operates at 384K most of the time, these providers are essentially selling you a very expensive cable modem, Why pay $395 for a T1 connection with performance you can get from a $50 cable modem? Isn’t the whole point of buying a T1 to have a guaranteed amount of upload and download at 1544K all the time? We think so! Make sure you research, and ask your ISP what their oversubscription ratio is and make them prove it in writing. Though we cannot guarantee complete accuracy, here is a list of ISPs under what we believe to be the known respective oversubscription ratios.

1:1 bandwidth ratio:
· MCI/Uunet
· Sprint
· Abovenet
· Qwest
· Savvis
· Netifice
· Level 3
· New Edge Networks (upon request)

Below 1:1 (but not necessarily too bad):
· Global Crossing
· Neon
· AT&T
· XO
· Internap

Average to poor oversubscription:
· Megapath
· Speakeasy
· Covad
· Uslec
· Cogent
· Broadwing
· Focal
· ACC Business

Oversubscription is a good indicator of how to tell you are going to get what you pay for, and not get a misleading Internet connection. Remember that advertisements are tools to sell a product, so consumers have to sift through some of it to see that they are guaranteed what they expected at time of purchase. Sure, oversubscription help provide competitive prices, but no one wants to end up paying for an Internet service that’s only half the speed of what it’s capable of when someone can offer maximum speed for slightly more.

Committed Information Rate

Yes, something to make you feel better when paying your ISP bills.

Hey guys. It’s been a while, but I’m back. I don’t know if anyone still checks this page, but let’s move begin where we last left off… TELECOM! YAY!

Today I want to bring up committed information rates, or CIR. Simply put, it’s a written guarantee from an ISP to a customer stating the minimum bandwidth available at any given time on a frame relay network.

Derived from the term Committed Data Rate (CDR), CIR refers to voice and non-data packets, whereas CDRs deal with data. I may write a future article on CDRs, but in short, CIR provides end-to-end minimum bandwidth guarantees, while CDR provides such guarantees only from the user location to the service provider's backbone.

Usually above the CIR, an allowance of burstable bandwidth known as the Excess Information Rate (EIR) is given. The EIR rate is delivered when there is adequate bandwidth. Frame relay carriers define and package CIRs differently so check with your service provider for the package offered in your area.

A huge plus of CIR is that only packets sent above the CIR are marked discard eligible (DE) and are discarded first during times of high network traffic. All your packets within the CIR are safe from the early discarding. With CIR, your network traffic will closely match your actual traffic patterns without all the disposable data sent.

A problem with CIR is that it’s nearly impossible to measure precisely. In dealing with your service provider, make sure they specify the interval over which the CIR is measured. Your CIR may vary depending on how the provider measures the time interval. It may not be the provider’s fault, though. CIR adjustments can be based on a company’s experience with it. Once you know how your provider’s CIR is measured, though, you should have a good start in negotiating the CIR in your service level agreement.

CIR Guarantees. How does your ISP stack up? CIR is essentially what makes many T1 providers different. It is measured in % of the bandwidth or by a minimum guaranteed rate that you are guaranteed to receive with your service. A 90% CIR means you should receive 90% of your bandwidth speed at all times. Since a T1 is 1544K, with a 90% CIR you would be guaranteed to experience 1389.6K at all times, which is what you would expect for the money you will be spending on your Internet or Voice T1 line. Since many T1 providers are offering Frame Relay based T1 lines, the speed you experience and the price you pay will be determined by the CIR in your contract. For example, if you are paying for a 1544K frame relay T1 and your provider offers a 384K CIR, this means your ISP will guarantee only 384K Speed for your 1544K T1. YES this means you will be paying FULL PRICE for essentially what is a 384K T1 Line, that may or may never reach the full 1544K speeds you think you are paying for. Worse, most frame relay providers such as the local phone company will only guarantee 128K, or 64K, or even 0% CIR. You could wind up being stuck in a contract for 2 or 3 years paying close to $400 a month for a 64K dial-up speed T1 line. Sound impossible? Guess again! This kind of questionable business practice is very real and very common in telecom. It allows ISPs and Tel Co’s to maximize profit. So, if the price you are getting is too low, then you may be buying a frame relay T1. We advise you to investigate your ISP carefully or simply spend a little more for a Clear Channel T1 where you can be guaranteed a full T1. It is certainly worth the extra $50 to $100 per month to be assured you are getting what you expect out of your service. If your ISP is a frame relay T1 provider, then it is always necessary to verify the CIR with the company who you may be purchasing from. In short: be wary and READ YOUR CONTRACTS CAREFULLY!

