Middle Mile Bandwidth Solutions

Most businesses are concerned with last mile network connections. That’s the access bandwidth that connects their local network to their service provider. But what does the service provider connect to?

If you are buying your voice and data services from a larger carrier, they may own an entire network that spans the nation or a large regional area. Smaller service providers have what is called a middle mile connection to a wholesale bandwidth supplier that connects them to the Internet or a major carrier’s telephone switching network.

If your business is running a small metropolitan or rural Internet service provider or an independent telephone company, you’ve probably got an interest in middle mile bandwidth solutions. In rural areas, especially, it’s often expensive and sometimes difficult to get the middle mile connectivity you need. Any competitive service offerings are a welcome sight, even if it is only to validate the cost and performance of your current leased services.

What types of middle mile technologies are there? Fiber optic service comes first to mind. Fiber optic cables crisscross the country and are present not far from most locations. The irony is that you may be standing right on top of a fiber conduit and not be able to get service.

Fiber bundles are much like the interstate highway system. They transport massive amounts of traffic, but access points are limited. To get on the network you need the equivalent of a highway on-ramp. That’s the service middle mile connections perform.

There are three middle mile connection technologies to consider. Fiber optics certainly provides the highest bandwidths. Each strand of glass fiber can transport packets at a data rate of at least 10 Gbps. By using wavelength division multiplexing, basically using multiple non-interfering colors of light beams, you might have 128 or even 256 different 10 Gbps data streams in each strand. A fiber bundle might have dozens, even hundreds of glass fiber strands in one ruggedized trunk cable. That’s a LOT of bandwidth capacity.

The problem with fiber optic connections is that there aren’t a lot of places to plug-in for service. Carriers have POPs or Points of Presence in major metropolitan areas. But between these termination points there are miles and sometimes hundreds of miles of installed fiber cable running point to point. Some carriers are pursuing government financing under the rural broadband improvement project to build-out more middle mile fiber lines in rural areas. This will make it easier for ISPs and telcos in sparsely populated areas to get high bandwidth connections at lower prices.

Another connection technology is wireless. Point to point microwave transmission is cheaper and quicker to install than fiber optic cabling. The newest technology is WiMAX, which can be used as a middle mile backhaul service as well as a public access wireless broadband transmission service. WiMAX has a range of up to 30 miles, making it a good solution to feed remotely located transmission towers.

A technology you might not think of for middle mile services is bundled T1 lines. A T1 line has a bandwidth of only 1.5 Mbps, making it more suitable as a last mile connection for business locations. But multiple T1 lines can be connected essentially in parallel to create larger bandwidths up to 10 or 12 Mbps. That may be all a cellular tower or WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider) needs for middle mile connectivity. The advantage of T1 is that it runs on twisted pair copper and can be easily boosted or regenerated over long distances. That means that bundled T1 service can reach out into rural areas where other services aren’t available.

Newer modulation techniques let multiple copper pair also transport Ethernet in a technology known as EoC or Ethernet over Copper. EoC bandwidths are often similar to bundled T1 lines, but may be as high as 45 Mbps in metropolitan areas.

Are you in need of connectivity for your independent telephone company or Internet service? If so, see what middle mile bandwidth solutions are available for your location.

High Fiber Diet for Business Not Expensive

As business conditions improve and activity increases, many businesses are starting to feel a pinch. It’s coming from a constriction around the middle of the operation. The problem is way too much data trying to flow through too small of a WAN network connection. The solution? How about a high fiber diet?

In this case, the fiber is fiber optic communications. One thin strand of glass fiber can handle voice, data and video packets faster than nearly any business can generate them. The light that illuminates the fiber can even be channelized into separate wavelengths or colors, each of which can support Gigabits per second rates. Once you have a fiber optic connection to your building, you have access to nearly unlimited bandwidth.

But isn’t fiber optic communications prohibitively expensive? It used to be, but not anymore. The reason is competition. Where the incumbent local telephone company was once the only game in town, there are now dozens of competitive service providers. Many of these have not only their own fiber optic core networks, but fiber optic and copper access networks as well.

Copper? Yes, multiple pair of ordinary twisted pair copper wiring can transport Ethernet services up to 45 Mbps to connect with nearby carrier points of presence. Fiber optic access can be installed to most metropolitan business locations where the volume of usage justifies the costs of construction. It’s not uncommon now for operators of buildings with many business offices or industrial parks to install fiber optic service as a “utility” during construction. Once the fiber facilities are in place, service levels can be adjusted to meet the demand of the business tenants.

What services are available over fiber optic carriers? The most basic service level is DS3. This is the same digital service that runs on T3 lines at 45 Mbps. DS3 doesn’t even start to consume the total capacity of even one fiber strand, so it is possible to have multiple DS3 connections serving multiple customers all multiplexed on the same fiber optic carrier.

SONET, the Synchronous Optical NETwork, is the traditional fiber optic service. Typical SONET services are OC3 at 155 Mbps, OC12 at 622 Mbps, OC-48 at 2.5 Gbps and OC-192 at 10 Gbps. There are other levels specified, but they are not as commonly available.

Many newer competitive service providers have based their networks on IP technology rather than SONET, a telco standard. They’ve chosen to offer Ethernet as a WAN service. There are many service levels to choose from, but popular options include 10 Mbps Ethernet, 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet, and 1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet or GigE. It’s not unreasonable or prohibitively expensive to order 10 Gbps Ethernet if your business has the need for such high bandwidths. That’s especially true when time to market or collaborative productivity are a high priority.

How about the cost of fiber optic services? They’re now much lower that you would expect. It’s not uncommon to get 100 Mbps Ethernet bandwidth for a fraction of what you would have paid a few years ago. If your need has just materialized or you’ve been using high capacity data services and haven’t run competitive pricing searches recently, you should certainly get current quotes before you decide that more bandwidth is beyond your budget level. You could be very surprised by the results.

Find out how what variety of fiber optic services are available for your business location and how much they cost. Our GigaPackets online resource will get you an answer quickly and easily.

MPLS Networks As The Universal WAN

Most companies have a Wide Area Network or WAN connection of some type. It might be a point to point T1 data line or a suite of them. It might be ISDN PRI or SIP Trunking for digital telephone service. It might be a DS3 connection for dedicated Internet access. But what if there was a WAN network that could provide all of these services and more? There is. It’s called MPLS.

