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CLECs Gain Ground with SMBs
Thursday July 17, 2008,
09:21 pm ET
CEDAR HILLS, Utah, Jul. 17 /Patrick Oborn/ --
Small businesses all over the country are discovering a whole new universe of broadband access.
As the price of commercial-grade telecommunication services continues to drop, more and more
enterprises are starting to drop their plain old telephone service lines in favor of all-digital
T1 trunks that deliver voice and data over the same connection. These new enhancements were
made possible by the increasing pace of consolidation in the telecommunication industry along
with the increasing value bigger phone companies can provide.
With any new advancement in technology there is usually a lag in the time it take
users known as "early adapters" to try out and begin using the new services themselves.
Although dynamic T1 service has been available in many US markets since 2005, it's
just now that we have observed people beginning to embrace the new technology. One
such business that recently changed from a voice PRI and data T1 line on to one,
dynamic T1 line is Jason Oliver, a small business owner in Los Angeles, California.
"When I found out that I could replace my two T1's with one single dynamic integrated
circuit (offered by TelePacific Communications), I had two thoughts: 1- where do I
sign, and 2- why didn't someone tell me about this sooner!"
At $50 to $75 per month, the average small business telephone customer could expect to pay
up to $750 for just 10 regular phone lines, which come with only a standard set of features
such as Voicemail, Caller ID, and Three-way calling. From 2000 to 2005, the cost of a
dynamic integrated T1 line was well over $800, making it an unattractive option from a
pure cost point of view. However, that paradigm has changed with the introduction of
sub-$400/month price plans and features that make the old POTs lines look pre-historic.
Kansas 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."
Recent advances in technology, fostered by competition from growing CLECs, is bringing
integrated T1 services to small business everywhere. And the trend doesn't look like
it will change anytime soon. CLECs continue to grow their networks, offering more
advanced services like metro ethernet, MPLS, and more.
Will this train of innovation, lower prices, and services that add value to SMB's continue
to roll down the tracks of progress? It's all up to our government - and which political
party controls the FCC. Without the deregulation act of 1996, we would have never known
just how much the CLECs were capable of.
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