DS1 Bandwidth vs Ethernet

DS1 is a popular WAN bandwidth service for business, although you may know it by it’s more popular name, T1. Let’s have a look at what you get with DS1 and what you can do with it. We’ll also compare DS1 with another popular bandwidth service, Ethernet over Copper.

Actually, DS1 and T1 aren’t exactly the same thing, although most of the time the terms are used interchangeably. They are defined in the same family of technical specifications developed by Bell Labs. This is the T-carrier digital line service introduced as a replacement for analog carrier telephony. While designed for the telephone industry, DS1 and T1 have since greatly expanded their application into data connections for point to point private lines and dedicated Internet access.

Just what does DS1 mean? The term DS1 or DS-1 stands for Digital Signal 1. It is a time division multiplexed set of channels that are also referred to as timeslots. Each channel is 8 contiguous bits. The collection of 24 channels lined up end to end amounts to 192 bits. These are send out as a serial bitstream from transmitter to receiver. How do you tell the channels apart? One additional bit is added to the front of the pack to act as a synchronizing or framing bit. The sync bit says “start a new frame here.” The first 8 bits are channel 1, the second 8 are channel 2, and so on.

The DS1 frames repeat 8,000 times per second. This frequency isn’t arbitrary. It was selected to be just fast enough to adequately sample an audio signal that ranges from 300 to 3,300 Hz. You’ll recognize that as the voice range allocated to telephone calls. To avoid distortion, you need to sample at least twice the highest frequency with a little extra margin for filtering. The combination of 8 bits or 256 different levels times an 8 KHz sampling rate gives each channel a bandwidth of 64 Kbps. The string of 24 channels equals 1.536 Mbps. Add the framing bit (1 bit times 8 KHz) for another 8 Kbps and the grand total is 1.544 Mbps. There is where the T1 bandwidth of 1.5 Mbps (rounded) comes from.

This is what is going on inside a DS1. Each of those 24 channels is called a DS0. You can use them separately to carry 24 separate telephone conversations or combine their capacity to carry 1.536 Mbps of data payload. There is a special service called Integrated T1 that uses some of the channels for voice and some for data. This gives you both telephone and broadband Internet service on the same T1 line.

DS1 is the digital signal that rides on a T1 line. The line is a physical transmission system. It was originally specified as two twisted pair copper phone lines, one for transmit and one for receive. The signal on the line consists of alternating positive and negative pulses that represent the logical “1” level and zero voltage representing a logical “0. Nowadays, other modulation schemes like HDSL and HDSL2 may be used to increase transmission distance and reduce the number of pairs needed from two to one. Regardless, these are all called T1 lines.

There is now a competing line service called Ethernet over Copper (EoC). It uses the same twisted pair copper wiring as T1 lines, although the termination equipment on each end is different. Both T1 and EoC can combine multiple copper pairs to increase bandwidth. Ethernet, itself, is not a channelized protocol. Instead, it uses packets to transmit voice, data or video.

T1 is highly reliable, reasonably priced and almost universally available due to its deployment on the telephone infrastructure over half a century. Ethernet over Copper is also highly reliable and less expensive than T1, where available. You can typically get 2 to 3 Mbps EoC for the same price as 1.5 Mbps T1. Ethernet bandwidths can easily go up to 20 or 30 Mbps, while bonded T1 lines are limited to around 12 Mbps. The limitation of Ethernet is that the signal fades rapidly with distance. You need to be fairly close to the telco central office that terminates your copper pair to get the higher bandwidths. In some areas, Ethernet services are still not readily available.

Would you like the best deals on voice and data service to support your business? If so, get instant online prices and availability on DS1 and Ethernet bandwidth services for your particular location. Higher bandwidth services are also available with excellent pricing.

Ethernet over Copper Solutions

Low to moderate business bandwidth solutions have long been served by T1 lines and bonded T1 lines. Now Ethernet over Copper solutions are taking over this space by offering more bandwidth for less money.

The services we’re talking about range from 1 to 20 Mbps and may be either a private line from point to point or a dedicated connection to the Internet. Ethernet standards also make possible a private LAN service to interconnect multiple business locations.

