The t1 internet service has been around for over 40 years but never have there been so many "flavors" available. The number of providers has jumped since deregulation in 1996 from a few dozen to several thousand. As the telecom shakedown that began in 2001 continues many of these comapnies are trying to stay afloat by capturing as many customers as possible with inexpensive products they claim to be T1. Don't be fooled!

Many of the desperate companies are putting together inferior products they claim are T1 products. Be leary of products with the funny titles like "burstable" and "reach". These products are oversubscribed much like a DSL product. This means the provider put's a singled T1 connnection in a CO (Central Office) and sells T1 connections to 3 or 4 customers hoping they don't all use the service at the same time. True T1 access means dedicated access to the internet and you always have access to 1.54Mbps.

Make sure your T1 product is a "clearchannel" product and is not shared with other users. Also be sure you have an SLA or Service Level Agreement from your provider. A SLA will specify the access you will receive and the penaly the service provider will pay if they do not provide such service. If you need help establishing the proper SLA seek the help of a professional if you don't have one in house. It's much better to pay a small fee up front than to enter a long term contract with an inferior carrier. You can also get professional assistance free of charge by simply contacting one fo the many T1 brokers on the internet.

Is it time to upgrade to a T1? There are several factors to consider when examining you current DSL connection and the possiblity of replacing it. For many people the biggest factor is reliability and if reliability is critical to the applications you run over your connection you should seriously consider replacing your DSL connection with a T1. DSL is a quick and cost effective method of acquiring high speed bandwidth however it is not intended to support commercial applications or large numbers of users as is a T1 connections.

Reliability becomes critical when customers or employees depend on your connection for immediate responses. If your customers use your connection to access your databases or your server or the internet then reliability of your connection is critical. If your employees depend on your connections because you host the e-mail server in house or host web servers, your connections is considered critical. A critical connection can be viewed much like a life line, without which your business would be negatively impacted. Your monthly savings of having a sub-par connections will not make up for the loss in productivity of your employees or loss of customers when your DSL connections gets bogged down or cut off. To reiterate, ciritcal connections should be supported with a T1.

Many customers are extremely price sensitive and cannot afford the cost of a T1 which can be as much as 20 times more expensive than a full T1 connection. Residential customers who are most sensitive to price should not consider a T1 circuit unless then have a business reason to pay for such a circuit and cannot access DSL service. Most people don't realize that a DSL connection can be just as fast as a T1 at 1.5Mbps. The shortcoming of DSL is that it is oversubscribed. This means there is a finite amount of bandwidth available and a customers speed can drop if other customers in the neighborhood decide to use their service. SDSL (Synchronous DSL) is a business class DSL and is ranked as a higher priority than residential DSL or ADSL (Asunchronous DSL). This means it is not oversubscribed to the extent than ADSL and is subject to fewer bandwidth restrictions. In short, if price is your critical factor go with DSL. If reliability is the critical factor purchase a dedicated T1.