By Jon Arnold
There is a lot of misinformation out there about what Ethernet is, and since the term has become popular, even many of the cable companies are saying they now provide "Ethernet". While that may be true from a technical perspective, Ethernet from a cable company is still the over-subscribed and over-saturated network that you get with typical cable. As the saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig but....
Ethernet solutions from real carriers who provide dedicated connections are not for residential use or home businesses, simply because the price for 3-4 users can rarely be justified. But if your business is at a point where you are looking at using, or perhaps are already using a T1 line or maybe even a bonded T1 line, and almost without a doubt if you are using a DS3 or OC-x circuit, Ethernet is by far a much more cost effective connectivity solution.
The bad news is that Ethernet is not available everywhere. While a T1 circuit, bonded T1 circuit, and even for the most part, a DS3 circuit can be installed just about anywhere you can get a phone line installed from your local phone company, Ethernet is not nearly as widely available. But that said, it is becoming more and more available every day across the nation, and indeed across the world. Ethernet solutions are available in just about every major city today, and if your business is located in or near a city with a population of 100k or more, chances are pretty high that Ethernet options are available to you today.
How much more cost effective is it? Much of that depends on what kind of Ethernet you want to get. At the lower end, there is EOC or Ethernet Over Copper, sometimes also known as EODS1 or Ethernet Over DS1. Those types of circuits, as the name implies, are delivered over copper lines and can start as low as 3 MB. But that 3 MB Ethernet circuit is probably going to cost as much as HALF as much as the SAME bandwidth of a two bonded T1 circuit. If you really need a fiber connection, your lowest end option is going to start at 10 MB Ethernet, but again, that 10 MB Ethernet circuit on what is known as Fast Ethernet is going to cost about half as much (or even less) as equivalent bandwidth on a bonded T1 or fractional DS3. Above 100 MB Ethernet, now you get into Gigabit Ethernet.
Let's talk for a moment about copper versus fiber, since this seems to be a point of confusion and more general misinformation. For a given level of bandwidth, say 10 MB, two circuits both delivering 10 MB of bandwidth, one on copper and the other on fiber, will finish in a dead heat. Fiber is not faster, contrary to what many believe. But fiber is able to be upgraded to higher levels of bandwidth, whereas copper starts to peter out at higher levels of bandwidth, but at about the 10-15 MB level, even as much as 20 MB in some major cities, there is NO speed difference between copper and fiber.
If you are looking for your best value for Business Ethernet services from a reliable and rock-solid carrier who will provide dedicated Internet services to your business with leading Service Level Agreements, check out what might be available in your area from amongst the 35+ carriers we represent, where we guarantee that the price we offer from those carriers is the lowest that they will offer, even if you go to the carrier directly.
Don't throw money down the drain if you don't need to. In these economic time, businesses need and want to maximize the money they spend for communications costs, and utilizing Business Ethernet for your connectivity needs is a great place to start. For a free quote or more information, please visit our web site at http://business-ethernet.com
