My TA News

2013 Business Internet Connection Upgrade Buyer's Guide Released by TA

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email 

Following is a blog post and a printable 2013 Business Internet Connection Upgrade Buyer's Guide both of which are published by TA to help business end-users find and select reviewed and recommended TA solution partners and vendors internet connection upgrades at this link at Business Phone News.

Select recommended TA members may be authorized to republish a customized version of this buyer's guide on their own websites and in their own newsletters. For more information contact me.

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Remember about 15 years ago when the only way to upgrade a business internet connection was to switch out an original 9,600 baud dial-up modem for a 14,400 baud modem? That's right, a 50% speed improvement - and it was still only one-tenth of a modern internet T-1 with a speed of 1.4 megs.

While I say "modern", many businesses today that only have a T-1 as their internet connection feel like it's as slow as the old dial-up 14.4 modem.  

Why? Internet T-1s were great 10 years ago when internet traffic was mostly just test emails, spreadsheets and then a Word DOC with a photo now and then. Today businesses are passing huge media files, voice and even video over their internet connections and their little 1.4 meg T-1 which once seemed like an information super-highway is now an information bottle-neck.

What to do? Following are seven economical ways to upgrade your internet connection at a reasonable price.

 

Seven Cost Effective Internet Bandwidth Upgrades

The following are seven different types of business internet connections. You should add at least one of these to your existing connection so that your business has at least two or more separate internet connections. Once you have two or more internet connections in place, you can designate one as your premium "toll lane" that can only be used for high priority data traffic. The other connections should be designated as your "everything else lanes" for data traffic that can "get through when it gets through".

If you've got extra money to spend on IT consulting and fancy data load balancing routers you can actually sandwich your multiple data connections together with special routing tables to get the best of both worlds - separate connections and/or one really big connection. (See the list of recommended TA solution partner members and vendors at the end of this article for help aggregating multiple internet connections and carrier networks.)

Click here to download and print a copy of TA's 2012 Broadband Internet Connection Upgrade Buyer's Guide.

 

1. Ethernet - Also known as "fiber", "Fast E", "Metro E" or "Gig E", classic Ethernet is a service that is available to businesses in a "lit building" which means the commercial building literally touches the downtown fiber network of a commercial telecommunications company. Bandwidth connectivity costs via Ethernet fiber can be as low as $5 per meg. These giant pipes usually start at 100 megs and $2,000 per month for dedicated service. Very small businesses though can get terrific deals on smaller Ethernet pipes if their building owner has decided to "co-op" a large 100+ meg Ethernet connection into small 10 meg or smaller pipes.

2. Ethernet over Copper - Also known as "EoC", this type of business internet connection is today's number one small business choice for "integrated broadband" - a big pipe from the phone company that can provide multiple combinations of voice, internet and wide area data network connectivity. Click here to view different "pipe sizes" along with normal distance limits. EoC normally starts at 3.0 megs (double the bandwidth of a T-1) and goes up to 10.0 megs. EoC generally costs under $1,000 per month and is targeted to businesses in a normal city within 10,000 feet or so from a phone company "central office" but not on any "downtown fiber rings".

3. Fixed Wireless - Unlike "cellular wireless" that pulls a data signal into your cell phone from any direction (and around corners) while you're on the move, fixed wireless "beams" an internet connection to the roof of your business in a straight line from a transmitter placed on a high point up to ten miles away.  Fixed wireless generally costs less than a phone company T-1 line and can be installed in about a week where a phone company connection can take a month or more. The best selling point for fixed wireless is the idea of "airborne redundancy" meaning that all other internet connections come through the ground while a fixed wireless internet connection comes "from above". If the basement of your building gets flooded, likely all T-1s, Ethernet connections and any other terrestrial connection will be lost while the fixed wireless connection from the roof will still be working. Prices for fixed wireless generally start around $150 for half a T-1 and then go up to how ever much money you have to spend. Fixed wireless is very popular for powering high bandwidth WiFi demands to temporary outdoor "events" like concerts or conventions.

