Sites that provide quotes from multiple ISPs

Since at least 1997 there have been Web sites available that let you shop the Web for Internet access connectivity and give you competitive quotes from several ISPs. But now, Bandwidth.com is offering potential customers the ability to get real-time quotes that also include the local access portion of a fractional T-1, full T-1 or T-3 connection.

If you go to the Bandwidth.com Web site and fill out a short form that includes your zip code you’ll immediately get back a list of quotes from up to 15 ISPs. Be warned, soon after you read the list of offerings you’ll also get a call from a sales person looking to seal the deal.

The idea behind Bandwidth.com is that business customers can not only use the site to get competitive bids, but also buy their connectivity through it. The company currently has 875 business customers and is growing.

In February, Bandwidth.com logged sales of $2.4 million, compared to $1.7 million worth of sales during the same month last year.

While AT&T, WorldCom’s UUNET or Savvis may provide the actual connectivity, Bandwidth.com in a sense acts as an agent.

Bandwidth.com is not the only game in town. Users should also check out Broadband.com, which works with 30 ISPs and T1Anywhere.com, which works with 12 ISPs. These sites also provide users with competitive bids but they do not offer quotes in real-time.

While these companies hope that users will buy their Internet access services through them, all three sites are good tools to use when looking at renewing or renegotiating existing contracts. Such sites are particularly useful if your contract is more than 12 to 18 months old and is for higher speed dedicated Internet access connectivity. Prices have most likely come down significantly so it’s always good to gather up as much information as possible before you sit down to contract renegotiations.