MPLS is short for Multi-Protocol Label Switching. It’s a standards-based technology that is something of a “jack of all trades” or “Swiss Army knife” in the telecommunications industry. The multi-protocol designation says it all. This is a network technology that supports many different protocols. No longer do you need completely separate services to support telephone, VPN, point to point connections, video conferencing, and so on.

An MPLS network is a private network that is operated to guarantee bandwidth and performance. That differentiates it from the Internet, which is more of a public resource with no guarantees - just “best effort” service. MPLS service providers can QoS or quality of service to meet your business needs. That ensures that VoIP telephone and video streaming will get the bandwidth, latency and jitter characteristics they need for optimum performance.

The predecessor to MPLS was Frame Relay, also a private networking arrangement designed primarily for lower bandwidth services and requiring considerable engineering work to set-up for each customer. Frame Relay networks are now being largely replaced by MPLS networks.

One thing that Frame Relay networks offer is the ability to interconnect multiple business locations securely. MPLS networks offer that same capability. As a private network, access is limited and strictly controlled. That makes VPNs or Virtual Private Networks readily available over MPLS. Security is also inherently high because all packets are routed using network specific labels and not IP or other addresses. You can, of course, add encryption to your data to make it even more secure and it traverses the MPLS network and last mile access connections.

The MPLS network can be thought of as a cloud that is accessible from many locations. Your service can be set up for a single point to point connection, a hub and spoke replacement for central offices serving many remote locations, or a fully meshed network where any site can communicate with any other site. You specify the types of connections you want and the network provider sets up the label switching routers to provide this specific service. If you need to add locations or change the way you want to connect, there are no wiring changes that need to be made. The network provider will simply reprogram your service to meet your new specifications.

Do you have a need for secure and reliable communications among two or more geographically diverse business locations? If so, an MPLS network solution may offer you the least cost for the performance you require. The best way to find out is to shop for MPLS network options now.

Try Computer Based Video Training Free

So much software, and so little time to learn by doing. That’s the nature of today’s sophisticated software packages. You can probably give yourself a jump start with the quick-start guide that comes in the box or with a “dummies” or “missing manual” book. But how long will you have to fool around with the system to gain any proficiency, not to mention efficiency? Isn’t there a faster way to get up to speed?

Video Professor thinks so. They’ve built their business on computer based video training. You load the lesson CDs on your computer and then follow along with the video demonstrations. You have the opportunity to pause, rewind or fast-forward at any time so you can proceed at your own pace. It’s a structured guided learning approach rather than learning functions ad-hoc as the need arises.

Video Professor’s offerings have matured along with the computer industry. Their most popular titles include Windows, Word, Excel and eBay. But they also offer Photoshop 7.0, Microsoft Office Integration, Window’s Vista and Photoshop CS3 training. There’s quite a range of training available for beginners and experienced users alike.

Video Professor has upgraded its training programs into what they call a “learning suite.” This suite includes 3 CD-ROMs that provide the video training on your computer, plus hours of free bonus instruction on related topics and other learning tools.

One thing that differentiates Video Professor from other providers of educational materials is the way their training courses are sold online. You order the title of the learning suite that you are interested in and you have 10 days to give it a try before you are committed to buying. Let’s say you order the Excel Advanced title and find out it’s just not for you. In this case you only need send back one of the three CD-ROMs that comprise the lesson and you’re off the hook. You can keep the other two lessons and continue to use them for free. You just won’t have the complete package. You also have the option to return all the materials within 10 days and get a full shipping and processing refund upon request. Video Professor explains all of this in detail in the "how it works" section of their website.

The promise of a free trial and the unique offer to keep some of the material at no charge even if you don’t want to buy the complete program are a way to get people to try the service even if they are not sure that this type of training is for them. With millions of home and business users trained by Video Professor and over 60 titles in production, the computer based video training approach must be the way a lot of people enjoy learning.

PBX Telephone Connection Services

PBX or Private Branch Exchange telephone systems are ubiquitous in medium and larger businesses, call centers, customer contact centers and any business with lots of telephones. The PBX really has two jobs. One is to manage all the phones in the organization for internal calls. The other is to manage all the outside phone lines so that they are shared efficiently among all users. What you want is the right number and type of lines to conduct business efficiently at the least cost.

There are multiple types of lines and also several technologies to consider. You can choose from local or long distance service, incoming or outgoing or bidirectional, and toll free line services. But you can also choose the connection technology. These include analog, switched circuit digital, and IP-based digital.

Analog telephone service has been the mainstay of telephony for over a century. It’s so mature and familiar that it’s known in the industry as POTS or Plain Old Telephone Service. POTS connects by a single copper twisted pair directly from your location to the telco central office. It uses a combination of DC and AC voltages to give you dial tone, rotary and touch-tone dialing, full duplex conversations, and on-off hook signaling. POTS also supports Caller ID.

One POTS line supports one telephone conversation, but it can support more than one telephone set. A very common arrangement is 2 to 4 POTS lines connected to a 2 or 4 line business phone. Multiple phones can make use of these lines, but you need to look for a line-in-use light to know if a phone line is free for your use. When you expand to 4 to 8 lines, you’ll probably install a key telephone system that allows the various phone sets to communicate internally without using an outside line. This system still uses indicator lights to show which lines are in use. You have to manually select an available line to make a call.

PBX systems are computer-based telephone controllers that take over the job of managing outside phone lines. You can connect as many POTS lines as you need to the PBX. When someone requests an outside line by dialing “9”, the system will use the next available line. Users don’t have to worry about selecting lines themselves.

PBX systems also offer a way to reduce your telephone service costs by using digital trunking services instead of POTS. You need 6 to 12 outside lines at a minimum for this to be cost effective. Instead of installing a dozen POTS lines to your PBX system, you plug in a single T1 telephone line that supports up to two dozen phone lines on a single “trunk” line.

The most popular switched-circuit telephone trunk that replaces multiple POTS lines is called ISDN PRI. ISDN is a digital telephony standard, PRI stands for Primary Rate Interface. This service is delivered over a T1 line, so it is also called T1 PRI. What you get is up to 23 outside lines that you can specify to be incoming, outgoing, local, long distance, etc. There is also a signaling and data channel that provides rapid connections and Caller ID services for each line.

A recently developed service called SIP Trunking is based on IP networks used for converged voice and data services. A SIP Trunk can carry both broadband Internet and VoIP telephone services between your location and your service provider. SIP trunks may have a cost advantage, especially if you can use a single T1 line for both voice and data.

Interestingly, both traditional PBX systems and the newer IP PBX systems can connect to POTS, ISDN PRI or SIP Trunks. You need the appropriate interface card, of course, but many systems offer multiple interfaces built-in. If you need more lines, you add one or more additional interface cards.