4. Coax Cable - Previously seen as a low-end phone and internet solution for very small businesses that couldn't afford "grown up phone company solutions", the coax cable companies have significantly altered the internet bandwidth marketplace with very high download bandwidth at very low prices. For businesses that don't really need high QoS (quality of service) for ultra sensitive data transmissions like voice and video or don't need really high upload speeds, meg for meg, cable generally can't be beat on price which starts around $150 per month and can go up to several hundred dollars a month for their bigger small business internet pipes.  Coax cable's biggest drawback is that because of their small and separated geographic footprints, many multi-location businesses with locations outside of the the cable companies restricted footprint will prefer a national data network reseller to provide for a single aggregated network billed on a single invoice rather than deal with multiple cable carriers.

5. DSL - The original broadband connection after dial-up internet, DSL is still the lowest cost, quickest installed broadband internet service and it is ideally suited for any small business with light internet bandwidth demands or who want the absolute cheapest price on a redundant connection to their main internet connection. Pricing starts a bit lower than cable - close to $100 a month - and like cable is generally "asynchronous" meaning the download speed is higher than the upload speed which is usually very low. Like cable, DSL is also considered a "best effort" solution in that the service is not "guaranteed" to perform as advertised. The best thing about DSL is the availability of getting it on a month-to-month basis from the phone company where almost all other internet connections require a minimum one-year commitment.

6. 3G/4G Wireless - This is the same wireless data service that connects our smartphones and tablets to the internet. Like fixed wireless, 3G/4G provides a redundant "through the air" connection that's likely to survive small disasters that take out your building's basement and all your terrestrial internet connections. The big advantage of 3G/4G over fixed wireless is that it's mobile and can "see through walls". IT directors that want a very simple and very flexible redundant internet connection really like 3G/4G mostly because the cost is under $80 per month and can be moved around from one application to another whereas other internet connections are generally bolted onto a permanent application. Bandwidth speeds for 3G start around 400k down and 100k up and 4G speeds are many times higher with a strong wireless connection.  The downside of 3G/4G is that while it can indeed "see through walls and around corners" (whereas fixed wireless is completely "line of sight" - save a cloud here and there) 3G/4G loses bandwidth throughput at an almost exponential rate with every extra wall and corner the signal must go through. There are some seasoned companies though that specialize in optimizing business class 3G/4G wireless and then managing network performance for the most demanding IT environments.

7. Satellite - Ever wonder how an ATM machine at a gas station in the middle of a desert knows how much money is in your checking account? That's right, a satellite internet connection. Satellite data works the exact same way as fixed wireless. The only different is that the other end of the line of sight data signal from the satellite dish on your building is 22,000 miles up in space. The other big difference is the "two Mississippi" delay that goes with every transmission (as in counting "one Mississippi, two Mississippi, etc.) request. Even the speed of light takes a while for a 44,000 mile round trip. Satellite internet is primarily targeted for rural and remote business internet needs that can't be accommodated by any other method. Throughput (after the delay) is about the same as 3G/4G and costs about the same as fixed wireless but with lower speeds.

 

How to Choose the Right Internet Connection Upgrades for Your Business

I've pretty much listed the seven connections above in the order you want to try them - all things being equal. Please keep in mind that these solutions are what most budget minded small businesses are going to want to look at to upgrade or augment a simple existing internet connection that's plugged into a simple local area network or LAN for a single location business.  Multi-location businesses that are tied together on a private MPLS network or VPN (virtual private network) may or may not want to start plugging in any of the different internet connections listed above without first carefully considering the security ramifications with whomever manages their wide area network or WAN.

Most any of the connections listed above will work just fine for "dumb data" where transmission speed is not critical. This is why many businesses "go cheap" by off-loading all their "dumb data" applications (big files, midnight remote network backups, employees watching ESPN, etc.) onto a second "cheap but big internet" connection while they preserve their smaller but expensive QoS data network for time sensitive data like voice and video.

Step one for choosing the right connection for your business is to sort all your applications that need an internet connection into "fast lane only" and "slow is OK". If you have a lot of "slow is OK" data to move around, start with cable or DSL and see what you can get away with. If you're trying to minimize the number of vendors you're working with or you're migrating into any sort of VoIP phone or voice solutions then you should start with Ethernet over Copper from your phone company.