For further reading on Frame Relay, check out my article on the subject.

T1 Internet too slow? That’s blasphemous! When is it time to upgrade from a full T1 line?

T1 Internet too slow? That’s blasphemous!
When is it time to upgrade from a full T1 line?

So your business is growing and you find that the company requires a lot of bandwidth for everyday use. Maybe you started with a fractional T1 line and moved up to a Full T1 line, and perhaps you’ve even moved up to a bonded T1 line. Is this more than enough, or can you see the day you might need even more broadband?

Since the mid ‘90s, T1 has been the standard Internet connection for small to medium-sized businesses across the United States. You may be one of these small businesses, and some of you may have been proud of the fact that your company finally “needed” a T1 line. It can be seen as a rite of passage for a company growing. T1 provided reliable connections to the Internet, and maybe other offices.

With reliable high-speed connections at their disposal, businesses began to turn to the Internet for their business needs. For general use, a T1 line was more than enough. How can you imagine NEEDING anything faster? At the time T1 was becoming popular, companies like IBM were deploying T3s. It was understandable, though. Those companies had thousands and thousands of employees that needed to send e-mail, or what not. No way did a small business owner even fathom needing a T3.

Well, nowadays data communications has evolved into a bandwidth-hogging beast. Sales, customer servicing and marketing, and outsourced mainframes for data storages, etc, all require MORE speed.

Bill Gates once said that no one would need more than a 512k connection. Now that may sound silly right now, but will a T1 be compared to the 512k connections in the future? It depends on your needs so look into your choices before you jump the gun and purchase T3.

The right type of connection for you depends on a few things.

SPEED
Try to figure out if the speed you have is enough, and whether or not your business is starting to outgrow that speed. Do you think you’ll need something faster in a year or two?

RELIABILITY
How critical is the information you’re transmitting? Would it be best to just route across multiple backbones? Redundancy may be very important to you because Internet lines can go down. You just have to make sure every circuit has to be different, and not just the carrier.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
Can you program router tables? Do you have an ASN, are you familiar with ARIN and AS numbers? Personally, I will honestly say no, I don’t and I’m not. Since things can get pretty technical, if you don’t know the technology yourself, you’ll have to hire someone experienced and knowledgable to maintain your network. This can get pricy as typical house-calls to program router tables properly can run $3,000-$4,000.

Are you ready/in need of something more than a T1? Weigh your options, like I always say, and make a careful decision. Simply getting a balanced T1 might solve your needs. It could mean the success of your business.

Frame Relay - Is this the solution for you?

Frame Relay

Frame Relay is one of the most cost-effective types of data transmission available today. It’s a protocol standard for LAN internetworking which provides a fast and efficient method of transmitting information from a user device to LAN bridges and routers.

Frame Relay is a high-speed packet switched transmission service that connects two or more fixed points across a private network. Access to a Frame Relay network is done through an interface circuit known as a FRAD or Frame Relay Access Device. Sometimes it's called a Frame Relay Assembler/Disassembler. Most often, it's an option card in a router. The physical connection for Frame Relay Service is available in bandwidth anywhere from DS-0 (56k) to full DS-1 (T1) speeds.

Network providers usually employ frame relay for voice and data as an encapsulation technique used between LAN and over a WAN. Private or leased lines at the user end are connected to a Frame Relay node. The frame relay network handles transmissions over dynamic paths transparent to all end-users.

