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Prices Continue to Come Down on Integrated Products
Thursday August 07, 2008,
02:47 pm ET
HUB CITY, South Dakota, Aug. 07 /Cynthia Thomas/ --
Is there a resurgence in the popularity of telecommunications providers that compares with
the late 1990's? The answer may surprise you. Since the crash of the Internet bubble,
struggling telecoms have seen Darwin in action as many companies were forced with the
choice of bankruptcy or forced consolidation. However, some companies chose the road less
traveled: innovation. By offering customers more for less, many small to medium size
business customers are finding that they can upgrade to integrated T1 service for the
same cost of five regular phone lines.
The early adapters of this new technology have realized a cost savings that helps
them be more competitive in the market space. By saving hundreds of dollars each
month, which equates to thousands of dollars per year, small businesses are able
to do more while spending less on their telecom bill. This savings allows for
hiring of additional staff, upgrading equipment, and other activities that make
the enterprise more productive and profitable. Many in the industry see the
lack of mass adoption of this new technology as just shear ignorance and/or
a lack of trust for telecom sales people.
South Dakota is a place that we found was a hot spot for small business owners
making the move over to dynamic T-1 lines. One business owner that we interviewed
gave glowing reviews of his move to TelePacific's "OnePac" dynamic product.
Keith Gray explained "I used to have a regular integrated T1 with 10 voice
lines and 14 data channels. When no one was using the phone in my office,
we were limited to just 896 KB of bandwidth. After searching on the Internet
for better options, I found that I could reduce my price from $850/month to
$500/month, and at the same time have 14 voice lines and 1.5 mbps of broadband.
I didn't take long for me to pull the trigger and make the change."
Dynamic integrated T1s are a fairly new phenomenon. Unlike their analog
counterparts that can never deviate from their initial set up configurations,
dynamic T1s are able to convert voice phone calls into data packets and
them prioritize their delivery through an all-digital trunk. The ability
to break everything down into the lowest common denominator (digital)
allows the system to change on-the-fly to reclaim phone lines for high
speed Internet the second the phone call is terminated. An integrated T1 essentially
provides the end user the same service as one data T1 line and one
voice T1 line, for half the cost.
Looking in the crystal ball of the future, it is clear that new an innovated services
being offered by the few super-CLECs remaining will drive innovation higher and prices
lower. New technology is being pressed to the forefront by lower prices that the mainstream
of small businesses everywhere can comfortably afford.
As the competitive local exchange carriers continue to compete by introducing new and
exciting products at prices most small businesses can afford, they are coming up against
increasing resistance from the RBOCs who are forces to lease their own copper lines
to these CLECs at reduced rates. This reality has the CLECs rushing to deploy their
own networks and fiber routes, but the FCC may ultimately relax the mandate - leaving
all of us wondering how long the party is going to last.
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