The Future of Bandwidth

When a company requires additional bandwidth, there are multiple ways to install more robust Internet connections to satisfy present and future needs. Providers already are dropping prices and increasing availability for faster DSL and cable modem connections, beefier T1 and T3 pipes, and even fiber optic connections—the gold standard—to meet burgeoning demand.

This means most consumers and small businesses should be able to get by with DSL and cable modem technology in the near future. Comcast now offers 50 megabit cable modem connections for $150 a month, allowing users to download 50 megabits of data per second. That is 50 times faster than a T1 connection of 1.5 megabits, which used to be too expensive for many small companies at $300 a month. Agar says two years ago, T1 connections were $700 a month, one year ago they were $450, and now they’re $325 to $400.

Companies can now get six megabits of bandwidth using four T1 lines that terminate into one router, or 10 megabits by running seven T1 lines into a media converter, says Todd Meester, general manager of XO Communications, a full-service telecommunications provider for businesses in Minneapolis. “Separate T1s create a bottleneck in a customer’s network,” Meester says.

Supersized Bandwidth

Businesses are gravitating toward another new technology that offers more bandwidth for less money. Ethernet over copper has started serving as a viable alternative to T1 lines, offering 20 to 40 megabit speeds for 25 percent less. The savings comes from eliminating the T1 loop charges—costs associated with running wire from the provider’s office to the customer’s location that can run $200 to $250 a month per line.

XO Communications and Qwest are offering considerable bandwidth by using ethernet over copper. “If you don’t need fiber yet, or you’re in a location where there is no fiber, this is the next best option for handling bandwidth,” Agar says.

There are a few cons to ethernet over copper. It’s available in only a few locations outside of downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. And if a business is located too far from a provider’s central office, it might not be able to get the service. But these problems will be solved in the next few years as providers expand their services, Meester says.

When businesses’ bandwidth needs grow beyond a T1 or bonded T1s, they can move onto T3 connections, which equal 28 T1 lines, and offer 45 megabit speeds. Eventually, though, a company that needs multiple T3s should look into switching to fiber optic service because it can be more efficient and less expensive, Agar says. Fiber provides super-fast speeds that allow businesses to download 155 megabits to 2.5 gigabits of data in seconds, depending on the size of the fiber optic pipe. Businesses such as graphic design firms, advertising agencies, and doctors’ offices (transmitting X-ray files) use fiber optic service to move large files back and forth quickly.