T1 lines have come down in price dramatically over the past few years and are the broadband connection of choice for many small to medium size businesses. They may still be a little pricey for many smaller retail operations that aren't heavy users of the line. But what else can you get? Dial-up Internet access is universally available but hideously slow. DSL is not always available, nor is Cable broadband. Satellite is a better option, but it requires some serious professional installation work. How about wireless?
There are WISP or Wireless Internet Service Providers, but coverage is pretty hit and miss. You need a direct line of sight to the nearest tower. What would be really nice is something like cell phone service that seems to be available just about everywhere. Even better, how about a business service that uses multiple cellular carriers to give you fast, reliable access in over 90% of the U.S.?
Accel Networks offers just such a service. What they've done is to combine broadband wireless data services from the four leading wireless companies serving the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Chances are that there is one or more cellular towers providing reliable data service to your location.
These wireless services offer 3.5G, 3G or 2.5G performance, depending on the carrier. A 3 or 3.5G data service gives you 768 kbps bandwidth with bursts up to 1.4 Mbps. Upload is 384 kbps with bursts to 512 kbps. This is very similar to DSL and satellite performance. If you are in a more sparsely populated area, you'll probably get 2.5G service which still gives you 120 to 140 kbps download and uploads. That's far superior to dial-up and without the wait for modem connections.
Accel Networks claims cashless transaction times of 2 to 4 seconds using their network. They have also been certified by VISA for meeting all the payment card industry (PCI) requirements for data security. They'll ship you the hardware in as little as 3 days and you can likely get it up and running yourself in under an hour.
The Accel Networks fixed wireless broadband service is useful for general retail, quick service restaurants, table service restaurants, banks, fuel tank monitoring, hospitality services, pipeline monitoring, convenience stores, retail petroleum and other applications. In fact, this service is also used by companies for network continuity in the event that their primary WAN services goes down.
Are you in need of better voice and data connections for your business? Find out how little it costs for reliable, professional grade telephone and broadband solutions right now.