Designers of Frame Relay searched for a cost-efficient data transmission for discontinuous traffic between LANs and between end-points in a WAN. Frame Relay works by sending data in variable-size units called “frames” and leaves all the error-correction, like re-transmission of data, up to the end points; speeding up overall data transmission.

Frame Relay offers an attractive alternative to both dedicated lines and X.25 networks for connecting LANs to bridges and routers. The success of the Frame Relay protocol is based on the following two essential factors:

Virtual circuits only consume bandwidth when they’re transporting data, so they can exist simultaneously across a given transmission line. In addition, each device can use more of the bandwidth as necessary, and thus operate at higher speeds.
The improved reliability of communication lines and increased error-handling sophistication at end stations allows the Frame Relay protocol to discard erroneous frames. This eliminates time-consuming error-handling processing, which also helps in data transfer speeds.

And because Frame Relay uses a simple link layer protocol, your equipment usually requires only software changes or simple hardware modifications, so you don't have to invest a lot of money to upgrade your system. However, required testing is needed to determine that the system works properly and transmitted data is not lost.


Now the question is: Do you really need it?

Frame Relay traffic is a shared bandwidth connection that is provided by your local phone company. It does not use the Internet to route traffic between your installations, although it can be configured to route traffic into and out of the Internet.

If your business only needs Internet access for the computers in your office and you only need TCP/IP communications, then you don't need frame relay. You just need a point-to-point T1 circuit that routes into your local ISP network to enter the Internet through their gateway. Remember to set up a firewall to protect your internal computer systems from the access to the Internet when using a point-to-point circuit.

On the other hand, if you need to network business locations, but don’t want to pay for full-time dedicated trunk lines, or share your T1 line with other connections (like mainframes), then Frame Relay is for you. Frame Relay can maintain a reliable and continuous network connection for your needs.

The network service provider will provide a permanent virtual circuit (PVC) in most cases. This allows the customer to have a continuous, dedicated connection without having to pay for a full-time leased line. The service provider will figure out the route each frame travels to its destination and can charge based on usage.

A company, like yours, can select a level of service quality, allowing certain frames to have priority over less important ones. Frame relay can run on full or fractional T-carrier system providers, and complement a mid-range service between ISDN and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).


Frame Relay is available in the following speeds (type and speed of frame relay may vary by ILEC): 56Kbps, 64Kbps, 128Kbps, 256Kbps, 512Kbps, 1.5Mbps, and 2Mbps. If this type if solution is for you, find the best Frame Relay Service in your area!

X.25 - I’ve got to say, this is definitely not an article on a X-Men movie sequel.

I’ve got to say, this is definitely not an article on a X-Men movie sequel.

X.25 is an International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) standard protocol suite for wide area networks (WAN) communications that defines how connections between user devices and network devices are established and maintained. Designed to operate effectively regardless no matter what kind of systems are connected to it, X.25 is typically used in the packet-switched networks (PSNs) of common carriers, such as the telephone and ISDN companies.

The need for WAN protocols capable of providing connectivity across public data networks (PDNs) in the ‘70s helped the standardization of X.25 by common carriers. The result is the international standard managed by the ITU-T. “Packet Switched Network” was the recognized name of the international collection of X.25 providers, mainly the various national telephone companies. Their combined network provided a huge global coverage for the following decades, and is still used in limited use.


X.25 DEVICES

First off, X.25 devices have to be explained before moving on. These network devices fall into three general categories:
Data terminal equipment (DTE) - End systems that communicate across the X.25 network. They are usually terminals, personal computers, or network hosts. Located on the property of individual subscribers.
Data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE) - Communications devices, such as modems and packet switches, which provide the interchange between DTE devices and a PSE. Generally located in the carrier's facilities.
Packet-Switching Exchange (PSE) - Switches that make up most of the carrier's network. They transfer data from one DTE device to another through the X.25 PSN.

