Dedicated Internet Access Service supports data and web-based applications – such as the Internet, e-mail, audio, video and other mission-critical network applications. An ideal solution to answer to the growing needs of your company, DIA is engineered to provide secure and reliable point-to-point connectivity between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and corporate customers at minimal costs. The service is typically IP-based, so a connection can be made to any ISP.

EasyT1.net can assist you in choosing the most suitable DIA solution for your business needs.

Service Benefits of Dedicated Internet

High Quality Solution

DIA is designed to meet the vital needs of the e-commerce business. The quality of connections that businesses receive is monitored tightly, so they may host their own servers such as web, e-mail, FTP, reservation, intranet and extranet at the contracted guaranteed dedicated bandwidth.

Performance Excellence

Large files can be transferred between domestic and global locations with the support of DIA, minimizing or altogether eliminating your company’s incidents of data loss, jitter, and latency usually attributed to route congestion. Service Level Agreements may be given by DIA providers to benchmark service quality.

Quality Communications and Access Service

Access to servers are allowed even from distant locations. High speeds are available, and are scalable from 10Mbps to 10Gbps. With DIA, a foundation for Virtual Private Networking is created. If you already have VPN, DIA can be easily connected to the existing IP-VPN network.

Quality Support for Bandwidth-intensive Applications

Multimedia activities such as internet streaming, videoconferencing, distance learning, and webcasting are made possible via DIA.

Low Cost

Network costs are usually based on flat-rate tariff, making them predictable.

AT&T achieves this high-speed T1 capability with their unique, industry-leading OC48 / OC 192 IP Backbone. The multiple-ringed network is protected by a variety of security features to ensure the safety of both the hardware and the infrastructure of the line that your Internet relies on, making it ideal for any business that desires on a high-speed Internet solution bundled with world-class service.

Multiple Options

Your direct Internet access (DIA) option is designed to meet all of your critical broadband needs. AT&T has taken into consideration the possibilities of network failure and found ways of working around them. In the event of a failure, your continued network service will be achieved through AT&T’s Managed Access Redundancy Options (MARO) service, which gives your network multiple backup options.

Tech support experts are provided to assist you in setting up your redundancy solutions and designing the rerouting of your network when your main line fails – ensuring your traffic flow requirements are met. With AT&T, you can set up multiple routers for your line without having to leave the comfort of your office, and STILL get the unique network solution that works just for you.

AT&T provides a series of reliable rerouting points that let you isolate the error in your line without having to disrupt the rest of the network connection. You can set up:

• Backbone node redundancy points, giving you the widest array of choices for your connectivity
• Access router redundancy points, because sometimes the errors happen when you’re trying to access various sections of your line (which could occur at your own physical mainframe or in the access routers that connects your office to AT&Ts main network)
• Automatic load-balancing options, letting you segregate your traffic through two circuits. This works as a backup solution for your main line, or backbone and access router redundancy points

Ease of use

Once your network has been set up, all you need to do is connect to the Internet and browse. You will never have to keep an extensive IT staff to take care of your DIA because AT&T’s customer support staff is available 24/7. Once you have an AT&T connection, you can rest assured that your business is in good hands.

Global Crossing Event Call Features and Benefits

• Event Customization: The option to include an individualized greeting, and introduction to your meeting to ensure the formality of the call.
• Full service Calling: This will take roll call, create a list of anticipated participants, control your session, and will have the ability for Q&A in each call you make.
• Flexible Access: Decide whether it would be best for your business to use toll-free, toll, or dial out options for each call.
• Event Call Director: A great online tool which enables the meeting organizer to view who has joined the call, and manages the question queue, as well as chat with the conference operator.
• Enhancement Options: In order to get the most of your time with an option for participant notification, attendance list, post-view, taping, auxiliary communications line, and transcription services.
• Password protection and Redundant Services: Password protection will ensure that your confidentiality and conference is completely secure. Redundant systems offer disaster protection, and great reliability.