 

A Vendor Neutral Telecom Consultant/Broker/Agent Can Minimize Selection Time

It used to be that choosing the right internet or phone connection was just about choosing the lowest price from whichever company was available in your area.  In today's business environment though with critical voice and data business applications migrating freely between office work stations, smart phones and tablet computers, choosing the right internet connection can be a lot more tricky.

A vendor neutral telecom agent, consultant or broker can help you quickly sort through every vendor that's geographically available to your business and help you pinpoint the right vendor at the right price that has experience with your specific business applications.

To find a recommended solution partner in your area that can help, click here or contact me directly for a personalized referral to a recommended Telecom Association solution partner.

 

Recommended Broadband Internet Upgrade Solution Vendors

The following TA vendor members received positive reviews from both customers and recommended TA solution partners in the category of Broadband Internet Upgrades. 

ShopForEthernet.com - Published by Telarus a broadband connectivity master agency. Through this portal you get get a wide range of price quotes from multiple broadband carriers, local phone company CLECs and national broadband network resellers.

Bandwave Systems - A national broadband internet connection aggregator of all bandwidth speeds including coax cable, DSL, 3G/4G, Ethernet, T-1s and more that also provides a single invoice and integrated network systems management.

Accel Networks - Accel Networks is the leading 3G/4G business grade wireless network solution vendor. A repeat year award winner among TA solution partners in wide area business wireless networking, Accel leads their competitors with their patent-pending, smart “Maestro” antenna system.

MegaPath - A nationwide converged voice and data wide area network service solution vendor with an expertise in application security and network management, MegaPath's award winning WAN managed services are recommended by some of the largest multi-location retail and quick service companies and their solution partners in the US and beyond.

Vocal IP Networx - Also a nationwide multilocation integrated voice and data vendor, Vocal IP specializes in detail oriented project management of both the most complicated voice and data network equipment migrations and nationwide bandwidth aggregation of the largest tier-one data carriers.

XRoads Networks - A unified bandwidth management company, XRoads is an award winning vendor that specializes in vendor-neutral, equipment based VPN virtualization appliance solution that is both a bandwidth manager and  network server load balancer.

 

Get Listed Here - If you're a TA vendor or solution partner that specializes in broadband internet upgrades for large single and medium-sized multi-location commercial businesses, please submit a customer or partner TA review be be eligible to be listed on this page.

 

Done-for-You Marketing: 2012 Nationwide Local Business Phone Service Buyer's Guide for SMBs

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

(Note: This is posted at BusinessPhoneNews.com and is designed as "done-for-you" marketing that authorized TA members can use on their end-user blogs and email newsletters.)

Click here to view a list of vendors and partners that specialize in providing business phone service to multi-location, nationwide businesses.

If you're looking for metro specific buying information check our metro specific directory.

For the purposes of this buyer's guide, "Local Business Phone Service" is defined as the service connected to a local phone number used for making and receiving voice phone calls over a "land line". The "Nationwide" part means the company providing the phone service can pretty much provide and manage any phone number anywhere in the US.

A nationwide local business phone service vendor or channel sales partner (AKA telecom agent, broker, consultant, etc.) works with multi-location businesses that want a single point of contact to work with "all their phone companies".

 

"Nationwide Local" vs. "Local Local"

The local phone companies most business customers use are what I call "local local" phone companies because they provide local phone service but they only do it in their "local" area. Now granted the old "Ma Bell" or RBOC's (regional Bell operating company) like AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink's "local" areas cover dozens of states each, but none of them cover ALL the states and they don't overlap each other's local territories.

As well, the alternate "competitive local phone companies" or CLECs that sprung up after the 1996 deregulation of local phone service (XO, PAETEC, Windsteam, Broadview, etc.) are all generally "land locked" to some local "on-net" footprint where they can provide dial-tone service from their own network and switching equipment.

Cable companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable and others suffer the same "on-net" challenges. They might provide fine business phone service in one area but they do not provide service to other areas. The ILECs or independent local phone companies that serve rural areas fall into the same boat.

The obvious problem for multi-location businesses with office locations in multiple phone company local areas is that they need to work with multiple different phone companies to coordinate the dial-tone for their multiple offices.  Multi-location companies that want to have a single dialing plan and a "single phone system" that works over any phone line provisioned by any phone company throughout their multiple locations needs to work with a "nationwide local business phone service" vendor or sales partner.

