Ethernet Now Faster and Cheaper Than T1

For years, even a couple of decades, T1 lines have been the go-to professional bandwidth service for small and medium businesses. They are the most popular digital connection for good reasons. T1 lines are available, reliable, secure, dedicated, flexible and relatively inexpensive. What’s not to like?

Agreed. There’s a lot to like about T1 services. But how would you like to get even more for your money? If so, then you need to take a close look at Ethernet, especially Ethernet over Copper.

Not everyone is familiar with the newer Carrier Ethernet services. They’ve only been available for a few years and the big rush has been just recently. Ethernet over Copper, EoC, is primarily a service you find in large metropolitan areas and not in smaller towns or out in the country. It has a distance limitation. You need to be within a few miles of the service provider’s office to qualify for service. Even so, there are millions of business locations that could be served by Ethernet instead of T1. So why aren’t they?

Good question. I suspect that it is more a matter of awareness than anything else. Companies that use T1 line services know the pricing and availability. They also know that prices have been coming down so they can get great renewal pricing, especially on 3 year contracts. What they don’t know is that they can get even more bandwidth for the same pricing with Ethernet over Copper.

It’s incredible, but true. Both T1 and Ethernet cost less than $300 a month in many areas. The difference is that T1 bandwidth is fixed at 1.5 Mbps. Ethernet will give you 2 Mbps, known as 2x2 Ethernet, or 3 Mbps, known as 3x3 Ethernet, depending on the service provider for your particular location.

Yes, you can also get T1 service at 3 Mbps to match the 3x3 Ethernet bandwidth. One T1 line will get you 1.5 Mbps only, so the way this is done is to combine or “bind” two T1 lines to get 3 Mbps. The only problem is that you now have to pay twice as much because each T1 line has a cost and there is no economy of scale.

Ethernet is not only lower cost than T1, but it offers more bandwidth that is also more scalable. You can order Ethernet over Copper starting at 1 Mbps. Common speed increments include 2 Mbps, 3 Mbps, 5 Mbps, 10 Mbps, 15 Mbps and 20 Mbps. It’s possible to get other intermediate speeds, too. Binding T1 lines tops out at around 12 Mbps because of both the technology involved and the sheer cost of all those individual lines.

Ethernet keeps on going. You can easily get 10 or 20 Mbps Ethernet service, with 40 Mbps and even 100 Mbps available in some metro areas. Those connections are made over the same type of twisted pair copper wiring that is used to deliver T1. The higher speeds even rival entry level fiber optic services that may be expensive to install.

Are you considering a bandwidth increase or simply want to know if you can get a better bandwidth deal? Get pricing and availability of both Ethernet and T1 line service and see what makes the most sense for your business.

Ethernet Services over Copper

Ethernet seems like the logical way to connect networks, but it is only recently that we’ve had the ability to do that beyond the building or campus. Now Ethernet over Copper connection services are proliferating and the costs are often lower than alternative solutions. Just what is Ethernet over Copper and what can you do with it?

Ethernet over Copper (EoC) is a technology that delivers standard Ethernet services over twisted pair copper telco wiring. This is somewhat different than simply wiring your facilities with Cat 5E or Cat 6 wiring. Yes, those are also twisted pair copper circuits. What’s different about EoC is that it is designed to run on copper infrastructure that was never designed to support the Ethernet protocol.

Ethernet over Copper in the MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network) needs to use the same copper that’s been in place for decades. That’s the beauty of copper to the premises. The costs of construction have already been paid. In fact, at least some of the many copper pair are probably already in use for multi-line telephone service and T1 broadband connections.

How is this compatibility accomplished? Each twisted pair of small gauge copper wire is simply an electrical connection from your building to the nearest telephone company office. Before they are put into service, these are known as dry copper pair. Dry because they have no electrical signals imposed on them. A dry pair can be used as an analog telephone line, one leg of a T1 line, or for a security alarm circuit. It depends on what you wire it to. Take several dry pair and connect them to EoC terminal equipment and you have a high speed Ethernet over Copper link from your location to the telco office. From there it can be connected, usually by fiber optic line, to just about anywhere in the country.

Ethernet services have been standardized like other telecom services. The two most popular are E-Line and E-LAN. E-Line is Ethernet Line service, a point to point connection that ties two LANs together across town or even on other sides of the world. E-LAN is Ethernet LAN service. As the name implies, this is a multipoint service that connects three or more locations in a meshed network. E-LAN can join multiple branch offices with headquarters as if they were all on the same LAN.

Ethernet over Copper bandwidth varies from 1 Mbps on the low side on up to at least 20 Mbps. Some carriers claim 50 Mbps or higher capability over copper. What you need to know, however, is that EoC is a distance limited technology. At the lower speeds you can be up to 12,000 feet away from the carrier’s nearest point of presence. Higher speeds will limit you to less than a mile. This is why Ethernet over Copper is known as a metropolitan service and isn’t generally found in rural areas.

Ethernet is designed to be much more scalable than T-Carrier or SONET services. You can have a 20 Mbps Ethernet port installed but only order 5 Mbps x 5 Mbps service. When your needs exceed 5 Mbps, you’ll be able to call your service provider and request a step up on bandwidth. This may be accomplished in as little as an hour. Compare that to waiting weeks for a truck roll on other services.

Ethernet over Copper is highly cost effective and is starting to displace traditional T1 lines. For about the same money, you often get twice the bandwidth when you choose EoC. That’s 3 Mbps versus 1.5 Mbps. Plus, higher speeds are generally available at reasonable costs over copper Ethernet connections.