10 Steps to Follow:

1. Determine your budget. The faster your internet speeds, the higher the cost. Those on a tight budget have the more economical options of dial up or even a light version of DSL. Also, phone companies often give discounts for bundled internet and phone services.
2. Look for ISPs with good ratings in your specific area. A number of ISPs may have great ratings in one area of the country but fail miserably in yours. A good idea is to talk with your neighbors or local businesses to find out how they feel about their ISP.
3. Once you’ve begun narrowing your list down to the ISPs within your budget and with positive reviews in your area, check to see which of those offer special deals on bundled services. Most cable and phone companies offer bundled deals when you purchase phone, TV, and Internet services together, and give incentives for signing up for specific times, or contract lengths. But, as always, buyer beware – typically once that year is up you’ll find yourself paying regular price, which can be almost double.
4. Next, take a look at customer support. Is it offered 24/7; how are they rated? Remember that a computer isn’t limited to breaking down from 9am to 5pm, and even the best and most expensive connections can experience technical issues or downtime. Know whether you will receive live support and/or email, and if they charge a fee.
5. Decide the speed you need. Most ISPs offer plans with prices based on download speeds. Slower DSL (also known as DSL light) or cable speeds are the most cost-efficient for those only wanting to browse the web and utilize email. That being said, if you’re looking to play online games, transmit data or stream movies and TV, you’ll definitely want a faster Internet.
6. Subsequently, see if they offer a free email account. Most ISPs offer at least one free email address. Others may provide more or charge a small fee for additional email addresses.
7. Then, see which ISPs provide anti-virus email protection. Many viruses sneak onto a computer via email, and having it scanned before reaching your inbox offers an added level of security.
8. Don’t automatically omit dial-up. With all the new advances in Internet services, dial-up has been given a bad reputation for quite some time. The truth is, there are still many parts of the country where dial-up is the only option, particularly rural areas. Aside from dial-up, satellite is a good – but expensive – alternative.
9. Avoid usage caps. Occasionally ISPs will limit the amount of time you can use the Internet. Although not all ISPs have this, make sure to read each policy carefully to avoid any inconveniences.
10. Look for a company that has an online bill payment option. Most large Internet providers do, while smaller providers, especially dial-up services, do not. Paying online is quick, saves paper, and just makes life a lot simpler.

Whether your company has offices in one location or a network of regional offices throughout the country, XO makes it simple for you to buy local services. They offer standard product features, names, and functionality in over 70 nationwide markets with the convenience of one invoice.

XO offers a multitude of Local Services including:

Basic Business Lines – often called “Plain Old Telephone Service” or POTS lines, provide basic telephony features—such as sending faxes or support for a standard modem – over a single, voice-grade communication channel. It is inexpensive, easy to set-up, and simple to understand.

Business Trunks – are the smart solution for businesses that need dedicated bandwidth to support heavy traffic. They let you share access between your hybrid telephone system and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

Centrex – delivers a full PBX-like system, letting you conduct calls via standard feature sets such as three-way calling, call forwarding and speed-dialing. Centrex offers the flexibility to connect multiple offices and improve service for your employees. In short, it is an economical turnkey solution for all of your voice services.

ISDN-PRI – one of the most popular integrated voice and data services available in the industry. This service gives its users the option to transmit both voice and data simultaneously throughout a single trunking interface. This interface is fully digital, ensuring a high-capacity connection.

Additional services, such as Voice Messaging, Operator and Directory Assistance, Private Switch/Automatic Location Identification (PS/ALI), Remote Call Forwarding, and Foreign Exchange are available as well.

ReadyCast’s technologically advanced Cisco WebEx software supplies all the tools you need to meet with up to 125 participants, right from your desktop. Whether you are adding visual presentations, conducting slide shows, collaborating through white boarding, conducting web tours or share applications, ReadyCast makes it easy to get immediate feedback and exchange ideas with the conference participants. And since ReadyCast is a web-based service able to be used from any computer, it is compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris. This means no complicated installation procedures that make other applications very stressful. In the event you need customer support, the IT helpdesk is available for real-time resolutions to any issue presented by a user.