The basic T1 line runs at 1.5 Mbps. It was originally developed by the telephone industry to transport multiple telephone calls between switching centers. A service called T1 PRI or ISDN PRI is still popular for providing up to 23 digital phone lines to a business PBX system using only a single T1 line.

As a digital line, T1 can transport voice, video or data packets. This has led to T1 lines being used to interconnect two company locations with a private line. Some companies expand this by building a network out of T1 lines linking each branch office back to headquarters.

T1 lines have had the advantage of being both affordable and available. Average prices have dropped from over $600 a month just a few years ago to under $300 a month today. T1 lines are provisioned over ordinary twisted pair copper using the same copper bundles that bring in multi-line phone service. As such, T1 service is available just about everywhere you can get a telephone line.

Ethernet over Copper (EoC) is a direct competitor to T1 for a couple of reasons. First of all, EoC uses the very same twisted pair copper wires that are already installed into nearly every business location. The cost for basic Ethernet over Copper service is very similar to T1 lines, except that you get 2 or 3 Mbps rather than 1.5 Mbps for that price. This gives EoC a cost advantage for companies that could use a boost in bandwidth but don’t have extra money in the budget.

Both T1 and EoC can increase the bandwidth they deliver by employing more copper pairs to transport the signal. T1 uses a process called bonding to make two or more T1 lines behave as one larger data pipe. Ethernet over Copper is designed to be easily scalable from 1 to 20 Mbps. Some of the most popular bandwidths are 3 Mbps, 5 Mbps, 10 Mbps, 15 Mbps and 20 Mbps.

Both technologies have limitations. Bonded T1 lines start to become impractical above about 12 Mbps. The technology to go higher isn’t widely deployed and the cost goes up linearly with bandwidth. Ethernet tends to get cheaper per Mbps the more bandwidth you order and can easily support 15 and 20 Mbps levels, in some cases higher. Unlike T1, Ethernet over Copper is distance limited so that you can generally only get service in metropolitan areas. The closer to the nearest telco central office you are, the more bandwidth you can get.

Are you in a quandary over how to maximize your telecom budget dollar? If so or if you’re just curious about getting more Mbps for your money, compare Ethernet over Copper with T1 line service prices and see which makes the most sense for your business applications.

Find A T1 Line For Your Business

You’re not too happy with your digital connectivity options. DSL and Cable services have attractive pricing, but bandwidth varies all over the place and outages don’t seem to get resolved as fast as you’d like. Perhaps you’ve moved to a location beyond the reach of DSL or Cable broadband. Well, there’s Satellite Internet. It has extensive latency by nature, limited bandwidth, and the signal goes out when the weather gets heavy. Are there any better options?

The gold standard for small business wireline services is T1. These lines are available nearly everywhere, offer a rock solid bandwidth with equal speed for both upload and download, are highly reliable and get fast service in the rare event of a problem. They also give you options for secure connection between business locations and digital phone lines for your PBX telephone system that aren’t offered by other types of digital services.

But what about the cost? T1 lines were once the exclusive domain of the telephone companies to connect their switching centers. Later, they were offered to businesses at prices only larger companies could afford. Today, T1 lines are so prolific and there is so much competition between service providers that T1 lines are affordable by nearly all small to medium size businesses that have their own business locations. Home offices and residential users don’t generally qualify for this service.

Let’s have a look at what a T1 line can do for your business and then see how to find providers and prices quickly and easily.

The most popular use for T1 lines today is for dedicated access to the Internet. This is a broadband service that offers 1.5 Mbps for both upload and download. If you need more than that, you can order additional T1 lines and have them bonded together to create one large bandwidth connection.

Note that this is called dedicated access. What that means is that you always have the full bandwidth of the line available for your exclusive use. What many people don’t realize is that DSL and Cable services share their available bandwidth among many subscribers to keep the cost low. Unfortunately, if others are heavily using the Internet your available line speed will slow, sometimes to a crawl. T1 is always available at full bandwidth.

Another configuration for T1 lines is for private point to point connections. This is like having a direct digital wire linking two business locations. There is no connection to the Internet. It’s an empty pipe that is for your exclusive use to upload and download data between locations. This service is particularly popular for linking branch offices to headquarters.