X.25 was based on the concept of establishing "virtual calls," or switched virtual circuits (SVC), through the network with "data terminal equipment" (DTE) providing endpoints to users, which looked like point-to-point connections. See, X.25 was developed in the era of dumb terminals connecting to host computers. Dialing through a host computer would require a set of modems and phone lines for the computer, and require non-local callers make long-distance calls. Instead of dialing directly through the host computer, the host could have an X.25 connection to a network service provider. Subscribers, such as banks, are charged based on their use of the network. X.25 was typically billed as a flat monthly service fee, and then a price-per-packet on top of this.

Thanks to X.25, dumb-terminal users could dial into the network's local “PAD” (Packet Assembly/Disassembly facility). The PAD, a device commonly found in X.25 networks, is used when a DTE device, such as a character-mode terminal, is too simple to implement the full X.25 functionality.

The PAD is located between a DTE device and a DCE device, and it performs three primary functions:
Buffering (storing data until a device is ready to process it) – Buffers data sent to or from the DTE device.
Packet assembly - Assembles outgoing data into packets and forwards them to the DCE device. (This includes adding an X.25 header.)
Packet disassembly - disassembles incoming packets before forwarding the data to the DTE. (This includes removing the X.25 header.)


Virtual Circuits in X.25

A virtual circuit is a logical connected created to ensure two network devices communicate reliably. It denotes the existence of a logical, bi-directional path from one DTE device to another through an X.25 network, even though the connection can pass through any number of nodes/devices like DCE and PSEs. Multiple virtual circuits (logical connections) can be multiplexed into a single physical circuit (a physical connection). Virtual circuits are de-multiplexed at the remote end, and data is sent to the appropriate destinations.

There are two types of X.25 virtual circuits:
Switched Virtual Circuits (SVCs) - Temporary connections that require a request session connection each and every time the devices need to communicate. If communication occurs over an SVC and neither device has additional data to transfer, the virtual circuit is terminated.
Permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) - Permanently established connections used for frequent and consistent data transfers that do not require that sessions be established and terminated. Data transfer can be done whenever necessary because the session is always active.


X.25 Today

Thanks to the advent of "perfect" quality digital phone services and error correction in modems, the operating cost of X.25 was no longer worthwhile. This brought forth Frame relay, which is essentially the X.25 protocol with the error correction systems removed. The concept of virtual circuits is still used within ATM to allow for traffic engineering and network multiplexing.

X.25 networks are still in limited use around the world. It remains one of the only available reliable links in many portions of the developing world, where access to a PDN may be the most reliable and low cost way to access the Internet.

Clear Channel T1: A clear cut connection may be the solution you need.

Clear Channel T1: A clear cut connection may be the solution you need.

Before I begin, I want to say that a clear channel T1 line is no more than a regular, full T1 line. In my very first article about residential T1 lines, I touched on what a T1 line is, so click here to read that article. After you’re done, continue on to read more supplementary information on a regular “Point to Point” or “Clear Channel” T1 line.

First, I’m going to explain DS0, or “DDS.” A basic channel carrying voice or data information through telephone transmission is 64kbps wide. When used for voice, and sometimes in data use, the top bit of each 8bits is “lost” to equate only 56kpbs. This 56k service, found in dial-up Internet service, is also referred to as “DS0” access.

A T1 line (a.k.a. DS1) is no more than 24 DS0s combined together in a time-slice fashion. Since there are 24 DS0s (each 64kbps wide), the actual available data rate for a T1 is 1536 Kbps, or 1.5Mbps, which is, obviously, 24 times faster than DS0. This requires using a line coding known as “B8ZS”, but “clear channel” is the common term for it.

Now we’ve established that a “Full T1” line and a “Clear Channel” line are just different terms with the same meaning. A Clear Channel T1 service reliably connects your network to the Internet through dedicated non-shared means. You order a clear channel T1 line; you get exclusive rights to one full T1 line. T1s provide a dependable 1.54 Mbps of bandwidth. As the circuits are delivered over dedicated copper connections, they provide constant symmetrical downloading and uploading of data. T1s are ideal for all aspects of business that depend on Internet Connectivity from e-mail access, web conferencing, and e-commerce applications.

