Not all telephone lines are the same. Nor are all the companies. Nor are prices.

First the exclusion. If you need one or two voice lines and some Internet as a small business with a couple of employees that is just getting started, Qwest is the perfect solution.

If you are growing and have moved past 5 employees and are considering a small phone system for the first time – this world is a vastly different place.  The options and solutions for this market are wide and deep and rich in features.

For the business with 5 to 20 employees, two products help businesses get the maximum from their investment in communications. Both are base on T-1 technology. (A T-1 is 24 voice or data channels multiplexed into communications facility.)

The two solutions are somewhat alike: one is a bundled voice and internet solution with a fixed amount of voice lines and Internet Access. The second is dynamic with a maximum number of voice lines and a dynamic allocation for Internet based on how many voice lines are being used. If no one is on the phone the entire T-1 is available for Internet, 1.544MB.

Even better, the last solution allows for free long distance because this is an Internet T-1 facility. A little secret, almost the entire Long Distance network runs on the Internet backbone, substantially reducing costs. 

So which internet facility is right for you? DSL, Cable, T-1.  Every situation is different and we will be there to help you decide which is best.  Note one thing, though, the different between DSL and Cable, and a T-1, is that DSL and Cable are shared services. This means that the neighbor (business or residential) shares your connection.  When everyone is on, it is slower. When no one is one, life is good. 

A T-1 is not a shared service. This means you get what you pay for. It is a great solution for bundling for and data, as suggested above. As important, as your business grows, businesses that have multiple sites that need to network together, T-1s are the solution.