With all these options, what is the most cost effective solution for your business telephone needs? The best solution will be based on your specific usage patterns and the latest offers from multiple competitive carriers. That’s too much information to digest by simply shopping around. A better way is to use a combination of an automated search process and expert consultants. Both are available for your use at no cost at T1 Rex. Use the online GeoQuote (tm) or call the toll free number for immediate service, and see how much you can save compared to what your phone services currently cost.

Ethernet Offers Lower Cost Carrier Grade Fiber Solutions

High bandwidth users, such as major corporations, large medical centers, independent phone companies, video production houses, and Internet service providers, have a new option to get the carrier grade bandwidth they need at prices much lower than they’ve been used to paying. The game changer is Carrier Ethernet.

Carrier Ethernet describes a metropolitan and long haul bandwidth service based on Ethernet rather than traditional telco TDM technologies. Within a single metropolitan area, the service is often called Metro Ethernet. These services are professional grade bandwidth solutions that offer high reliability as well as high dedicated bandwidths.

Ethernet can be carried over long distances on existing SONET/SDH fiber optic networks, or the newer MPLS networks that are favored by competitive service providers. Last mile connectivity can be over fiber, twisted pair copper or wireless.

Ethernet over copper? Yes, in fact it is called just that. EoC uses multiple copper pair telco cables and new generation terminal equipment to transport Ethernet via copper cabling that is already provisioned to most business locations. How much bandwidth can you expect from such a solution? Standard 10 Mbps Ethernet and fractional bandwidths such as 1, 2, or 5 Mbps are typical selections. High level bandwidth up to DS3 replacement levels of 45 Mbps are sometimes available depending on distance to carrier facilities.

For Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbps and above, fiber optic transport is essential. Larger businesses and organizations now consider 100 Mbps a reasonable bandwidth level to support their highly computerized operations. The good news is that Ethernet pricing is not only competitive with TDM based services such as DS3 and OC3, but actually much cheaper on a Mbps basis. You may be shocked to hear that you can get 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet service at prices you’d expect to pay for DS3 at 45 Mbps. If you have a long-standing bandwidth contract, you’ll likely find Ethernet service a downright bargain.

Even Gigabit Ethernet at 1000 Mbps is within reach of many larger organizations and those whose businesses are bandwidth-intensive. If you need more than that, 10 GigE at 10,000 mbps is available in major metropolitan areas. Even 100 Gbps is coming soon. Why? Because the productivity improvements possible with high speed connectivity justify the cost.

That cost is getting easier and easier to justify. Carrier Ethernet services are expanding rapidly into medium as well as large metro areas. The ease of interfacing and managing an Ethernet WAN service make it the connectivity of choice regardless of price. But with prices lower, not higher, than traditional bandwidth solutions, it’s pretty hard not to insist on Carrier Ethernet.

Would you like to expand your bandwidth service or get a better price on the bandwidth you now use? If so, check Carrier Ethernet and Metro Ethernet availability and pricing now.

Get Ready For The Recovery With Bandwidth on Demand

There is an economic recovery on the way. For some companies it may already be here. For others, it’s a dicey situation. Sure, you’re maintaining your earnings per share. But it’s being done by cost cutting, not top line sales growth. When things actually do turn, you’re going to need to move fast. But you can’t take on additional expense until your income justifies it. What to do? Try bandwidth on demand.

The idea behind bandwidth on demand is that you have the facilities to deliver all the bandwidth you need to support your operation. But you only install the facilities, not the full bandwidth service. Then you idle along at a speed that meets your current requirements and a cost that you can afford. When business picks up, you simply contact your service provider and say, “crank it up.” Your line bandwidth will increase by a factor of 2x, 5x, or 10x as per your specifications. Your cost will go up incrementally, but the increased business volume will more than cover it.

This is different from planning on a future need and getting the full capacity in place before it hits. That’s certainly a low risk approach from an operational standpoint, but it’s a high risk from a cost standpoint. What if business doesn’t ramp up as rapidly as projected? What if the marketplace takes another leg down? There you’ll be, stuck with a big expense commitment and forced to cut other costs to offset what you’ve put in place.

Bandwidth on demand services can work in both directions. You can order additional bandwidth at any time. You can also reduce your bandwidth on demand down to some base level. This way you can hedge your bets in a volatile business environment.

What types of services are suitable for bandwidth on demand? They vary by carrier, but Ethernet services are often structured in just such a way. Your bandwidth will have lower and upper limits determined by whether you have copper bundles or fiber optic cable installed as a last-mile connection.

ISDN PRI offers up to 23 telephone lines on a single digital trunk. That doesn’t mean you need to install 23 outside lines. Perhaps you are just getting a customer service contact center in place and only need 6 to 10 lines. You anticipate growth, so you’ll want to fill those additional lines as call volume increases. But for now, just get the number of lines you need to satisfy your customers.

Even T1 line service has some bandwidth options. A standard T1 line runs at 1.5 Mbps. Perhaps your application only needs half that amount. You can order a fractional T1 line for the smaller amount. Later on you’ll want to upgrade to full T1 service or even expand to 3 Mbps and beyond by bonding in additional T1 lines as you need them.

The best way to get a handle on your cost / performance options are to discuss your current and projected needs with an expert bandwidth consultant. That service is available free of charge through our Telarus telecom brokerage service. Call the toll free number or enter a quick online request at T1 Rex right now.

XO Offers Business Continuity Planning Guide

XO Communications, a major provider of competitive telecom services, has a Business Continuity Planning Guide available for your perusal.

What is business continuity and what does it have to do with telecommunications? Here’s a hint. The other name for business continuity is disaster recovery.

Disaster recovery we understand. Every one of us has recovered from many disasters in our lives. Perhaps you’ve had your business robbed and lost everything you were working on when they took your computers. Maybe a flood wiped out all the records in the basement and kept you out of the building for a couple of weeks till the waters receded. Maybe it was something as simple as leaving your smartphone in a taxi, never to be returned.

Business continuity is how you keep going when a natural or man-made disaster strikes. As you might suspect, you’ll have a much easier time of it if you think about what can go wrong and cover yourself before the trouble starts. This can be a casual activity or a very structured methodology.

It stands to reason that the larger the business and the more diverse the activities and relationships, the more important it is to take business continuity planning seriously and devote the time and resources needed to protect the business. The XO guide has a chilling quote: “93% of companies that lose access to the information in their data centers for 10 days or more will file for bankruptcy protection within a year of the loss.”

