Fractional T1, DS1, T3, DS3
A fractional T1 offers less bandwidth than a full T1 and comes with the same quality
and performance guarantees as a full 1.54 Mbps T1 but costs slightly less. How much less bandwidth vs.
the cost savings is the question. See Fractional vs. Full T1 below. Although
the price reduction is not what you might expect it to be, this may put a T1 in your budget and be a
great way to get dedicated service into your building. Once you have fractional service upgrading to
full service is easy. The reason it is easy is due to the install. Same amount of overhead, crews,
time, connections. A fractional T is a full T1 capable circuit - it is throttled back to deliver only
a portion. Contact your broker or provider and you can increase bandwidth within 7 - 10 business days.
Fractional service typically comes in 256Kbps increments from 256Kbps all the way to a
full T1 at 1.5Mbps. Find the service that's right for you, but if you are supporting critical services
think reliability. Reliability becomes critical when customers or employees depend on your connection
for immediate responses. If your customers use your connection to access your databases or your server
or the internet then reliability of your connection is critical. If your employees depend on your
connections because you host the e-mail server in house or host web servers or ASP type products, your
connections is considered critical. A critical connection can be viewed much like a lifeline, without
which your business would be negatively impacted.
In the late 1990's, the cost for a fractional T1 might have been about 35% - 40% less than the
full 1.54 Mbps T1. Today, there is hardly any difference in price, maybe 10% to 15% at best. The cost
of a Full T1 has come down considerably in recent years. A fractional T1 has a 50% - 75% bandwidth
decrease but only a 5% to 15% price decrease. Fractional DS-3 (T3) on the other
hand is a very cost effective solution since pricing is based on a portion of a 45 Mbps
circuit.
While it doesn't hurt to check fractional T1 pricing since every locations' cost do vary, the majority
of T1 line users opt for the full T1. The price break point vs. speed averages around 768 Mbits, half
a T1. You will find you can get a Full T1, twice the bandwidth, for approximately
$10 - $25 more per month.
Use the "State Select" below to request both fractional and full T1, DS-3 pricing
information. You can also check to see if Business DSL is available at your location - a very cost
effective DS-1 alternative.
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T1 DS-1 Provider State Select
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Fractional vs. Full T1
There isn't much of a cost savings between a fractional T1 and a full (1.5 Mbps) T1. Why? So we can
better understand, let's start by taking a look at the specific costs of delivering a T1 service
either Full or Fractional.
The service provider has two costs associated with your fractional T1 - the "local loop" and
the "port". The local phone company ( LEC - Local Exchange Carrier ) provides and installs
the loop. The T1 provider supplies the "port" which is the connection between the local loop
and the Internet.
Loop Cost
The cost of your local loop is exactly the same - irregardless if it's a full or fractional T1 because
the local phone company always sets the local loop a 1.54 Mbps. Why? Because it takes the same amount
of copper wires, time to install, and equipment to run a fractional T1. The LEC passes this cost to
your T1 provider. Since there are no cost savings for the T1 provider or the local phone company on a
local loop, the end user doesn't get any cost savings on this portion. Advantages - This can save time
and reduce or eliminate install fees in the event you expand your bandwidth in the future. The Full T1
circuit is already in place.
Port Cost
The cost of the port has two parts. Equipment and bandwidth charges.
The equipment is the same for the local loop. The amount of time required to install and maintain the
fractional T1 port equipment is the same as required for a full T1 port. No cost savings on equipment.
Cost Savings
For the T1 provider, bandwidth charges make up probably only 10% of the total cost of providing a T1.
Fractional T1 providers are willing to discount services only slightly because it only costs them
slightly less to offer the fractional T1 instead of the full T1! Except for bandwidth expenses, the T1
providers' cost of offering fractional and full T1 service is nearly the same when selecting speeds of
512 Mbits or 768 Mbits.
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Fractional T1 Advisor - Contact Us Toll Free at
866-777-9166 to discuss your circuit needs or...
enter your installation telephone information above for instant
pricing
or...
complete our quote request form and we will contact you with your
results.
T1 Quote Form
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