T1 lines can be used by themselves, or bundled together to form multi-meg circuits. Their stability provides dependable and consistent dataflow for the transmission of both data applications as well as business class VoIP.

There is a significant downside to having a T1 line: PRICE. It’s not cheap to have T1 service, which is why so many companies offer a variety of T1 services at limited capabilities, such as fractional and bonded T1 lines. Check out Best T1 Line to compare T1 providers and determine the best T1 line for your needs.

Burstable T1 - Get a T1 line without bursting your wallet

In a few past articles, I’ve described fractional T1 and bonded T1 lines. Another option for those looking for more bandwidth for their business is burstable T1.

First off, burstable T1 gets its name from ‘burstable billing,’ the method of measuring bandwidth based on peak use. This is the most ideal solution for customers requiring very high bandwidth, but in bursts. It involves a full T1 line with all its bandwidth available all the time. The T1 service is sold with a set mount of monthly bandwidth. Measuring technology attached at the ISP’s end measures your bandwidth use, and if you exceed the allotted level of data, you would pay a premium.

The concept developed based on the idea that users use their Internet connections in bursts. When a page loads, bandwidth is sent in a burst and when it’s loaded, the user reads the page and data isn’t being sent or received; hence using the Internet in bursts. Burstable T1 can provide you to ‘burst’ to full T1 speeds of 1.544 Megabits without the cost of an entire T1 connection.

The beauty of a burstable T1 service is that it gives you a cheaper, but full T1 line for your business. Large packets of data can be sent or received quickly, but you don’t need to break the bank to have that availability. Here are some other benefits that a T1 line can give:
Reduced costs for users with fluctuating bandwidth needs or very high bandwidth bursts
Increased sales by improving the interaction time between your customers and your organization via the Internet
A manageable network by enabling usage statistics
Controlled bandwidth costs so you only pay for what you use

This “pay as you go” service can cost about half the price of a full bandwidth T1 line. The major plus of burstable T1 is that the highest 5% of bandwidth usage for each month is “free.” That’s how burstable billing works.

Billing is based on sustained usage levels during the month, as determined by traffic samples taken every five minutes, seven days a week. Your monthly charge is determined by the usage level under which 95% of samples fall. So lets say 95% of the samples taken in a month fall below 6Mbps. Your usage tier would be 0-6 Mbps. That tier would be at a certain rate, but the full bandwidth is still available should you need to use it. Burstable T1 connections are technically more complicated but are very cost effective and give high performance.

MPLS… Multi-Protocol Label Switching! Not to be Confused with Minneapolis

MPLS… Multi-Protocol Label Switching! Not to be Confused with Minneapolis
MPLS for the speed and efficiency you need.

Multi-Protocol Label Switch, or MPLS, is a standards-approved technology for speeding up network traffic flow and making it easier to manage. It acts the same way as VPN tunneling, in that it encapsulates protocols and data before sending them out in their own tunnels. Sometimes, MPLS is referred to as “Layer 2.5” because it emulates properties of Layer 2 (data link layer i.e. Ethernet) and Layer 3 (networking layer i.e. Internet Protocol, or IP).

MPLS is just a newer way of doing the same work that frame-relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) do. MPLS is becoming more popular because it is better suited for current and future technology needs. In particular, MPLS skips the cell switching and signaling-protocol of ATM. ATM breaks up data into encrypted fixed-sized cells to send out between two end points. MPLS recognizes that small ATM cells are not needed in the core of modern networks, since modern optical networks are so fast (at 10 Gbit/s and well beyond) that even full-length 1500-byte packets don’t suffer any real noticeable real-time delays. Thus, because of the increased bandwidth available, traffic engineering and out-of-band control, which frame relay and ATM became popular for, is still maintained.