The same might be said of the small business or independent professional. What if your office caught fire tonight and your computer was destroyed along with every backup CD-ROM melted? All the paper files would be ash, of course. If your laptop and cellphone were on your desk at the time, how would you start over with everything gone?

One answer for every business from large to small is having real backups that can’t be stolen or destroyed in a single event. That includes offsite backup for everything. If your server is located in a colocation center a thousand miles away, the tornado that levels your building won’t destroy your online operation. Redundancy is the key. No files of any importance should be in only one place. They need to be securely located in two or more independent files far away from each other, but still accessible when needed.

A similar principle applies to telecommunications lines. If someone digging down the street cuts the telco trunk lines that serve your building, how long will you be without telephone or Internet service? How much will the lost business and productivity cost? If the answer is more than trivial, think about having redundant services. The backup doesn’t necessarily need to have the same capacity as the main service. But it does need to be enough to support critical business activities.

Have a look at the XO planning guide for other ideas on how you can protect your business interests. As a smaller organization, you can probably assess your situation and put some sensible redundancies into place easily. As a larger organization, you may want to form a dedicated team to assess the risk and come up with solutions or bring in a consultant that specializes in business continuity planning.

For help with your voice and data circuits and hosting options, there are excellent cost effective solutions available from XO and other competitive service providers. Get voice and data service options and cost information quickly and easily through our GeoQuote (tm) online service.

Sports Camera Lets You Web The Surf

You already surf the Web for hours on end. But have you ever Webbed the Surf?

What I mean by that, dude, is have you ever filmed yourself surfing and then posted it on the Web?

How do you do that? The easy way is to use the GoPro Surf HERO waterproof digital camera. It’s an ultra wide angle video camera with a 170 degree angle of view that mounts to the deck of your board. There’s also a stick-on baseplate model. The wide angle will capture a 6 2” surfer in the frame while riding a 6 foot surfboard.

All you have to do is press the shutter button to activate while you’re paddling out. It will start recording TV quality video for the next 56 minutes. You can forget about it until you get back to shore and view the results. An alternate mode lets you take 5 Megapixel photos every 2 seconds for over an hour. You’re bound to get something worth posting in that time.

Oh, yes, there’s also a built-in microphone with adjustable recording level to catch the sound of the waves or whatever screaming goes on.

What happens when this camera gets wet, as it most certainly will? No problem. The Surf HERO is waterproof to 100 feet (30 meters). If a shark bites it off and dives for the deep, all bets are off.

Now, if surfing is not your sport but you’d still like to see the view while you bike, kayak, ski, snowboard, base jump or otherwise engage in thrilling activities, there’s a HERO camera model for you. The RC Hero mounts in a radio controlled car, plane or boat. It’s also waterproof. The helmet HERO mounts on your sports helmet to give you an athlete’s eye view of whatever lies ahead.

There’s a Motorsports HERO that you can mount to your car, motorcycle, board or plane. There are lots of mounting options for outside on the vehicle to inside on the windshield. You’ve seen those cool Indy Car views on TV during the race. This device won’t broadcast like that, but you’ll get excellent photos and videos for later watching.

Or strap one on your wrist and go diving or climbing. That will keep your camera nice and secure. There’s even a chest mount that’s perfect for capturing the approach of that charging grizzly bear. Your heirs will get a kick out of watching this footage for generations.

So, do you relish outdoor activities and wish you had some pictures or video of you endeavors to share? The answer is right here with the GoPro HERO cameras

Qwest Offers Synchronous Service Transport For Massive Bandwidth

Do you have the need to move massive amounts of data from one location to another. Within your building or campus, you can pull your own fiber cables and transport as much data as fast as required. But when you leave your own property and connect across town or across the country, you need carrier services that can keep up. Quest’s has just the solution called SST or Synchronous Service Transport.

SST is a high speed point to point data service that uses fiber optics and SONET, the Synchronous Optical Network. SONET technology is a mature and highly reliable carrier service based on TDM or Time Division Multiplexing. It was developed for the telephone companies and offered to large businesses and organizations that need unusually bandwidths. Most of the core telco networks are based on SONET.

QWEST offers five bandwidth options throughout their 14 state local service territory where the facilities exist. The bandwidth levels are OC3 at 155 Mbps, OC12 at 622 Mbps, OC24 at 1.24 Gbps, OC48 at 2.5 Gbps and OC192 at 10 Gbps. In addition, Ethernet can be transported on SST. QWEST can provide 10 Mbps standard Ethernet, 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet, and 1,000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. The can even support a situation that has an Ethernet interface at one end and and SONET interface at the other.

The “Fat Pipe” is a popular use for SST. If your operation has exceeded the capacity of a DS3 circuit at 45 Mbps, then you’ll be moving up to fiber optic connections if you don’t already have them. Installation times are much faster, of course, if facilities already exist. Otherwise fiber has to be pulled and termination equipment installed in the building. Some large office buildings and industrial parks are installing fiber optic service as a utility to “sweeten” the deal for potential tenants. With a significant number of users, this can even become a profit center for the operator.

SST can also be used in a Gather/Distribute mode. A number of lower bandwidth services, such as DS1 and DS3, can be gathered and multiplexed onto a higher level service such as OC3. The reverse process, called demultiplexing, can be used to distribute multiple services from a single high capacity service. This is a technology used primarily by service providers themselves.

Another application is using SST at a transport facility. SST can carry a wide variety of protocols, such as video over ATM or LAN interconnections. SST can transport most private line, packet and switched services.

If your business requires significant amounts of bandwidth, you may have multiple options to choose from and at prices that may be significantly less that what you expect. Use the GigaPackets website to explore fiber optic service availability and prices and/or talk over your business needs with an expert consultant.

Backhaul Upgrades For Wireless Broadband

A funny thing happened on the way to mobile broadband. We ran out of bandwidth. While everyone was thinking that wireless channels would be the limiting factor, lack of backhaul capacity is threatening to stop wireless growth in its tracks. Fortunately, this limitation is recognized and being dealt with.

Just what is backhaul and why does it stand in the way of mobile services? Backhaul, as the term is used now, means the connection from the wireless tower site back to the provider’s central office or mobile switching center.

Backhaul is something you didn’t hear much about until recently. As cellular sites were originally envisioned, they consisted of a radio transmission system with spectrum divided into multiple channels. Those channels are used to communicate with the wireless handsets to transport telephone conservations. The backhaul system consists of T1 lines that offer up to 24 individual phone lines on a digital trunk.

