If a full T1 isn't in your budget, you need to consider a fractional t1 line. Why not get all the advantages of T1 even if your not in a market for a full T1? For many people the biggest factor in their decision 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 fractional 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 are T1 connections.

One drawback to fractional T1 service is the price. Even though you won't have a full T1 you will be paying quite a bit more than you did for your DSL connection. This is due to the structure of T1 pricing. A T1 connections is established by providing a "loop" or wire from the users premesis to the CO where the service provider has equipment. Part of the cost of a T1 is the "loop charge" or the monthly rental fee for the wire that is rented from the local phone company. Once the connection reaches the CO it can access the carriers network and reach any destination. This loop is paid in full whether you use a fraction of the available bandwidth or the full 1.5Mbps and therefore your price for a 768Kbps fractional T1 connection will never be half the price of a 1.5mbps full T1 connection.

Although the price reduction is not what you might expect it to be, this may put a T1 in your budget and be a great way to get dedicated service into your building. Once you have fractional service upgrading to full service is easy. Fractional service typically comes in 256Kbps increments from 256Kbps all the way to a full T1 at 1.5Mbps. Find the service that's right for you, but if you are supporting critical services think reliability. 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 or ASP type products, your connections is considered critical. A critical connection can be viewed much like a lifeline, without which your business would be negatively impacted.

If you want T1 price quote in 2 seconds instead of 2 days, you need GeoQuote. Since telecom brokers have been online they have offered a valuable service. A broker will take your information and shop for pricing with carriers he or she is intimately familiar with. The problem is not the information you get back, the problem is when you get it back. Brokers can be as fast as 24 hours or as slow as 1 week. How do you speed up the process? Get a real-time quote and save yourself the wait!

While many brokers claim to get back to you quickly and some even claim to have real time quoting we have only come across one service that truly has real-time price quoting for dedicated services. Their mantra of "1.5Mbps in 1.5 seconds" is exactly what they deliver. The speed at which they offer the information is much like going to Expedia or Travelocity. When you want information now, get it from a broker that can deliver it to you now.

Online quoting for dedicated service will likely evolve into broker services much like the travel industry or the insurance industry. The complexity of the product and the geographic sensitivity of the pricing, however, has slowed this process. The only service we've found that truely offers a real-time quote is ShopforT1.com. While others may soon follow with this service these guys are truely ahead of the pack and will