MPLS was originally called “Tag Switching” by its developers from Cisco Systems, Inc., and was renamed "Label Switching" when it was handed over to the IETF for open standardization. It was developed to make way for the creation of simple high-speed switches, since it was impossible to forward IP packets in its entirety through hardware for a long period of telecommunications. Recently, advances in VLSI (Very-large-scale integration) have made the hardware possible for such duties, but the systemic advantages of MPLS, such as the ability to support multiple service models, do traffic management, etc., remain.

Instead of encrypting packets, MPLS adds a 32-bit tag to packet headers. MPLS works by pre-pending packets with an MPLS header, containing one or more 'labels'. The packets are called label stacks. Each stack contains four fields: a 20-bit value, a 3-bit field for QoS priority, a 1-bit ‘bottom of stack’ flag (meaning if set, the current label is the last of the stack), and an 8-bit TTYL (time to live) field.

When packets enter an MPLS-based network, Label Edge Routers (LERs) give them a label (identifier). A tag router, the ingress router, will examine the desired destination address, and creates a tag that chooses a virtual circuit or label switch path for that packet. From there on out, tag switches will only look at the tags to determine how to forward the packet. Routers that are performing routing based only on Label Switching are called Label Switch Routers (LSR). There may be multiple routes available for each label switch path so that the tag switches can manage outages, congestion and differentiated services. At the egress point, the exit router, the MPLS tag is removed before sending the packets on their way.

Processing small tags is faster than having to deal with larger headers at each router, creating choke points for data flow. Another advantage of MPLS networks is that it can be designed to provide more bandwidth, or shorter latency paths for voice packets in VoIP telephone systems. Video packets are extremely heavy on bandwidth so it would be best not to funnel them into paths where computers are backing up large databases. Through MPLS networks, voice and video can have the bandwidth needed to maintain quality of service.

When properly designed, deployed, and maintained, MPLS in a private network is a powerful tool to increase business efficiency while reducing costs and improving performance. MPLS networks are now spreading to include access networks.

To set up MPLS or other networking services for your business, check out T1 Stop Shop.

Circuit Switching vs. Packet Switching: What’s the huge difference anyway?

Circuit Switching vs. Packet Switching
What’s the huge difference anyway?

First off, let me explain switches in general. A switched network goes through a switch instead of a router. Most networks are actually headed toward flat switches on VLANs instead of routers. A router can handle the work of a switch, but much of IT today is going toward flat switched networks. So when we’re talking about circuit switching or packet switching, we are more and more talking about doing it on a switch.

Now in my last two articles, I’ve explained the differences between circuit switching networks and packet switching networks. In principle, circuit switching and packet switching both are used in high-capacity networks. Circuit switching establishes a direct point-to-point connection is made, like in a telephone call. The dedicated line cannot be used by anyone else while it’s already in use by two other users. Packet switching doesn’t require the direct line of contact, and uses any available network connections to route data packets (data, voice, video, etc.) through different routes until it reaches its destination where the packets are reassembled to its original message.


Comparisons:

Circuit switching –
1) Ideal when data must be transmitted quickly, arrive in sequencing order, and at a constant arrival rate. Ideally, it is used for transmitting real-time data, such as audio and video.
2) Network resources are static.
3) Dominates the public switched telephone network or PSTN

Packet Switching –
1) More efficient and robust for data that is burst in its nature, and can withstand delays in transmission, such as e-mail messages, and Web pages.
2) Uses communication lines that are not dedicated to passing messages from the source to the destination. Different messages can use the same network resources within the same time period.
3) Dominates data networks like the Internet.


The difference in real-world situations:

Packet switching is acceptable when calling up a web page or downloading a file, since a tiny delay is hardly noticed. These tiny delays are very noticeable with voice, though. This point is really important. Circuit switching guarantees the best sounding call because all packets go in order without delay. Delays in packet switching for voice causes cause voice quality to fall apart, as anyone who has used VoIP can tell you.