Getting started is simple, all you need is a ReadyCast account and you can schedule meetings that others can participate in – no need for any add-ons, you’re all set!

XO Long Distance Services give you the following:

• Competitive rates along with equally convenient billing options
• Critical enhancements to incoming and outgoing calls through different long distance and toll free features, helping you manage your business better
• Live operator assistance to access the National Directory

XO Long Distance Services feature the following:

• Long distance expense tracking using verified and non-verified account codes
• Over 200 countries to connect to through international calls
• Interstate, Intrastate, and International Calls all rolled into one bill
• Twenty four-hour Customer Service assistance
• XO Directory and Operator Services
• Enhanced, toll-free features to help you understand the services your business uses
• Real Time Automatic Number Identification (ANI) Delivery
• Call Area Selection
• Dialled Number Identification Service (DNIS)
• Rerouting the moment calls within your network overflow
• Referral rerouting message upon disconnection of your current phone call
• Alternate Routing / Disaster Recovery Plans
• Percent Allocation Routing
• Rerouting based on your current location
• Specific rerouting services depending on the day/holiday and time of call

• unified communications
• data networking
• integrated local, long distance, and Internet services of XO Anywhere, using a secure private network that has Class of Service (CoS) capabilities at 1.5 or 3Mbps.

With their bandwidth-plus-calling-plan pricing, XO IP Flex with VPN is the most economical, customizable solution available to fit the needs of your business. You can achieve better utilization of your bandwidth, run VoIP and data applications over the same circuit, and choose the port speed and calling plan specifications right for you. Using XO IP Flex with VPN also provides faster application deployments, lower network operating costs and more bandwidth for your money than traditional WAN services.

An overview of the benefits of IP Flex with VPN

• XO’s private MPLS-enabled IP backbone ensures secure communications and delivery for multi-site networks, protecting your important and critical flow of communications.
• Data segregated from the public Internet and routing intelligence that is built into the XO network itself, rather than residing in on-site customer equipment.
• Application priority using four Classes of Service.
• Options for full management and Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) allow for customization of management levels to suit your business’ specific requirements.
• CPE configuration, deployment, and management at each of your network sites are taken care of by XO, reducing your worries and headaches.
• 1.5 and 3Mbps options for bandwidth, and 10 to 100 Mbps Ethernet options allow for a broad range of speeds and flexible selection. Choose which is suited for your needs, and XO will take care of it.
• Any-to-any, fully-meshed topology
• Rapid deployment of critical business applications
• Optional XO Anywhere feature allows mobile employees to work anywhere, anytime
• All application traffic is run on one network platform, with better utilization of existing bandwidth, and the same circuits running VoIP and data applications.
• Bandwidth-plus-calling-plan pricing
• Cost Effective, making sure you get the most value for your money

Determine your needs

With the abundance of ISPs today, it may be tempting to just go with the quickest or cheapest option. While that could save you money in the short term, doing so could wind up causing you a lot more headaches—and lost productivity—over the long term. These are the 10 main points to consider when choosing your ISP:

