Broadband Ethernet Internet Services

Ethernet point to point line service and LAN service have become popular with businesses, especially as replacements for T1 lines and now-obsolete Frame Relay networks. But did you also know that Ethernet makes an excellent access connection to MPLS VPN networks and the Internet?

Carrier Ethernet got its start for business as a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) service called Metro Ethernet. Many companies have a need to interconnect multiple facilities located in the same general geographical area. The E-Line point to point services EPL and EVPL give you the same or better connectivity that you’ll get with T1 lines and even multiple T1 lines. E-LAN service links multiple LANs in a mesh network to interconnect your entire organization.

In many cases, what you want is a broadband connection to the Internet rather than a direct link to another private facility. These are traditionally provided using T1 lines and higher bandwidth services, such as DS3, OC3, OC12 and OC48. Now, EFM or Ethernet in the First Mile can provide that same connectivity and likely save you money in the process. Let’s see why.

The reason that T1 lines are so popular is that they are provisioned on ordinary twisted pair telco wiring. That wiring is already in place in most businesses, being used for multi-line telephone service. T1 has been around for more than 50 years and is well established and available most everywhere. The one fly in the ointment is that T1 is bandwidth limited to 1.5 Mbps. Until Ethernet over Copper became available, the workaround to this bandwidth limitation was to bond multiple T1 lines together to make one large data pipe. This proven practice works well, but gets expensive since you have to pay the full price of each T1 line no matter how many you order.

The competition to T1 now is EoC or Ethernet over Copper. As the name implies, this service also uses ordinary twisted pair copper telco wiring that is currently in place. Like bonded T1, EoC uses multiple copper pair to increase bandwidth. What’s different, though, is the cost structure. A popular Ethernet over Copper service is 3x3 Mbps EoC. That’s 3 Mbps upload and 3 Mbps download, a symmetrical bandwidth, delivered over copper wiring. The cost of 3 Mbps Ethernet is pretty much equal to the cost for a 1.5 Mbps T1 line in areas where both are available.

That’s a nice cost savings for any company, but it doesn’t stop there. Ethernet over Copper can be installed at speeds from 1 to 20 Mbps. Bonding T1 lines gets you maybe half that maximum bandwidth and gets real expensive as you add more lines. Ethernet is designed to be far more scalable. You have the provider install an Ethernet port for the highest speed you expect to need. Then order the bandwidth you require today. In the future, you can simply call your service provider and tell them to crank it up to the next level. They can give you a bandwidth increase in as little as an hour because the bandwidth capacity is already installed. No additional construction effort is needed.

What happens if you need more than 20 Mbps Internet service? At that point you need to move up to fiber optic service. The good news is that Ethernet over Fiber is more available than ever before and competitive service providers are willing to make deals on the installation cost, especially if your needs are substantial. Once you have fiber to the premises, you’ll be able to go form 50 or 100 Mbps on up to GigE Gigabit Ethernet and even 10 Gbps Ethernet broadband service if you need it.

Does your business location suffer from inadequate dedicated Internet service or are you just curious if you can save money over your present solution? If so, get prices and availability of Broadband Ethernet Internet Service over copper or fiber as appropriate. Sorry, this service is not available for home offices or other residential use.

The Fiber Gold Rush Is On

We’ve known for some time that ultimately we’d need to move from copper wires to fiber optic strands to get the bandwidth we’ll need as technology advances. Internet service providers, Cable TV companies, medical centers, telephone switching offices and major corporations have gradually embraced this move over the last couple of decades. New services, such as Metro Ethernet, have made fiber optic connections affordable for even mid-size companies. Small businesses and consumers are now getting their turn.

Indeed, there has been one company that saw the light, so to speak, on fiber to the home and made the commitment to build out the infrastructure. That’s Verizon. Their FiOS passive optical fiber service has been moving into one community after another as a replacement for DSL, Satellite, and Cable. You can get bundles of phone, Internet and TV. Or, you can just get really fast Internet service at up to 50 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload.

Did I say really fast internet service? Most people are getting somewhere between 3 and 10 Mbps broadband via DSL, Cable or wireless. But DOCSIS 3.0 is being rolled out on Comcast and other cable systems with 50 Mbps service offerings to rival fiber. The next tier will be 100 Mbps for those who can and will pay for it. DSL over copper telephone wire is going to struggle as the bandwidth wars speed past 100 Mbps. But there’s a new service on the horizon that will blow right past all of these broadband choices. It’s a 1 Gbps fiber optic service about to be launched as a pilot program by none other than Google.

Yes, some lucky consumers in the test markets are going to get their hands on the kind of bandwidth that makes IT managers green with envy. A Gigabit per second. That’s 1000 Mbps. There’s nothing over coaxial or twisted pair copper and certainly nothing wireless that can even come close to delivering that kind of consumer bandwidth. Even Verizon may have to change out a lot of terminal equipment to pump a Gbps into home networks.

Google swears that they are not planning to become a nationwide ISP. Their intention is to create an environment that can showcase the next developments in technology. What sort of cloud computing, virtual reality, telepresence, or HD 3D video applications need that kind of bandwidth? They’re yet to appear. But this does get past the chicken and egg conundrum, where application development stagnates because of bandwidth limitations and only cutting edge aficionados pony up for the top tiers in broadband service. Google plans to make their service cheap and plentiful so that even the common user can have a crack at this massive bandwidth connectivity.

ISP or not, it’s almost a sure bet that Google will prime the pump with some of their own cutting edge experimental apps. There’s probably all sorts of cool things brewing in the lab that just aren’t practical to launch on today’s broadband networks. Once the bottle’s open and the genies start flying out, you can bet that the development communities will fall all over themselves to get their own offerings out for evaluation.

This pitiful era of a bandwidth starved United States is about to end. That’s exceptionally good news for anyone living out in the boonies who’s stuck with dial-up, or paying a goodly price for satellite broadband and swearing at the latency. Google is, perhaps, the last straw in forcing universal fiber optic connections to the premises. Right now, smart telephone and cable companies are grabbing federal stimulus financing to trench fiber everywhere it isn’t already. It’s more than just serving the populations in low density areas who need and deserve better broadband. Another driving factor is the burgeoning wireless bandwidth demand to support smartphones, such as the iPhone and Droid. The cellular sites are bandwidth limited by the copper lines they have for backhaul. They are going to need fiber to support LTE and speed-ups in WiMAX.

How will wireless fare in the long run? It’s hard to tell how fast will be fast enough for wireless broadband. We’re not there yet. Right now, the relatively small size of cellphone screens takes some pressure off the need for massive bandwidth, even for HD video. But what about that iPad? It’s surely just the first in a whole class of tablet size products with bigger screens and more processing power. That’s going to lead to higher bandwidth demands to support content to feed the tablets. The FCC is already eyeing underutilized TV channels and other portions of the spectrum to press into service for wireless broadband. There will likely be some technology advances needed in the wireless arena to satisfy the ultimate need. After all, you can put more fiber bandwidth in the ground that there are Gbps in the entire regulated electromagnetic spectrum.