 

Who Provides Nationwide Local Phone Service?  IP Carriers and Resellers

"IP carriers" (the IP stands for Internet protocol) are companies like AireSpring, Alteva, MegaPath, Smoothstone, Telesphere and others that use "softswitch" phone technology from the likes of Broadsoft, Metaswitch, Asterisk or similar to provision business phone service anywhere in the US using private high-speed data networks and/or the public Internet.

Many of today's IP carriers started out as CLECs or resellers. Many of today's biggest phone companies are also rolling out IP carrier solutions. In five or ten years it is predicted that all phone service will be provided via some flavor of IP carrier solution because the "old phone system", the copper wire one put in the ground over the last 100 years, is just too expensive to maintain.

"Resellers" are companies like PowerNet Global, GLOBALINX, TouchTone, Ernest Group, Wholesale Carrier Services, Granite, BullsEye, Lightyear, TNCI and others that generally own some of their own network but who also "resell" the networks of the larger "facilities based" RBOC and CLEC providers.

 

Which Type of Nationwide Local Phone Company is Best For Your Multi-Location Business?

Done-For-You Marketing: Migrating Multi-Location Customers from Public Internet VPNs to Ethernet or MPLS

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

(The following blog post is an example of the sort of "Done For You" marketing content that TA is helping agents produce to publish on their own blogs and email newsletters. The original version of this blog for business end-users is posted here at BusinessPhoneNews.com, TA's blog for end-users. TA is happy to help members produce this sort of content for their own marketing purposes. If you're interested in doing a similar interview with TA please contact Dan@TelecomAssociation.com.)

A week or so ago we posted a blog about a major public Internet outage that adversely affected multi-location businesses that connected their offices using VPN that rode the public Internet.

In the post we discussed the migration that many businesses have launched away from VPNs on the public  Internet to metro Ethernet and MPLS networks.

Today we're presenting an interview we conducted recently with Jeff Cohen, partner of Cynergy Telecom, and a Telecom Association VPN migration expert.

We posed the following questions to him:

1. Start us out with a little background information. What is the prevalence of businesses using VPN's on the public Internet to connect their multiple locations and how long has Cynergy been assisting these kinds of businesses?

2. Please explain the migration steps for VPN customers you have migrating to MPLS.    

3. How does a Metro Ethernet private network solution differ from a MPLS solution? 

4. What are the different flavors of Ethernet? (Copper over, fiber, etc.) 

5. For VPN customers not ready to migrate to a MPLS solution, what are some "fail over" option they might want to consider and what are the pros and cons of each? (WiFi, Fixed Wireless, Cable and DSL with Load Balancing Routers, etc.)

6. What sort of businesses should contact Cynergy if they want help and do you work with other consultants and sub-agents?  What's the best way to contat Cynergy?

Click the audio player below to listen to the interview now with your computer speakers. Click here to download the MP3 of the interview.

 

Scroll down below to read the interview. Click here to print the interview.

Bandwave Hosts Breakfast Brainstorm Event: Partners discuss innovative multi-location broadband solutions

By Tom Azelby, Guest Blogger 
888-396-7182 email

Bandwave Systems held its first “Breakfast Brainstorm” event that brought together partners and agents to discuss successful multiple location, broadband service initiatives.

Held at the Riverton Country Club, Cinnaminson, NJ, guest speaker Tom McGinnis, Philadelphia 76ers basketball radio announcer, kicked off the event that focused on highlighting real-world client solutions that benefited from implementing Bandwave’s broadband technology solutions and hosted VOIP services.

 “I thought that the Bandwave event was very well attended by their agents who are interested in how new technologies can help their customers,” said Jonathan Forest, vice president of business development, Accel Networks. “Bandwave certainly has a strong agent program focusing on different customer segments.  Accel is pleased to have its highly differentiated fixed cellular broadband solution distributed through resellers such as Bandwave.

Presentations focused on how Bandwave solutions partnered with a large petroleum wholeseller, metropolitan hospital, marketing firm, refrigeration/heating distributor, and a food warehousing and distributor to implement Bandwave’s broadband technology solutions and management services to achieve cost-effective, secure, one contact, multiple-site broadband data/communication solutions.