1. Price: Price is important, however, it should not be the single determining factor.
2. Connection options: A dial-up connection is no longer your only option. There are many different speeds to choose from to meet your connection requirements, such as ISDN, cable, DSL and satellite.
3. Features: Just like other vendors, ISPs vary in the options their packages include. For example, some ISPs offer static IP addresses, while others use only DHCP-assigned ones.
4. Customer/technical support: Even the best connections experience problems, and chances are you will have a question or problem you need to address, which is why it is vital to have a professionally trained and dedicated staff capable of solving any problem at any time. BroadbandReports.com is a good place to go to find out about an ISP’s reputation for support, as well as performance.
5. Performance: Whether you’re paying for a high-speed connection or just using dial-up, you should check the ISP’s track record for such things as uptime and overall throughput. For example, even when using 56-Kbps dial-up modems, you can often only connect at 28.8 Kbps or 33.3 Kbps because of the modems used at the ISP. Likewise, one ISP may provide three e-mail addresses for a single account, while another may offer five.
6. Local access numbers: In most major cities, you won’t have a problem finding local dial-up numbers for an ISP. However, if you travel or if your remote office is located in a rural location, you may face long-distance charges.
7. Viability: When selecting your ISP, do some checking to see how long the company has been around, their track record, and whether or not they received any awards. You might find a good ISP now, only to have it go out of business, forcing you to not only restart your search but modify configurations and transfer your Website and/or domain name.
8. PC and MAC compatibility: It goes without saying that everything is PC compatible, but not all services are compatible with the Mac OS. If you know how to configure your remote access (dialer), you can make any of these services work, but few offer the accelerated service for Macs. If you are a Mac user, look for a service that gives good instructions on how to set-up your Mac for using their service.
9. Email or Web Browser Advertising: Does the service include advertising at the bottom of your e-mails? Does the ISP insert any advertising or solicitation material on your web browser? Services that require you to download their software (other than a dialer configuration) will often alter your browser to be able to serve ads to you as you surf.
10. Cancellation Policy: We seldom think of how to cancel when signing up for a new service, but it is something you should consider. Do they tell you on their web site how to cancel? Is there a penalty for early cancellation? Do they offer a 30 day money back guarantee? Some services are set as 12 month contracts and there is an early cancellation penalty. Make sure you know the policy and also the procedure to cancel before you sign up.

Make a list of all of your requirements and prioritize them. Then, compare those requirements with several ISPs that can meet those needs. Keep the list simple—don’t overwhelm yourself with too many choices and you’ll be sure to find the ISP that meets all of your unique requirements.

The following are the top 10 questions customers inquire about moving to VoIP:

1. What are the benefits of VoIP?

In the early days of IP telephony, the initial appeal of VoIP was toll savings.  While toll savings remains a good reason to switch to VoIP, there are others, such as:

• Reduced costs – Unlike traditional telephony, VoIP utilizes the existing network infrastructure for system installation. This saves thousands of dollars by taking advantage of the investments already made by a company.
• Ease of management – IT staff can often manage the VoIP phone system because it runs over the company’s Internet connection or data network. This enables them to perform routine tasks such as setting up voicemail boxes, adding or deleting users, as well as activate other features at no additional cost, while outside vendors could charge upwards of $300/hr for the same tasks.
• Mobility and portability – Special features enable employees to work remotely while still accessing advanced call handling and additional features as significantly reduced capital costs. Added benefits include flexibility, scalability and reliability.

2. Can I implement VoIP and keep my existing PBX?

The biggest factor influencing the answer to this is whether your existing PBX can be interconnected to a VoIP gateway. If it can, you will need a VoIP gateway installed on your site in order to IP-enable your existing PBX. When it’s time to replace that PBX, you will most likely want to replace it with an IP PBX as well as IP phones.

3. What charges should I expect for my VoIP services?

Expect one-time, non-recurring charges that typically include an installation and account set-up fee, as well as a charge for setting up an IP trunk or channel between your site and your provider. Monthly recurring charges are for your phone calls.

Occasionally providers offer bundles of minuets (ranging from 500 to unlimited) for a fixed monthly fee, and then charge for calls exceeding the limits of your plan. Others require monthly fees for the trunk or channel then charge each call at a rate determined by call destination or duration. Generally, service providers offer lower rates for higher call volumes.

4. Are there any other service charges I should plan for?

Each service offered by a VoIP service provider (including but not limited to: hosted PBX, US and Canada toll-free numbers, local numbers (DIDs/DDIs), and conference call service) typically comes with one-time and monthly recurring charges.

5. What is hosted PBX and what are its advantages?

A hosted PBX system delivers the functionality of a traditional on-site PBX but as a service. The subscriber does not buy the equipment and is able to use regular phones. In addition to cost savings, another key benefit of a hosted PBX is that it can make any office virtual by sending calls anywhere – enabling employees to receive calls through their company’s main business number whether they are working on the road, at home, or in the office. Features such as “follow me” allow calls to try several different numbers for each employee.