Bottom line: circuit switching is more reliable than packet switching. When you have a circuit dedicated for a session, you are sure to get all information across. When you use a circuit which is open for other services, then there is a big possibility of congestion (which is like a traffic jam in a network), and hence the delays or even packet loss. This explains the relatively lower quality of VoIP voice compared to PSTN.

Even so, there are protocols giving a helping hand in making packet-switching techniques to make connections more reliable. An example is the TCP protocol. Since voice is to some extent tolerant to some packet loss, packet switching is ideal for VoIP.

When you are making a PSTN call, you are actually renting the lines. This explains why international calls are expensive. Expensive enough for many people to sacrifice quality for cost efficiency. You pay for each and every minute you spend CONNECTED on a dedicated line. In a conversation, you take turn speaking. Plus, there are those moments where there is silence. Ultimately, you’re only using less than half the time of what you are paying for. With VoIP, you actually can use a network or circuit, even if there are other people using it at the same time. There is no circuit dedication. The cost is shared.


Future of circuit and packet switching for telephony:

Packet switching is getting better with improved VoIP technologies, but it may never replace the dominance of circuit switching in PSTN. Replacing circuit switched switches with packet switches across the country would be a monumental task, requiring billions of dollars over years and years. Plus, lengthy calls over the Internet place huge demands on switches that were never planned for, tying up circuits longer than ever imagined. Change is probably going to come at some point, and the Internet's traffic now motivates engineers to move toward a unified switching method in the PSTN.

While the PSTN creeps towards convergence, many telecom companies are looking at placing calls over packet switched local area networks the Internet. A company with a packet based switch will allow you to eventually store all of your e-mails, pages, faxes, and voice calls on a single computer which also acts as your phone. Convergence would enable us to access all these features. Software, not hardware, would be used to utilize features like conferencing and call forwarding; or even video conferencing if the number dialed at the office is to a computer and not to a desk telephone. The drive toward unified packet switching will enable a brand new future for the public telephone system.

Packet Switching: Circuit Switching’s Nemesis… Well alternative, but “Nemesis” is more dramatic and funnier to say

Packet Switching
Circuit Switching’s Nemesis… Well alternative, but “Nemesis” is more dramatic and funnier to say

Packet switching is a WAN (Wide Area Network) technology of protocols that divide messages/data into packets (units of information carriage), then route them individually to its destination. During the transfer of the packets, the packets can be delivered altogether or independently of each other through different routes. Once at its destination, they are recompiled into the original message.

To prevent unpredictably long delays and ensure that the network has a reliably fast transit time, a maximum length is allowed for each packet. This is why a message would be submitted to the “transport layer” first, and then divided by the “transport protocol” entity into a number of smaller packet units before transmission. The end result is a reassembled message at the destination. This method of transferring data optimizes bandwidth available in a network to minimize the transmission latency (time it takes for data to pass across a network), and to increase the strength of communication.

The costs to customers using packet switching are lower than point-to-point lines because packet switching is more efficient in using a network infrastructure. The carrier can create virtual circuits between customers’ sites through its packet routing protocols. The section of the network that is shared is often referred to as a “cloud.” Packet switching is also called connectionless networking because no physical connections, like circuit switching, are established.

Packet-switched networks using satellite or terrestrial radio as the transmission medium are known as packet satellite or packet radio networks, respectively. These networks were designed for covering large areas for mobile stations, or for applications that benefit from the availability of real-time information at several locations.

Handling messages of different lengths was always done very well by packet switching, as well as different priorities when quality of service (QoS) attributes were included. Packet switching was originally designed for data, but lately packet networks are becoming the norm for voice and video as well.

The most well known use of packet switching is the Internet, which is often referred to as a “Datagram Packet Switching Network.” The first international standard for wide area packet switching networks was X.25. Other examples of packet switching are Ethernet, frame relay, and mobile phone technologies such as GPRS and I-mode.

Already, we can see that there is more flexibility with packet switching than with circuit switching. The Internet, which is a widely used infrastructure, can be used efficiently without the need for a point-to-point connection that circuit-switching networks require.

Come back later this week as I compare circuit switching and packet switching.