What are the advantages of a T1 are over DSL at the same bandwidth?
Unless your chief and solitary concern is cost, a T-1 will always be the better option – not only is it more reliable, but the QoS (Quality of Service) and SLA (Service Level Agreement) negotiated between you and the provider mandate a quick response to fix any issues or downtime. On the other hand, DSL rarely has mandated response times, so your connection could be down for days at a time.
That being said, a T-1 line is also generally more dedicated than a DSL line. For example, 200 or more customers could be utilizing one provider DSLAM, where the T1 is solely yours, so you would experience less bandwidth and latency problems.
Additionally, T1 is the better choice on a straight internet cost/benefit analysis. The largest waste of T-carrier bandwidth for businesses who are not small ISPs is internet access (as in internet or data only). A smart thing to do is take your total voice investment (hardware, installation, monthly, maintenance, etc.) and add that to your total internet/data investment. Often what you will find is that by fully integrating your voice and data services you will save thousands of dollars or more – even if you need the full 1.544Mbps for internet/data.
There are several ways to do this, one being fiber optics. A very large infrastructure cost offset by a relatively small bandwidth usage cost means fiber pays for itself within a couple of years. It’s a no brainer – unless there’s no fiber to be found.
It must be pointed out that business applications drive business connectivity. Meaning that in the end the only thing that matters is what you’re doing. The means to support the applications will present themselves as viable options along a cost/benefit scale. At that point you will be able to pick and choose according to your budgeting and bandwidth agenda. If you’re not then able to decide on a technology, you probably need to hire a consultant.
To get that level of assistance required to navigate the murky waters of deciding the right bandwidth solution at no cost, shop around and request a free rate quote.
The bottom line: if your Internet connection is “Mission Critical” and your business depends on it, go with a T1. If all you require is basic email and web surfing, DSL is more economical.