Because the hosting company houses the equipment and is in charge of updating and expanding the technology required for its subscribers, a hosted PBX greatly reduces upgrade costs and complexity. As an added bonus, service providers typically have thousands of extensions spread across their client base, making them scalable to any size and capable of adding additional extensions without taxing bandwidth. Simply put, hosted PBX is a service that requires no capital investment, offers a predictable monthly operating expense, and has a lower total cost of ownership than premises-based PBXs.

6. Is there any other special equipment required to move to VoIP?

That depends on a few things, the first being whether you choose to carry on using your existing PBX; if you do, a VoIP gateway is needed to digitize analog voice calls from your TDM PBX.  Small or mid-sized businesses that do not have a PBX will need a VoIP device or analog telephone adapter (ATA), as well as a router or VoIP gateway.

A critical aspect is the design of your local area network (LAN) and its equipment components. In a VoIP environment, your LAN becomes part of your telecom infrastructure. You need to be sure your firewall, router or switch and any other equipment can handle VoIP and be set to deliver the Quality of Service (QoS) required for VoIP and give priority to voice traffic.

7. What faxing services are provided over VoIP?

Faxing over VoIP can be both challenging and unpredictable. For this reason, heavy faxing businesses should take into account keeping a PSTN line specifically for their fax machine. Companies that from time to time fax up to a 4 page document will work just fine if their VoIP service provider supports certain codecs that allow faxing. Certain VoIP providers are capable of accepting your fax for you, and then sending it via email in a PDF format.

8. How is the quality of VoIP service?

Today, VoIP providers rely primarily on highly-reliable Internet routes from Tier 1 – and some Tier 2 – carriers to move their traffic. Top-quality network equipment and solutions are developed for customers of companies delivering business-class VoIP. Ideally, your VoIP traffic should move along routes with the least number of “hops” – everything below 200ms for a VoIP packet is considered adequate.

That being said, there are some issues that affect voice quality in VoIP, including:

• Bandwidth – always topping the list of factors that affect VoIP quality, don’t expect great quality with a dial-up connection, however, a broadband connection is suitable provided it is not shared with too many other applications.
• Hardware – poor quality equipment is more often than not the cheapest. For that reason, it is essential to have as much knowledge and information as possible on an ATA, router or IP phone prior to investing on or beginning to use it.
• Location of your equipment – often VoIP equipment can interfere with each other, producing noise and other problems. For example, your IP phone frequency could hinder other VoIP equipment. This is due to electrical feedback.

VoIP transmits voice data packets in a compressed form so the transmitted load is lighter. The compression software used for this are called codec’s. Each codec is designed for a specific use. If a codec is used for a communication need other than that for which it is meant, quality will suffer.

9. What kind of support can I expect?

After making the choice to switch to VoIP, one of the most important things to consider is the quality of service you will get from your provider, including assistance and training with technical issues and customer support.

Know whether a provider offers 24/7/365 tech support or just 8-5? Do they offer on-site support? Are there specific response and resolution times for different outages? What are the associated costs of these issues? Fortunately, the majority of service problems in a VoIP environment can be detected and resolved remotely. Another important yet frequently overlooked issue is the attitude and capabilities of a provider’s technical team. Find out the size, certification and training of their support staff as well as their overall service philosophy to get a better understanding of how they will handle your technical troubles.

10. What other factors should be considered in selecting a VoIP service provider?

Customers should be careful to distinguish between residential and business focused providers. Residential VoIP providers, for example, typically do not understand the demands or expectations of business-class VoIP; likewise, they do not use the same equipment or carriers. A VoIP service provider focused only on business customers will be more likely to truly understand and address your business’ needs.

The VoIP service provider you select will be the key to whether and when your business realizes the cost, productivity, and other benefits of VoIP services and solutions.