We received great feedback from our partners on the event, especially the case study presentations that focused on the success of our customers. The event provided a forum for Bandwave and our partners to discuss real-world strategies and solutions to help our customers with their data/communication needs.

Added Chad Gagnon, director of channel sales, M5 Networks, “The event was a great opportunity to introduce M5 to a market that we traditionally have had a tough time penetrating.  Working with Bandwave as a partner brings a whole new set of expertise to our partner base that no one else does.  They bring a different mindset to the game.”

“Our clients depend on us to keep up with the technology and know who the key players are as well as the emerging players,” said Carol Koerner, managing partner, Method LLC.  “Bandwave’s informative sessions provided valuable insight to companies like Accel and M5 so we can better serve our clients and stay ahead of our dynamic industry.”

If you're interested in attending our next breakfast event or learning more about how Bandwave solves multi-location broadband challenges please give us a call.

Tom Azelby
Bandwave Systems, LLC
(888) 396-7182 x 11
tazelby@bwsdsl.com
www.bandwavesystems.com

 

About Bandwave Systems Inc. 
Bandwave Systems, Burlington, NJ, is a nationwide business broadband provider integrating multiple providers, carriers and technologies. The company provides businesses first-rate data services with dedicated customer service at a competitive price for any location in the United States.

Chicago Confidential: Last Day - Which "Cloud" Business Phone System Pitch Sells Best & What Happens Next?

Posted 8/26/11 By Dan Baldwin
TA Executive Director, 951-251-5155

The promise of learning the best way to sell Alteva's unified communications business VoIP phone system "in-the-cloud" is what got me out of my office this week and to the semi-annual Channel Partners trade show hosted this Fall in Chicago.

I sat through two days of Alteva's Sales Certification program for one reason, to learn the best "cloud services" business phone system pitch so I could get busy selling more "cloud solutions" to all my customers that are supposedly just waiting to hear the right sales pitch to "buy some cloud" which will no doubt solve all their IT headaches.

While I'm sure we can all agree that the best VoIP/SIP/Cloud business phone system and related applications will be determined by more than just an "elevator pitch" - the biggest customer sale starts with an elevator pitch.

 

Who's Got the Best Business VoIP Phone System "Elevator Pitch"

So to make the best time of the last day of the trade show I went booth to booth recording every VoIP business phone system pitch I could find in order to hear (and them learn) the best one.

The following TA vendor members that provide business VoIP or "cloud" phone services are presented in alphabetic order.

Which one do you think is best?  Please leave a comment below. 

 

AireSpring

Ron McNab of AireSpring

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Alteva

Peter Caperonis of Alteva

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GLOBALINX

Michael Machonkin of GLOBALINX

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MegaPath

Ross Anderson of MegaPath

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Simple Signal

Dave Gilbert of SimpleSignal

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TouchTone

Steve Kaplan of TouchTone

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Vocal IP

Josh Redick of Vocal IP

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Other Services Complimentary to Hosted VoIP 

AireSpring's MPLS Mesh Service

Ron McNab of AireSpring

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Ben Bronston, Telecom Lawyer

Ben Bronston, Telecom Lawyer

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Granite

Charlie Pagliazzo of Granite Telecom

 

What Happens Next? 

As telecom agents and channel partners it's our job to "learn the pitches" and sell the heck out of this stuff.

While certainly most telecom customers are going to want to dig all the way down to the nitty gritty (with your help) to find the best service providers for their unique position in the market, it's our job as professional independent sales advisers to help our customers understand which three vendors they start their conversations with.

That's where a good "elevator pitch" comes in.

So pick your favorite couple hosted VoIP and unified communications providers, learn their pitch, sell their stuff - and then tell me all about it at the next Channel Partners trade show in Vegas!

AT&T Declares Independence from VARs and Integrators on July 4, 2011 (Who wants to fire you?)

Posted 5/17/11 By Dan Baldwin, TA Executive Director, 951-251-5155 email 

File this news story under "Why-am-I-not-surprised?"

In getting ready to attend the Managed and Hosted Video Summit in June, I've been researching the electronic security industry to find telecom agents, IT consultants, business phone systems vendors or other equipment VARs who are getting into or are already providing video surveillance or other sorts of loss prevention, security, asset protection solutions.

