DSL, T1 or DS3 Bandwidth: Which is Right for Your Business?

When would YOU choose DSL, T1 or DS3 Bandwidth as the network solution for your business…and why/why not? What are the pros and cons of each type of bandwidth in a business environment?

In general…..

The answer to these questions is really related to your application requirements. If you run applications that are affected by latency or jitter, DSL may not provide the service levels you need.

A further extension of that would be your uptime requirements. The MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) usually improves a lot with the DS1 and DS3 circuits.

The size of the company is not as important as the requirements of your application. Many large organizations can get by with DSL or, in some cases, dial-up, but a small organization that has broadcast application traffic, mission-critical traffic, or small latency or jitter requirements, then DS1 or higher connectivity would be required.

Last but often most important, cost helps determine your options.

To be more specific….

The T1 and DS-3 provide the same offering except for capacity. The T1s offer upload and download speeds of 1.5 Mbps per line. DS3s offer upload and download speeds of 32 to 45 Mbps.

ADSL typically provides asymmetric download and upload speeds (ADSL), typically download speeds of 1.5, 3.0, and 6.0 Mbps and upload speeds between 128 and 768 Mbps.

Symmetrical DSL (SDSL) provides the same upload and download speeds, typically 384, 512, or 786 Mbps upload and download.

Cable offers vary by provider and location. Making a comparison with cable would be impossible without knowing your provider and market. Not who your provider is and where you are…but how your provider is doing in that particular market. Ask a local expert for that detail.

T1 and DS3 are very reliable with high MTBF (mean time between failures) and low MTTR (mean time to repair). Cable and DSL on the other side.

Expensive T1 and DS3, more affordable Cable and DSL.

If you don’t need high upload speeds (VPN, VoIP, high data throughput for backup/colocation, ftp streaming media or other internally hosted high bandwidth services, etc), then an asymmetric connection is not a bad thing . DSL/Cable may be a good option in that case.

If you need high speed charging, T1/DS3 is needed.

For increasing needs, fractional T1 or T3 is a good option. After a certain point of growth, a full T3/DS3 becomes cheaper.

For mission critical networks, two providers of two different physical entry points may be required depending on the natural disasters you are likely to face.

Case study one: a company had a fractional T3 entering from the East and another fractional T3 entering from the West. A flood and a sinkhole cut off a T3. The network slowed down but remained active.

Case Study Two: A business in South Florida lost their T1s and a satellite link failed. Certain services were crippled by system latency, but your mission-critical applications continued to run.

Which brings us to Satellite: generally asymmetric with extremely fast downloads (depending on service level) but typically slow uploads (but varies by service level). It has an intrinsic latency due to the speed of light and the distance of the satellites. Advantage: Resistant to natural disasters, reliable, available everywhere, and no last-mile hassle.

In summary…here are the 3 most important factors to consider…

1- Link speed and committed rate

T1 or DS3 can be purchased as point-to-point dedicated bandwidth. You will get the guaranteed advertised speed from point a to point b. KEY POINT If you’re buying internet access and you’re using the internet to provide connectivity (VPN, etc.) then you’re buying a gateway, the traffic on the “highway” after you upload could slow you down. Just because you bought a DS3 Internet doesn’t mean you’ll have DS3 access to everything on the Internet.

2- Bond Symmetry

T1 and DS3 provide the same bandwidth in both directions when configured as point-to-point. Different flavors of DSL provide different uplink and downlink speeds.

3- QOS

T1 and DS3 can be configured to support TDM voice (directly from your PBX). They can also support VoIP. If you’re doing everything with VoIP, it may not matter. If you keep some TDM voice, it is very important.

For more help finding EXACTLY the right solution for your business network… take advantage of the free services provided through DS3-Bandwidth.com. This is very helpful considering how complicated it could be to evaluate your options. Plus, using a free service like this maximizes your resources… time, effort, and manpower.