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Prices Continue to Come Down on Integrated Products
Thursday May 07, 2009,
03:07 pm ET
DRAPER, Utah, May. 07 /Patrick Oborn/ --
The digital universe, and the way people connect to it, is changing. Small businesses, in
particular, are discovering new high-speed Internet and telecom options that are now
squarely within their budgets. Through a myriad of mergers and acquisitions, telecommunication
providers have greatly enhanced their integrated T1 products with features that businesses
can't live without, all while dropping the price to about half of what they were just
two years ago.
The same basic economic model described in the book "Blue Ocean Strategies" is now being
applied to telecommunication services being offered to small businesses across the country:
more value for less money. According to many industry watch dogs, hundreds of thousands
of business will dump their POTs lines in favor of dynamic integrated T1 service within
the next 12 to 24 months, saving money in the process. With the introduction
of sub-$475 dynamic integrated T-service, customers are now able to receive up to 1.5 MBPS
of high-speed Internet with 24 digital phone lines all on one line, for less than what they
pay now for 5 regular phone lines" Stallions continued.
The Louisiana area is one place in particular where the analog to digital
revolution is gaining traction. One business owner we interviewed about
his recent decision to become a digital convert, Peter Anderson, explained
that "my biggest hindrance was my ignorance. Had I known that there was
a solution that would allow me to increase the number of voice lines,
get a full T1 (1.5 MB) of high-speed Internet, all for less than I was paying
for my POTS/DSL configuration, I would have made the move a long time ago."
Many others like Mr. Anderson are coming to the same conclusion.
There are two basic "integrated" DS-1 configurations, analog and digital. The 24-line
bundle in which they come is termed a "trunk". The main difference between analog and
digital trunks is their flexibility. With digital trunks, voice lines not in use
can be dynamically reconfigured to carry data traffic, so they don't sit idle.
Analog trunks on the other hand can not change their function once configured
by the service provider. Data channels remain data channels and the same for
voice channels, even if there is no voice traffic.
Expect innovation to continue on its upward spiral as the CLECs continue to expand
their footprints as well as their customer bases. Barring any funny stuff from the FCC,
the CLECs will be here to stay. Sorry Ma Bell.
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.
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