Now that you know what it is, could you benefit from an increase in bandwidth or a better bandwidth price? If so, check prices and availability of Ethernet Service over Copper or Fiber.

3x3 Mbps Ethernet Doubles Your Bandwidth

Who couldn’t use a little extra bandwidth these days? The size of files, applications and web pages has been steadily increasing. Unfortunately, IT budgets haven’t. What would you say if I told you that you could double your bandwidth and not have to pay any more than you do now? Would you go for a deal like that?

It may seem odd to think that you can get twice the bandwidth for the same line cost that you are paying now. After all, network service providers aren’t in the business of giving away something for nothing. Of course not. The cost savings doesn’t come from simply replacing what you have with an identical service from another vendor. It comes from switching to a newer technology that has lower costs.

You could double your bandwidth with your current vendor or a competitive one if you want to stay with T1 line service. What you do is call up and order another T1 line to be bonded with the one you are running now. Bonding is a process of making two lines work as if they were one larger line. A T1 line has a bandwidth of 1.5 Mbps. Bond in a second T1 line and you have 3 Mbps. 

There are a few limitations to this process. First, you need to get both of your T1 lines from the same vendor. That’s either the carrier you have now or a new one for both lines. Second, your monthly bill is going to double. After all, two lines equals 2x the cost. You may well be able to pay less than twice your current line charges by going with another vendor that charges less for the same service. But this alone it isn’t likely to get you 3 Mbps for the price of 1.5 Mbps. 

Instead, consider changing from T1 line service to Ethernet over Copper. Both are highly reliable WAN services with dedicated bandwidth for business applications. Both services are available as managed services with the service provider taking care of any customer premises equipment needed to interface to the lines and to your network. 

The other similarity between bonded T1 lines and Ethernet over Copper is that they are both delivered over multiple twisted pair copper wires. These are the same copper wires that already come into your facility to provide multi-line telephone service. There is a technology difference between the signals on a T1 line and those on an Ethernet line, but from a users perspective they operate the same. 

What isn’t the same is the cost. Ethernet over Copper is a newer technology that makes more efficient use of the potential bandwidth available from copper landlines. Ethernet over Copper or EoC pricing is very aggressive and is currently running at about half the cost of double bonded T1 lines. In other words, you pay the same for a 3 Mbps EoC service as your pay for a 1.5 Mbps T1 service. 

There are a couple of other differences, too. T1 only scales up by increments of 1.5 Mbps. Every time you bond another T1 line you add 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth. Ethernet is far more granular. You can find Ethernet bandwidth services from 1 Mbps on up to 10 Gbps, although the higher line speeds require fiber optic cabling. But unlike T1 lines, Ethernet over Copper has a limited service footprint. You are most likely to find it in major cities and suburbs, not out in rural areas.

Would you like to double your bandwidth for the same money you spend now? Get pricing and availability for 3 x 3 Mbps Ethernet over Copper or other Ethernet bandwidth services to see how much savings is available at your location.

Business Ethernet Vs T1

Small and medium size businesses have been big users of T1 lines in the last few decades. Now there is a new service that is challenging the price and performance of the venerable T1 line. That service is Business Ethernet.

Business Ethernet, also known as Metro Ethernet, Ethernet over Copper and Ethernet over Fiber, offers scalable higher bandwidths, lower cost per Mbps, and increasing availability. It’s called “Business Ethernet” to emphasize that Ethernet isn’t just for LANs and carriers anymore. It’s being rapidly deployed into the SMB arena.

What’s so great about Ethernet? It’s now the universal standard for computer networking. Nearly every desktop PC, router, switch, and cabling infrastructure is designed to support Ethernet. Manufacturing economies of scale ensure that it will be tough, indeed, for another other technology to bee the price/performance of Ethernet.

The proliferation of Ethernet has also caused telecom carriers to rethink their public networks. T1 lines, DS3 bandwidth and OCx services are all based on circuit switched standards established to transport telephone calls. Ethernet is a packet switched technology that can be carried on circuit switched networks. With most networks now packet switched, it only makes sense to make the telecom networks packet switched also.

Packet switching end-to-end offers some interesting possibilities. If the LAN, MAN and WAN all support Ethernet, then you can establish level 2 switching to interconnect multiple business locations. Each location has its own LAN and they are tied together with MAN and WAN Ethernet services. You are extending your company network to encompass the connections between locations as well.

Business Ethernet is a scalable service. That means you can order a range of bandwidths for your connection, also called a port. As long as you stay within the capacity of the port, you can often get bandwidths in small increments including 1 Mbps. That way, you can order just the amount of bandwidth you need today, but can quickly upgrade with a phone call to your provider when business increases and you need more. It’s a great strategy to optimize costs and still get the performance you need right now.

How about the cost comparison with T1? It varies somewhat with location and the amount of competition for your business, but it’s not unusual to get 3 Mbps Ethernet for what you pay now to get a 1.5 Mbps T1 line. A popular service is 10 Mbps Ethernet. That costs about what you were paying for T1 a contract or two ago.

One service of particular note is Ethernet over Copper. This technology uses special terminal equipment installed by the service provider to bond multiple copper pair for your telecom connection. This gives bandwidths up to 50 Mbps over already installed copper wiring so you don’t have to pay for a new fiber installation. T1 lines can also be bonded, but the bandwidth tops out at 10 or 12 Mbps.

Which service is right for your business? They’re both professional grade and highly reliable digital line services. Why not get a set of competitive quotes for T1 vs Business Ethernet and see which will save you the most money?