Finally, T1 lines can be ordered in a special configuration called T1 PRI or ISDN PRI. This is a telephone service. A single T1 PRI line can bring in up to 23 separate telephone lines plus Caller ID service. Many call centers, sales offices and medium size office businesses use T1 PRI as a lower cost connection for their PBX telephone systems than bringing in multiple business phone lines.

There is also a special service called Integrated T1 that combines up to 12 telephone lines and broadband Internet service on one T1 line. Small sales offices can often save money by using this service in place of separate telephone and broadband connections.

So, how do you find a T1 line for your business? The best way is to use the Shop For T1 real-time quote engine. It’s an online service that’s available 24/7. You simply enter some basic information about your company and the program will automatically generate a list of T1 line services and their prices for your location. Be sure to specify if you want high speed Internet, dedicated voice service or integrated voice and data by using the drop down menu for service type. If you wish, an expert consultant will be happy to go over the entire range of options available for your location and make recommendations. There’s no charge for this service.

Internet Bandwidth Connections For Business

Internet access can be divided into three categories. Consumer residential broadband, dedicated business bandwidth, and 3G/4G mobile. Mobile broadband serves both individuals and business users. But fixed wireline is either business or consumer, but not truly both.

Why is that? There’s as cost vs performance decision that separates the two. Consumer services, and that includes home based businesses, are not even classified as telecom services. They have a designation as “information services.” What that does is keep them relatively unregulated with few commitments to the customer. In return, costs are kept low so that they are affordable by most households.

Business bandwidth is a regulated telecom service with high performance expectations. Unlike consumer connections, your business line services have a dedicated bandwidth level that is available 100% of the time. You can use that line up to its full capacity without bandwidth caps.

Business bandwidth also tends to be symmetrical. That is, you get the same bandwidth in both directions. An example is 10 x 10 Mbps Ethernet. What that means is that you get 10 Mbps in both the upload and download directions. Contrast that with consumer DSL, Cable and wireless services that favor the download direction by a large margin. That’s because most consumers download far more data than they upload. Business use tends to be more balanced.

Business bandwidth services are designed to be highly reliable. After all, the telecom companies and network carriers use the same line services themselves. Many come with an SLA or Service Level Agreement. That document defines the performance and availability of the line. If it goes down, it gets fast attention from the service provider. Most outages are restored in a matter of hours or less. There is no such commitment for consumer services. It’s a “best effort” arrangement with multi-day outages undesirable but not unknown.

Business Internet bandwidth is also called “dedicated” access. The dedicated term means that you and you alone have use of that much bandwidth. That may seem obvious, but do you realize that consumer broadband services are called “shared” and not dedicated? What the service provider does is purchase a large dedicated line service and then share that bandwidth among the user base. How much bandwidth you have at any given time is a function of how much your neighbors are also using. Bandwidth slowdowns during peak usage times are to be expected. This is why consumer bandwidth is sold as “up to” a certain Mbps.

Popular Internet bandwidth connections for business are T-Carrier, SONET and Ethernet. T-Carrier includes the popular T1 lines that offer 1.5 Mbps bandwidth and are available just about anywhere you can get telephone service. SONET is the big brother of T-Carrier. It is a fiber optic service with designations such as OC-3, OC-12, and OC-48. Ethernet can be provided on either copper or fiber. Ethernet over Copper is available in metropolitan areas at bandwidths up to 45 Mbps. Most popular are 3 Mbps and 10 Mbps Ethernet over Copper. They typically offer more Mbps for your bandwidth dollar, where available. Ethernet over Fiber offers near limitless bandwidth, although 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet, 1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gbps Ethernet are popular standard line speeds.

Are you frustrated by a poorly performing Internet connection or just want to compare pricing to ensure that you are getting the most for your money? If so, get competitive pricing and availability for business Internet bandwidth services now.

What Makes 10 Mbps Ethernet So Popular?

One of the most popular bandwidth services for business right now is 10 Mbps Ethernet. What’s that about and how can you benefit too?

