With the possible exception of a child’s lemonade stand, every business needs Internet access and telecommunication services. That means every business needs to figure how to pick suppliers, how to get the best deals, when to reasonably expect installation, and what factors matter in a good relationship with the service provider(s). Observe these pointers from an expert who buys and sells such services every day.
With the possible exception of a child’s lemonade stand, every business needs Internet access and telecommunication services. That means every business needs to figure out how to pick suppliers, how to get the best deals, when to reasonably expect installation, and what factors matter in a good relationship with the service provider(s).
We turned to Cameron Larson, president of Astound Communications, to get some advice. Larson’s company specializes in the sale of broadband and co-location wholesale services, and he has years of experience in matching companies with suppliers and negotiating the best deals.
Larson’s first tip is for companies that are looking for new building space. He advises that fiber availability should be a selection criterion when choosing a property. “Having the building either being ‘on net’ or having a fiber line running down the street increases the ability to have multiple carriers vying to serve” your needs, says Larson. More importantly, this improves the likelihood of tenants getting better telecom pricing due to competition. For organizations with a minimum of 100 or so employees, Larson says the fiber scenario can make a big difference in the cost of voice, data and any sort of private lines that may be supporting the office space.
By contrast, when a building location it is not “well lit” and the customer wants high bandwidth redundant service, that customer will have to pay the carrier to cover the last mile in order to bring a type 2 circuit into the facility. Naturally, this drives up the cost of selecting that property.
As companies push more applications into the cloud, having high bandwidth, redundant Internet access is a critical consideration as well. “If one access point goes down, a company still has access to the cloud with redundant carriers,” says Larson.
And now some advice for companies looking to have new services installed. Larson says he frequently sees companies receive bids from various telecom providers, sit on the bids until the last minute and then expect the selected provider to install the service on short notice. “You’ve got to allow ample time to plan for installation,” he says. “Just because a company originally quoted 90 days some months ago doesn’t mean they can still deliver in 90 days. Situations change and unexpected problems arise. If you know you need telecom or other services in 90 days, then contact the provider well in advance of those 90 days. Otherwise, you might find yourself out of luck.”
Larson tells the tale of one company that signed a building lease and expected to move in on a specific date, but couldn’t get telecom services installed for six months. The company was forced to stay in its old location for an extra half year while paying the lease on the new location.
Just how long should you budget for installation? According to Larson:• For any T-1 type service, allow 45 to 60 days for installation.
• Beyond T-1 service, such as 45 MB DS3 (T3), allow 60 to 90 days.
• For fiber circuits, if it’s new fiber and it’s “on net,” plan for 30 to 60 days, and if it’s not on net, plan for 90 to 180 days.
• When there needs to be a new fiber build, a minimum of 6 months should be planned for.
Due to the ever increasing availability of high bandwidth services and corresponding demand, the changeover from T1 to Ethernet over Copper (EoC) and Fiber services is hastening. This shift is akin to the move from dial-up to DSL, and DSL to T1. With this increase in available bandwidth, pricing is also becoming more competitive. For example, DS3 pipes several years ago ranged from $2,500 to $4,500 per month. Larson says it’s possible to acquire 100 MB Ethernet service for $2,500 per month, making bandwidth much more affordable.
That also makes it possible to run everything over one Ethernet circuit, so a company that has, say, five office locations can use MPLS to connect all five offices for four-digit dialing and run it all on one pipe. When bandwidth is not being used for phone service, it will allocated it back to the Internet/data service.
For those companies that are looking to upgrade their services, Larson suggests replacing T1’s and DS3’s with EoC or Metro Ethernet Fiber services for reduced cost and flexibility.
What about wireless? Well, with the emergence of 4G, the market is now seeing wireless cards that can provide – depending on location – downlink/uplink speeds ranging from 5/2mbps to 10/5mbps. Such speeds can provide a viable option for companies with remote offices with just a few people. The caveat is that 4G will perform differently from location to location depending on distance from the tower, the thickness of the wall, the height of the office from the ground, and other scenarios. You know what it’s like just to get a cell signal for your phone in various places!
Are you entering into a new telecom service contract? You can often save money if you sign at the end of the month, the end of a quarter, or the end of the year. Larson says the sales agents for telecom companies are like car dealers, trying to meet a quota before the end of a reporting period. “Better deals can be had during these times.” On the other hand, if service start time is important to you, avoid these end-of-period times. Too many customers signing up for service at the end of a reporting period can affect your scheduled installation.Technical support is the other big area to look at. “Ask around to see what the typical wait time is to reach support personnel, and find out about the escalation process to determine how easy or difficult it is to get issues resolved,” advises Larson. “Do your research on these extraneous factors through forums and your social networks. Put the question out there: ‘Hey I’m looking at this carrier. Who’s had good experiences and who has not?’”
If multiple providers you are comparing offer similar services and pricing, take a hard look at the other factors that will shape your experience, advises Larson. “One part of the service experience that people don’t really think about is billing and how easy or difficult will it be to work with this carrier’s billing department. For example, some carriers over bill and they expect full payment, even if the bill is being disputed.” Larson suggests you talk to a carrier’s customers – excluding reference accounts – to get a true picture of the user experience.
If you don’t want to do all this legwork yourself, you can always work through an agent such as Larson’s company. An agent can represent many providers and search for the deal that’s best for you. And because agents can get the services at wholesale cost, there’s usually no increase in cost to you to have an agent find your best deal.
Brian Musthaler is a Principal Consultant with Essential Solutions Corporation. You can write to him at bmusthaler@essential-iws.com.
About Essential Solutions Corp: Essential Solutions (http://www.essential-iws.com) researches the practical value of information technology, and how it can make individual workers and entire organizations more productive. Essential Solutions offers consulting services to computer industry and corporate clients to help define and fulfill the potential of IT.