The beauty of T1 lines is that they are provisioned on ordinary twisted pair copper. That’s right, they use telephone line. Each T1 requires two copper pair. But instead of carrying two phone conversations, the digital line can carry 24 conversations. That’s an efficiency improvement of 12x over analog telephony. Because they use ordinary telco cabling, T1 lines can be easily provisioned to both rural and urban tower sites.

T1 lines can also be used to carry broadband Internet services. Many businesses get their broadband service over a T1 line. All cellular phone companies need do is provide a data T1 line to the tower site and use some of the available wireless channels for Internet service. That gives the user both voice and data on their mobile device.

Everything worked smoothly until newer cell phones, especially the large touch screen models, made streaming audio and video and HTLM Web browsing possible. Video chews up bandwidth like crazy. If people expect to have a television watching experience on their cell phone, the cellular transmitters are going to need bandwidth and lots of it.

This is what’s underway now. The initial response to the increase in bandwidth utilization was met by bonding multiple T1 lines to create bigger bandwidth pipes out to the tower sites. But wireless broadband speeds are increasing by leaps and bounds. AT&T’s HSPA service for 3G mobile wireless offers a max download speed of 3.6 Mbps. They are currently in an upgrade mode to double that to 7.2 Mbps. The next generation technology is 4G using LTE that will offer speeds over 10 Mbps. Sprint and Clearwire are busy building out WiMAX, another 4G technology. Verizon is running EV-DO Rev A for it’s 3G network and will implement LTE for 4G, similar to AT&T.

What this means is a big demand for backhaul service to get the voice and data signals to and from the tower sites. Carrier Ethernet can address some of this demand over multiple copper pair. WiMAX is touted as both an end-user broadband service and a backhaul technology. It just depends on where the signals go. Ultimately, fiber optic cable is the solution to the backhaul bottleneck. Fiber has nearly unlimited capacity, but it is expensive to install where there is no fiber today.

It seems like there should be some synergy between the rural broadband initiative being pushed by the Federal Government and the need for higher bandwidths to carrier-owned cellular facilities. Why not just bite the bullet and get fiber to the boonies now? It won’t be long before that massive bandwidth is going to be a necessity rather than a luxury.

In the meantime, if you have a need for voice or data bandwidth for any business application, see what bandwidth options are available for your location. You may be surprised at how much you can get at a reasonable price these days.

Metro Ethernet Has Cost and Performance Advantages

Most everything you buy has tradeoffs. Telecommunication services are no exception. You have to weigh the relative merits of cost, speed, and reliability to decide the best option for your application. But Metro Ethernet is changing the rules of the game. It’s not only highly reliable, but Mbps for Mbps it has the advantage for both performance and cost.

What is Metro Ethernet? You’re familiar with the type of Ethernet that runs on your local area network. Metro Ethernet extends your LAN into the surrounding metropolitan area. It can provide a high speed point to point connection to one or more of your business locations in town. It can also connect to a long haul network and join two business networks on other sides of the country.

One beauty of Metro Ethernet is that your connection to the service is through the familiar Ethernet jacks similar to the ones you already use. No need to worry about special Interface equipment or ad-hoc plug-ins for your routers. It’s Ethernet.

Another real advantage of Metro Ethernet is that you can connect to it via router or switch. There’s no protocol conversion involved. That not only increases the efficiency of your bandwidth, but gives you a way to tie to LANs together to make a single large network. Forget those distance limitations imposed by traditional Ethernet cabling. Metro Ethernet is designed for the WAN or Wide Area Network. That’s everything outside of your building or campus.

But the stunning advantage of Metro Ethernet is that it costs so much less than traditional TDM-based telecom services. You would expect a newer technology service with better performance characteristics to cost more, not less. But that’s not the way it’s working out. New competitive carriers with IP core networks are bypassing the local telcos for last mile access and offering outstanding end to end pricing. You might pay half or less for a medium bandwidth service compared to what you’re paying now.

Another important advantage of Metro Ethernet is that you have a choice of bandwidths. Options vary from provider to provider, but you may well be able to order anything from 1 Mbps to 10 Gbps.

The lower speeds are especially attractive because they can be delivered over twisted copper pair telco binders. Get 1, 5, 7.5, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25 or even up to 45 Mbps speeds over multi-pair copper. Chances are that your business location is already served by this type of telco cabling and has unused pairs available. That means no construction costs. The service provider will install a managed router with the necessary interface and you simply plug your network into that.

Higher bandwidths are also available at bargain rates compared with long-standing SONET fiber optic prices. Get Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbps or Gigabit Ethernet at 1000 Mbps to match your LAN speeds. Need more bandwidth. You may qualify for 10GigE at 10 Gigabits per second. Even 100 Gbps WAN service is not that far off.

There is one caveat to the superior characteristics of Metro Ethernet. Metro means metropolitan, not rural. Out in the boonies you are not likely to find this service as of yet. But you can still get T1 lines and bonded T1 service at reasonable rates.

Is Metro Ethernet service the best option for your company or organization? Find out by checking prices and availability of Metro Ethernet and other high bandwidth services.

Telecommunication DS3 Affordable For Business

Businesses today are looking for higher and higher bandwidths to support higher productivity computer-based processes. What do you do when your T1 line is maxed out and you still need more bandwidth?

If your needs are incremental and you’ve slowly used up the margin in your T1 bandwidth, the next logical step is to have a second T1 line bonded with the first. That gives you a WAN connection with 2x the capacity or twice the 1.5 Mbps that T1 service offers. A 2x bonded T1 ups your bandwidth to 3 Mbps. You can continue this process by bonding in additional T1 lines to get 3x, 4x, 5x and so on. Additional bonding is technically possible, but above this level another T-carrier service starts to be more cost effective. That’s T3 or DS3 service.

DS3 stands for Digital Signal 3 or digital signal level 3. It’s a technical designation for the characteristics of a TDM or Time Division Multiplexed digital signal service running at 44.736 Mbps. This is typically called 45 Mbps service. T1 lines have a similar specification called DS1.

How fast is DS3 compared to DS1? DS3 can transport 28 DS1 level signals. That’s the equivalent of bonding 28 T1 lines.

But you are not going to pay the cost of 28 T1 lines to have DS3 service. In fact, your monthly lease price is only a fraction of that. Exactly how much? You’ll need to check DS3 availability and pricing for your business address to find that out.

DS3 pricing is location dependent. The cost is determined by the distance from your business to the nearest carrier POP or Point of Presence. It’s also influenced by how built-out high speed data services are on that route. If there is fiber optic service already installed in your building or one nearby, you’ll have more service options and likely better pricing that if you are in an isolated location.