What we’re talking about here is Metro Ethernet or Carrier Ethernet connections running at 10 Mbps. They can be used to connect two business locations in a point to point setup. They can be used to provided a dedicated Internet access connection. They can also be used as an on-ramp to a larger cloud network for national or even international connectivity.

So why 10 Mbps? It’s a bit of a sweet spot in the spectrum of bandwidth choices. T1 lines have been that sweet spot for the last decade. But business applications are getting more and more bandwidth hungry. The 1.5 Mbps provided by a T1 connection isn’t really enough anymore, even though T1 line prices have come down considerably. The Ethernet equivalent is a 3 Mbps connection for about the same money as T1, but offering twice the bandwidth. For many small businesses, 3 Mbps Ethernet may be all that’s needed for the time being.

Companies with more that a few employees or using video conferencing, on-site web hosting and other demanding services find that 10 Mbps Ethernet offers a considerable bandwidth upgrade at a reasonable cost. It’s not that much more expensive than T1 was a contract or two ago.

One technical reason that 10 Mbps Ethernet is in a “sweet spot” of bandwidth pricing is that you can often get it delivered on copper as well as fiber optic cabling. By copper, I mean multiple pair of twisted copper telco wiring. It’s the same bundle that’s used to bring in analog telephone and T1 lines. The service provider leases this already-installed copper from the local telephone company and then connects those pair to special EoC termination equipment. That’s the magic that makes it possible to get such a bandwidth jump without an equivalent jump in cost.

Where is 10 Mbps Ethernet service available? It’s offered now in most metropolitan areas from multiple competitive service providers. Downtown in major cities, you can almost always get 10 to 50 Mbps Ethernet over Copper. The exact speed available is determined by the distance from your location to the nearest carrier point of presence. In suburban areas and smaller cites, you may also find EoC. If not, some carriers are offering Ethernet over DS1 or EoDS1. This is a similar service, but uses T1 line technology with signal regenerators to extend the service range.

What if you need even higher bandwidths? Ethernet is probably still your most cost effective choice, but it will be provisioned on fiber optic cable rather than copper twisted pair. Way out in the boonies, that can be a problem when there are no fiber cables for miles around. In town, construction costs may not be that expensive if you are close to a service provider’s office. If you, or you plus other businesses in your building or industrial park, order enough bandwidth, construction costs may be waived or greatly reduced.

Does this sound like a promising bandwidth service for your organization? The way to find out is to get a summary of availability and competitive pricing for 10 Mbps Ethernet Service. Quotes for higher speeds up to 10 GigE are also available.

NetWolves Leverages The Power Of The Pack

When you are looking for a comprehensive solution to all of your business voice and data needs, it’s pays to have a wolf doing your bidding. NetWolves is an aggressive service provider with an unusual flexibility to optimize the exact suite of services you need.

First and foremost, NetWolves is an FCC-licenced and tariffed carrier in all 50 states. But beyond that, they have strategic agreements with over 120 leading telecommunications carriers. By leveraging the power of the pack when it comes to telecom service providers, NetWolves can pick and choose from an enormous menu of available services to get exactly the right mix for your particular applications. Many carriers are working from a much shorter line card and need to fit your requirements into whatever they have available.

Most businesses, even the smallest, have a particular mix of needs that include telephone, Internet, security, offsite backup, remote workers, employees in the field, private data transfers, e-commerce, and perhaps multiple site connectivity. NetWolves takes all of this into consideration and custom designs an array of services tailored to your situation. They also offer consulting and management services as an adjunct to your IT team or as the IT support for companies that don’t have their own staff.

NetWolves can offer you a complete range of voice services including multi-carrier solutions on a single invoice. These voice services include switched outbound and inbound toll-free service plus intrastate, interstate and international calls over your existing business lines. Do you have your own PBX or IP PBX system? NetWolves can provide the ISDN PRI and VoIP services you need to support whatever phone system you have. That includes ANI (Automatic Number Identification) and DNIS (Dialed Number Identification Service).