That's when I ran across this news story published in Security Systems News that discusses how AT&T purchased a security monitoring technology company named Xanboo and then decided to discontinue Xanboo's reseller program. 

Security Systems News quotes a March 31 letter from AT&T general attorney Meredith Mays as follows. (I added the bold red emphasis for dramatic flair).

Telesphere Shares their SIP/Hosted VoIP Competitive Advantages at San Diego Master Agent Lunch & Learn (Watch Video)

Posted 3/9/11 By Dan Baldwin, TA Executive Director

I had the opportuity last month to attend and video tape a "Lunch and Learn" put on by Telesphere's Jeff Savage and Joe Testa for the San Diego based master agency ATEL Communications hosted by Andrew Cohen.

The best part of the presentation was the half-dozen case studies that were presented that really showcased where Telesphere had positioned itself as a fierce competitor in the SIP trunk and hosted VoIP space.

If you're a telecom agent, channel partner or IT consultant that specializes in multi-location business customers and their business phone sytems and local phone services you should really watch this video tape presentation of Telesphere's partner program so you can see how it compares to the ones you know or if you find yourself competing against them.

Click here or the image below to watch the video at TA's new TELEPEDIA.org site.

Click here or the image above to watch the video at TA's new TELEPEDIA.org site.

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San Diego: Top Area Agents Meet at Telesphere/ATEL Lunch & Learn

By Dan Baldwin, TA Executive Director, 951-251-5155 email

While everyone likes to go to the big national tradeshows to get out of town, the serious action for several years has been happening at the local metro lunch & learns where the telecom vendors get personal one-on-one time with an areas biggest voice and data telecom agents, channel partners, applications brokers and IT consultants.

Next Tuesday, February 22nd, all that action's going to be happening at ATEL Communications when they play host to Telesphere.  

If you're a voice & data "Big Dog" in San Diego, make sure you RSVP for this event and then go visit with Telesphere next Tuesday in the company of your peers.

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Here's some of what you'll learn as submitted by Telesphere's Joe Testa:

Overview of how Telesphere  provides unique voice and data services over  a private IP network. We are building the nation’s largest hosted PBX business phone service for unified communications. We'll also cover our financial overview as well as how we integrate the office phone, computer and mobile devices utilizing FMC or fixed mobile convergence.  Cloud communications enables wireline and wireless convergence.  One of the  largest providers of voice services over the Broadsoft Platform, in which Broadsoft is the world leader in hosted IP platforms and solutions.

Trends and other industry information, hosted IP services market share, hosted IP revenue. Some key features, Speak to dial, fax to email, dial from webpage, call center solutions, hosted call recording.

Whats in it for you, the telecom agent, channel partner & IT consultant by partnering with ATEL Communications and Telesphere.. Diversification of your financial portfolio, residual income on both the network and phone equipment. Telesphere has less than a 1% churn and an average life of a customer is 8 plus years. Residuals paid for the lifetime of a customer. 

RSVP for this event One attendee will win an iPad!

Multi-Location: XO Nabs 1,400 Location Deal to Manage Post Office MPLS + more

By Dan Baldwin, TA Executive Director, 951-251-5155 email 

I can hear my friends at XO saying, "Who da big dog in 'multi-location' now?"  (Or maybe it's, "Take that Verizon & AT&T!")

Tom Gorey at XO and I have had many long "ivory tower" conversations over the past couple years about where the whole telecom & IT managed services industries are going.

We always end up agreeing that the "real solution providers" that will win the future are the ones (agents, resellers or carriers) who can manage the total network in a multi-location environment - voice, data, MPLS, network service management (soup to nuts).

Well Tom's gang at XO have clearly taken the argument out of the ivory tower and onto the competitive playing field by closing this pretty cool deal. I'm sure this USPS reference will now close many more multi-location deals for XO.

Congrats! Following is the press release from XO...

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HERNDON, VA – February 14, 2011- XO Communications (OTCBB: XOHO) today announced that it has been awarded a six-year contract with the expected potential revenue of $45 million to provide managed network services to United States Postal Service facilities under the Telecom Integrated Postal Network (TIPN) contract.