The termination for DS3 is copper-based. But the service itself can be provided over copper, fiber optic cable, or even wireless. DS3 over copper is often called a T3 line or T3 carrier.

There is another option available in metropolitan areas that gives you DS3 speeds of 45 Mbps at even lower costs. This is Ethernet over Copper or EoC. It’s a fairly new service, but one that is expanding rapidly for business users. Lower bandwidths are also available. Check Ethernet over Copper availability for your business location now.

Cricket Offers Advantages For Urban Dwellers

Do you like to talk and talk and talk on your cell phone? Or, do you massively text during your waking hours? Do you live in a metropolitan area? How about Internet? Do you spend a lot of time on the Internet away from your home or office? Ah, you might enjoy the cellular service deals that Cricket Wireless has to offer.

Cricket service is quite different from what you’ve come to expect in a cell phone carrier. First of all there are no contracts to sign. Second, most everything you do is on an unlimited basis. There is one notable exception that we’ll get to in a minute. The service bundles start at an advertised $30 and go up to $60 a month. They’re all for unlimited service. What differentiates them is what kind of services you get.

The cheapest service, $30 a month, gives you talk and Caller ID. This is for people who just can’t bear to have a cell phone and not be using it or those who’ve gone totally wireless and don’t even have a landline. Talk is local, not long distance. If you want unlimited long distance and text messaging you move up to the next tier plan at $35 a month.

As you move up the service plan food chain, features get added. These include call waiting, 3-way calling, voicemail, picture mail, Mexico text, Global text, 411 directory assistance and mobile Web. In the top two tiers you also get nationwide roaming.

What’s different about Cricket’s roaming is that it’s a package of minutes, not unlimited service like the usual talk, text and Web services. For urbanites that never venture out to the hinterlands, roaming is not something they need to worry about. But if you like road trips or live in a city surrounded by countryside, roaming is something you’ll need.

What roaming means is that your carrier doesn’t have any towers nearby. So your phone is set up to find a tower owned by another carrier that has agreed to serve your carrier’s customers. Your phone will tell you when you are roaming. If you don’t have roaming service on your plan, you’ll get no service at all. If you do have roaming you’ll be using minutes from that package, but at least you have service available from Grandma’s place over the river and through the woods.

Check the coverage maps for Cricket and you’ll see that they are focused on serving major population centers, with no service at all in states like Montana. Compare these maps to where you spend your time to decide on which, if any, Cricket service to buy.

Another thing you’ll want to do is enter your zip code to check the plan prices. When I did that, all of a sudden the higher cost packages were available for $5 a month discounts for my location. That’s a nice surprise.

You also need to declare your location to see what phones are available. Compared to other no contract cellular services, Cricket has some nice smartphones with full QWERTY keyboards, Stereo Bluetooth, high resolution cameras, music players with external dedicated controls, and streaming video capability. They also offer an aircard that provides 3G broadband to your laptop computer at a monthly fee lower than competing wireless services.

Are you a urbanite or suburbanite looking for unlimited mobile phone service at decent price with no contracts to sign? You should really take a close look at what Cricket Wireless has to offer.

The Post Paid Calling Card Advantage

You’re familiar with prepaid calling cards. The almost jump off the rack at you when you walk by them at the convenience store. But there is a type of calling card that is even more convenient than the ubiquitous prepaid card. It can also save you money on your domestic and international calls. Meet the the postpaid calling card.

As you might guess, post pay is the opposite of prepay. You plunk down $10 or $20 for a prepaid calling card and are given a certain number of minutes to a particular country. The higher the rate for calls to that country, the fewer minutes you’ll get. You also pay service fees, connection fees and minimum call fees. That means that the number of minutes you are buying is a maximum, not a guaranteed number.

Now let’s take a look at the postpaid service from FourVoice. The postpaid calling card operates on a pay as you go basis. You don’t buy your minutes up front. Instead, you sign-up with a credit card and declare a monthly limit for your card. In months that you make calls, you are billed the per minute rate appropriate for where you are calling from and where you are calling to. You also get charged a $1 billing fee. In months that you don’t make any calls, there’s no bill and no charges at all.

That makes FourVoice perfect for both casual calling card users. Don’t you wish you had the option of making really low rate phone long distance calls from hotels or other phones that you don’t own? You can with FourVoice. Just keep the access number and your pin number handy and use the service when you need to. In months that you never need to make a call, you don’t pay a cent.

But how about for regular use? How good are those rates? Just dial one of the many local access numbers available in the US and you’ll pay just 1.9 cents per minute to call other numbers in the US and Canada. That’s probably lower than your current landline long distance service. If no local access number is available or you just want to call the toll free access number, the rate is 4.9 cents per minute. That’s still a bargain.

But there are also excellent rates to other countries. Use the local access number and you can call London, Berlin, Paris, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, or Beijing for that same 1.9 cents per minute. Calls to Japan are 4.9 cents per minute. FourVoice estimates you can save up to 50% on international calls by using their service instead of your usual long distance calling service.

That’s great if you happen to be located in the US. But what happens when you are overseas? The rates are still excellent. There are local access numbers in 24 countries that will let you call other destinations worldwide for just pennies a minute.

So, the FourVoice postpaid calling card charges you for the calls you make and doesn’t require you to pay for minutes up front. There are no connection fees or hidden fees. You only pay a small $1 billing fee in months that you use the service. To top it off, the rates are as good as you’ll find with prepaid calling cards, especially when you factor in how many minutes you lose to the connection charges and service fees of prepaid calling cards.

Does this sound like a service that will save you money? If so, get more details, check rates and order your FourVoice postpaid international calling card quickly and easily online.

T1 Telephony Has Many Flavors

T1 telephony was originally invented to transfer hundreds and thousands of phone calls between telephone company central offices. It’s grown far beyond that initial vision to become the digital phone line of choice for thousands upon thousands of businesses. You may already have or be thinking about installing a T1 phone trunk for your business. But are you aware that you have many options to consider?

T1 is a digital line standard that can be used for voice, data, video or all of these. In its original form, it transports 24 separate phone calls on individual channels called DS0. The combination of these is the T1 line or DS1. Each of the DS0 channels is responsible for transmitting digitized voice, plus call control and signaling.

Today’s T1 voice circuit of choice is called a T1 PRI or ISDN PRI. It’s is still organized as 24 channels on a single digital phone trunk, but one of the channels is used exclusively for call control and signaling, leaving the other 23 channels as the equivalent of 23 separate phone lines. The signaling channel is also used to support data services such as Caller ID.