Data services include private lines from 56K/DS0, DDS, T1/DS1 at 1.5 Mbps, on up to T3/DS3 lines running at 45 Mbps. For multiple locations, you can get MPLS network connections that create a VPN or Virtual Private Network. NetWolves also offers VPN security technology that includes IPSec VPN and SSL VPN. While IPSec VPN is ideal when transferring large amounts of data over a secure site to site connection, SSL VPN is an attractive solution to support business travelers and partners who need secure access only for email and small files.

NetWolves is capable of providing complete network management for your company. Their WolfPac security platforms act as network gatekeepers to control access into and out of a company’s network. Security services are scalable and include Stateful Inspection firewall, IPSec, SSL VPN, intrusion detection, congestion management, quality of service control, email virus protection, content filtering and other services with the ability to provide 24x7 monitoring.

Could your organization benefit from the capabilities of NetWolves or other highly competitive carriers anxious to bid for your business? If so, get price quotes tailored to your requirements for whatever level of service you need.

Dedicated vs Shared Internet Access

There are fundamentally two types of broadband Internet access. They are shared and dedicated.

You may have been thinking wireless, landline, satellite or fiber optic. Those are delivery technologies that can determine price and availability. But your fundamental decision is whether to go with shared or dedicated Internet access.



What’s the difference? The name pretty much describes the nature of your service. Shared Internet access is something like a buffet. You see that big roast and think that you can fill your plate with meat. But by the time you get to the head of the line, you only get a sliver of beef. “Sorry,” says the chef. “We have to limit portions of this entree because there is so much demand.”

That’s how shared Internet service works. You sign up for what you think is 10 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload. But if you look carefully at the supplier's disclosure, they say that you get “up to 10 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload.” Up to means a maximum, not a minimum or even an average value. In other words, 10 Mbps is the fastest line speed you can ever expect to see and don’t count on seeing it at any particular time.

Why is this the case? It’s the way that the shared Internet connection is organized. The service provider figures that not everyone who signs up for their broadband service will be online simultaneously. Even those who are at their computers aren’t likely to be all downloading huge files at the same time. So they sell that 10 Mbps service to 10, 25 or even 100 different users. If most people are composing email or reading web pages, you’ll have the lion’s share of the bandwidth to yourself. But as soon as one or more users start downloading, that 10 Mbps is divvied up to support as many users who want to use bandwidth at that time.

As you can imagine, the amount of shared bandwidth you have available can vary greatly and will change from minute to minute. If you have an important document to upload or download, you initiate the transfer and take your chances. There’s no guarantee of how long that transfer will take. It might go quickly. It might drag on seemingly forever.

Who puts up with this type of service? Consumers, that’s who. The reason is cost. The provider pays for the 10 Mbps backbone service and divides the cost among the number of users sharing that bandwidth. The price of shared broadband Internet is reasonable for residential users, who rarely are doing anything critical. The worst they experience is streaming audio or video that breaks up, or long delays in accessing their favorite Web sites.

Contrast this situation with dedicated Internet access. Dedicated means just that. The bandwidth you order is dedicated for your use only. You may still experience congestion on the Internet itself, but that 10 Mbps connection to your provider will always run at 10 Mbps.

Most dedicated connections are also symmetrical. That means they run at the same speed in both the upload and download directions. Your 10 Mbps service may be described as 10 x 10 Mbps bandwidth. You get 10 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload. That can be very important if you transfer files in both directions. You won’t be slowed down by a lower upload bandwidth.

The other difference between shared and dedicated bandwidth is that dedicated bandwidth is sold as a professional business service. It most often comes with an SLA or Service Level Agreement that describes what service you are ordering and how reliable it is expected to be. If the line goes down for any reason, it gets high priority and should be available again within a certain number of hours.

Shared bandwidth is sold on a “best effort” basis. That means that the carrier will try to keep things running properly, but there are no guarantees as to availability or how long repairs will take. If someone down the street is having service problems, the repair effort might disrupt your service too. That’s just the nature of sharing facilities to save money.

Now you know why home broadband services seem so much cheaper than business grade dedicated Internet access. It comes down to performance and availability. If the Internet is important to your business activities, then you’ll want to check the prices and availability of dedicated Internet access for your location. You may find that prices have come down so much in the last few years that dedicated access is now well within your reach.