T1 PRI is popular with businesses that have their own PBX telephone systems and with telephone intensive operations, such as customer contact centers and call centers. Nearly all PBX equipment supports this line format. If more than 23 outside lines are needed, then additional T1 PRI lines can be installed.

There’s a T1 telephony solution designed especially for smaller companies that can’t fathom needing 23 phone lines. Integrated T1 lets you have up to a dozen outside phone lines and uses the rest of the T1 line capacity for broadband Internet service. If you get what’s called a dynamic T1, it will automatically assign any bandwidth not currently being used for phone calls into the broadband pool. This is a very efficient use of resources and can be less expensive than having a dozen separate phone lines plus an independent broadband service.

VoIP has become a popular form of telephone service. An Internet connected T1 line can provide the bandwidth and reliability to support VoIP phone services for a dozen or more simultaneous calls.

T1 PRI lines will also interface with IP PBX systems, the VoIP equivalent of the PBX telephone system. T1 PRI is known for its high voice quality, reliability and support of telephony features such as Direct Inward Dialing.

There is also a new form of T1 telephony called SIP trunking. SIP is the signaling standard used in VoIP phone systems. A SIP trunk is often implemented on a T1 data line, but it is not connected to the Internet. It is a direct point to point connection between your business location and your service provider. This avoids the vagaries of Internet performance and helps the service provider ensure high voice quality and service reliability.

Are you ready for T1 telephony or interested in comparing lower cost options for the service you already have? If so, then check T1 telephony prices and options now.

Qwest Brings 100 Gbps to Your Business

Qwest is upping the ante on bandwidth with an upgrade to its long haul network from 40 Gbps to 100 Gbps. The build-out has already begun and will continue through next year.

So, what does this mean for your business? Qwest offered some perspectives on how fast point to point network traffic is at 100 Gbps. You know how long it takes to download a 4.7 Gigabyte DVD. At 100 Gbps, you can download 138 of them in 60 seconds. A 2 hour HD movie or presentation will transfer in 9 seconds flat. You can backup a fully loaded 500 Gigabyte hard drive in 46 seconds. For hospitals, medical centers and physicians offices, 100 Gbps will transfer 90 digital mammograms per second.

There actually are applications that could really benefit from this massive WAN bandwidth today. Movie and video production studios generate enormous databases for their projects. It’s a deluge of data that can clog up the kind of connection that works well for most businesses. With engineering and manufacturing now so distributed, it may make sense for large aerospace companies to have 100 Gbps bandwidth available. Someday even smaller architectural and design firms might not consider this level unreasonable, as prices come down.

Prices have already come down dramatically for WAN bandwidth. T1 lines cost half what they did a few years ago. Ethernet pricing has plunged even more dramatically. You might not have been able to get Metro Ethernet a few years ago. Now it’s readily available and at prices per Mbps that make it even cheaper than T1.

Your bandwidth options have also increased. Standard T1 line speeds of 1.5 Mbps are now considered entry level. Ethernet services scale easily from 1 to 10 Mbps over copper or fiber, and up to 100 Mbps or even 1 Gbps over fiber. While 100 Gbps service isn’t readily available quite yet, you can get 10 Gbps to your door.

Qwest has some ambitious goals for its network upgrade. It now serves 145 markets across the US and expects to add more. They’re installing new Alcatel-Lucent routers and switches out to the network edges. Fewer regeneration sites will be needed, reducing power demands. The overall upgrade is expected to enhance network protection and reduce latency as well.

Is there really a need for all this bandwidth? According to Qwest, Internet traffic is doubling about every 19 months. Individual Internet users are consuming 43 percent more bandwidth each year. That’s right, 43 percent more every year.

With the demands of downloadable and streaming video, electronic medical records, engineering design and simulation, and other high bandwidth applications, keeping ahead of bandwidth demands is a challenge for carriers. No only are they meeting the bandwidth need, but the latest IP based network designs are offering users new services such as Ethernet WAN and bandwidth pricing per Mbps that is better than ever.

Instant Toll Free Numbers

Do you have a project where you could use a toll free number... right now? Then get one right now. I mean right this minute.

But don’t toll free numbers take a long time to search out and provision? No, not if you use the right service and do it the right way.

The right service is Kall8. The right way to get your number is to simply dive in and pick one from the set of 800/866/877/888 numbers they already have available and ready for use. You simply pick a number and place your order quickly and easily online. By the time you’re done, a few minutes later, your number is ready for use. Is that instant enough?

Oh, but how much is this convenience going to cost? You can get an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number for $2 ($5 for 800 numbers). Once you have it, it’s $2 a month ($5 for 800 numbers) for service plus the cost of incoming calls, which is a mere 6.9 cents a minute for the 48 US states. That’s not much to pay for any toll free number, much less an instantly available one. Then there are all the extra features.

The first extra feature is the ability to change your ring-to number anytime you want. A toll free number is set to ring to a particular telephone number. When someone calls your toll free number it will ring your cell phone, home landline or office phone, depending on how you set it up. With some toll free services, you decide which phone to ring when you set it up. Then it’s either fixed at that number or you have to call up and request a change. Not with Kall8. You simply use your online control panel to change the ring-to number any time you want.

Why is this valuable? Say that you want to make sure that clients, patients, or potential customers can reach you anytime 24/7. You give them your toll free number, which is also printed on your business card. That’s the only number they’ll need. While you are at home, you can have the toll free number set to ring your home phone. That saves cellular minutes. When you leave for the day, reset the ring-to for your cellular phone. That way you are reachable anywhere. At the office, reset the ring-to number to your office phone.

Of course, you can set your toll free number to ring-to a particular phone number and leave it that way. At least you have a choice with Kall8.

Some other valuable features that come with your instant toll free number are voice mail, conference calling, Caller ID, and the ability to have both voice and fax messages sent to your email. Yes, you can have people send a fax to your toll free number and pick it up online or have it sent as an email message attachment.

Your toll free number also works in reverse as a virtual calling card for the same low 6.9 cents per minute rate. Just call the access number to use it this way.

Are you impressed? This is a pretty impressive service. Best of all, you can get this service working for you right now. Order your instant toll free number from Kall8.

There are also more articles about toll free numbers and how they can help businesses or professional practices like yours at Agile 800 Toll Free Service

Samsung Reclaim is Green and Free

Who says that going green will cost you a bundle? Not with this eco-friendly cell phone. It's the Samsung Reclaim M560 for Sprint. This is hot technology in a cool green wrapper.

The Samsung Reclaim is a capable messaging phone, configured as a slider with a full QWERTY keyboard. The color display measures 2.6 inches or 320 x 240 pixels and is capable of displaying over 262,000 colors. That melds nicely with the 2.0 Megapixel digital camera that takes pictures good enough to print and share. The camera also works as a camcorder to record sharable video clips.

The Reclaim offers fast 3G connectivity, where available, on Sprint’s PCS voice and data network so you can enjoy Sprint TV, the Sprint Music Store, Sprint Video and other streaming media. There is integrated aGPS support for Sprint Navigation that gives you turn by turn directions.

Messaging? You bet. This phone is ready for instant messaging, text messaging, Email that supports Microsoft Exchange (Outlook), multimedia picture and video messaging and even Web browsing.

Music? Of course. The built-in MP3 player lets you carry your tunes anywhere. Get more storage with an optional microSD memory card up to 32 GB. You can even wirelessly stream music to stereo Bluetooth enabled headsets.

So far this sounds like any of the latest high technology cell phones. So what’s the green angle?

The Samsung Reclaim is what its name implies. This phone was designed with recyclable bio-plastic materials created from plants. Both the phone and its charger meet Greenpeace International standards. There’s also a Sprint One Click Green Tile that provides you with daily green tips, strategies for sustainable living, a green glossary and more.

Just to go over the top, Sprint will donate $2 to the Nature Conservancy’s Adopt-an-Acre program that protects important and imperiled natural places around the world. so far Adopt-an-Acre has raised $22 million to protect 600,000 acres in South America, Asia, Central America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Oh, and did you happen to notice... It’s GREEN! (It’s also available in Ocean Blue)

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

New Role for Wireless as Wireline Backup

We tend to think of wireless as the future of all telecommunications. Perhaps it’s all the hoopla over BlackBerry devices and iPhones. So why would anyone consider wireless as a wireline backup instead of the other way around?

The nice thing about wireless communication is the freedom it brings. You simply grab your device and go. Can’t do that with a desktop PC connected to an Ethernet network. But who’d want to. You’d look as silly as those people who carry around full size telephone handsets connected to their cell phones.

For big and heavy PCs, servers and printers, there’s not a lot of incentive to get rid of the network wire. That’s especially true if you need an AC power cable anyway. The one exception might be a printer that sits in an area with no network connection nearby. In that case, WiFi connectivity makes sense.

The other thing to remember is that wireless bandwidth is a scarce resource compared to copper wireline networks and fiber optic connections. Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbps is the norm for desktop equipment. Many network access cards are now 10/100/1000 Mbps. At Gigabit Ethernet speeds, even wireless access points get pricey. WAN bandwidth gets really pricey.

So if most LANs are going to remain primarily wired and WAN connections are usually cheaper per Mbps over copper or fiber, then where does wireless fit?

This cost/benefit analysis breaks down if your application needs to be portable or mobile. It also breaks down if the wireline connection breaks down. What I mean is that if someone with a backhoe cuts through a cable bundle and severs all the copper telephone cable and fiber optic strands on a certain path, wireless may be your only option to connect with the outside world.

Several companies are marketing solutions for the business that wants to be as sure as possible that no disaster will take out its connectivity completely. Vocal IP Networx and Accel Networks, to name two, have wireless Internet solutions available. Cellular broadband networks are well suited to this application because cell signals are so widely available. With HSPA and EVDO Rev A readily available, it is possible to get Mbps connectivity with a single aircard.

Satellite broadband offers another wireless solution that doesn’t depend on landline availability as long as you can run on backup power. All you need is a clear view of the southern sky to point the dish and you can have two-way communications. Latencies on Geosynchronous satellite tend to be prohibitive for real-time applications such as VoIP, but email and most Web browsing runs just fine.

Are you concerned that your operation may be vulnerable to a complete loss of connectivity due to single point failure? If so, you should see how affordable backup wireless solutions can be to give you peace of mind. This is also a good time to check prices on wireline connectivity. WAN prices for T1, DS3, Ethernet and other services are much lower than they were a few years ago. Find the best prices on all bandwidth services now.

Hosting Nation Offers Low Cost Web Hosting For Everyone

So, what do you want? Is it cheap web hosting? Or do you really want good web hosting cheap? If you are in the latter category, Hosting Nation has the web hosting service for you.

It wasn’t all that long ago that if you wanted to have a public website, you needed to manage your own Apache server or pay a fortune for someone else to provide the server and connection bandwidth. No more. Hosting services are a downright bargain these days. Consider that for under ten bucks a month you can have a business presence to the entire world. It’s downright amazing when you stop to think about it.

If you’ve been getting by with “free” hosting services that ruin your site design with their ugly banners, or paying $25 a month or more for “professional” hosting that only nets the providers a handsome profit, then you need to take a close look at what has to offer.

Here’s the deal. You pay $6.95 a month or $83.40 a year. With the yearly package, they’ll even waive the $25 set up fee.

This is all it’s going to cost you. What you get for that pittance is a shared hosting account that gives you 5 Gb of disk space, 50 Gb of bandwidth, 50 FTP accounts, 50 email addresses, 50 databases, 10 mailing lists, 50 parked domains and 50 subdomains.

Unless you’re running a major ecommerce site that’s giving Amazon.com a run for its money, you should find those resources more than enough. I mean, 50 databases? How busy creating data would you be keeping 50 databases engaged? For an individual site owner or a small to medium size business, these are generous resources.

Here’s another benefit that I haven’t see elsewhere. When you transfer your site to Hosting Nation, they’ll move your site for you. They’ll also give you a credit towards any hosting that remains on your current plan up to one year. Most web hosting providers deal with you at arm’s length. They’re not about to get into moving your site for you. But Hosting Nation will. Now, how’s that about helpful?

You should also know that you’re not just renting space on a server for your website. Your account also gives you access to over 80 applications, frameworks and libraries through Fantastico so you can add guestbooks, polls, links, contact forms, photo galleries, classified ads, shopping carts, a bulletin board, chatroom and blog to your site. No need to go out and buy software. These applications are yours to use on your hosting acount.

There are also real time traffic logs, data backup and recovery, plus anti-spam and anti-virus protections.

Did I mention that this hosting service is only $6.95 a month? How can you not take advantage of an offer this good? It’s so much for so little.

Well, don’t wait a minute more. Get all the details and order your Hosting For Everyone web hosting package right now.