Metro Ethernet over Copper

You’ve heard that Metro Ethernet service offers exceptionally good pricing and higher bandwidths than you can get from your copper-based T1 lines. But those huge savings can vaporize once you get the estimates for fiber optic construction. Is there any way you can participate in the cost advantages of Ethernet service without having to come up with a large amount of capital funding?

You bet there is. It’s a technology that combines the advantages of Ethernet connection services with the availability of twisted pair copper cabling. The service you want to ask for is “Metro Ethernet over Copper”.

Just what is Metro Ethernet over Copper and how does it differ from what’s generically called Metro Ethernet?

Actually, the similarities are many and the differences are few. Metro Ethernet over Copper, also called Ethernet over Copper or EoC, is more about the delivery mechanism or physical network than the service itself. Ethernet for the Wide Area Network (WAN) is Ethernet regardless of how it is provisioned. Metro Ethernet refers to Ethernet services that connect your business location to a carrier’s point of presence or an extension of your Local Area Network (LAN) to other locations within a city or suburban area. The copper reference means that multiple twisted pair copper is used to connect your building instead of brining in a fiber optic cable.

Where does this copper come from and why is it cheaper than fiber? The copper is already there. It’s the same multiple pair binder cable that the telephone company installed when the building was constructed. These cables generally have many small gauge copper wires twisted together in pairs. Each pair can carry one analog telephone conversation or be used to transport a digital signal. Metro Ethernet service providers install a special piece of termination equipment at your site to connect the copper pairs they’ll be using. The more pairs they an employ, the higher the bandwidth they can provide.

How much Ethernet bandwidth can you expect with copper-based service? It depends a lot on how close you are to an on-network fiber lit building or a carrier office. The digital signal degrades with distance. Generally, you can get anywhere from 10 Mbps to 50 Mbps Ethernet service over copper. That’s a lot more than T1 lines at 1.5 Mbps and as much bandwidth as most small and medium size businesses need.

Are you interested in finding out if you can get high bandwidth, low cost Ethernet service? If so, check Metro Ethernet over Copper prices and availability for your location now. You may be surprised by how much you can get for your telecom dollar.

40 Gbps Bandwidth Available For Business

XO Communications has upped the ante on business bandwidth options by making two 40 Gbps network services available in all major metropolitan markets of its nationwide fiber optic footprint. Listen to Randy Nicklas, Chief Technology Officer of XO Communications, explain the advantages of the new 40 Gbps wavelength and IP transit services:



You may listen to the interview without leaving this page by using this built-in audio player:


Clearly, we’re entering a new and exciting era of very high bandwidth applications for businesses as well as service providers, such as Cable companies. High speed financial trading demands the lowest latencies possible. You snooze for a millisecond, you lose. This pushes the requirements for both transport speed between cities and also minimal time delays going through the routing and switching equipment. Content delivery networks may be less latency sensitive than the financial trading networks, but they have an insatiable need for bandwidth. There is no upper limit in sight as of this writing. Surely 40 Gbps is just a incremental level on the way to 100 Gbps and beyond. Why? Because everybody wants the video they want to see when they want to see it, and high definition video has massive bandwidth demands. Every Internet user on Earth couldn’t possibly send enough email, visit enough web sites, or update their software often enough to match even the current demand for video transport. This is why Cable TV companies and other video distributors are moving away from the public Internet to privately run content delivery networks to meet their demands for bandwidth and stability. Is your company involved in video production or distribution, or perhaps financial services? If so, you certainly have demands for high levels of wide area networking bandwidth at reasonable prices. Other business users may not be pushing the technology limits just yet, although getting the best prices on fiber optic bandwidth is equally important. For all of these situations, you can find highly competitive fiber optic bandwidth pricing from XO Communications and other top tier providers through our GigaPackets bandwidth service and Telarus expert consultants.

Dedicated vs Shared Internet Access

There are fundamentally two types of broadband Internet access. They are shared and dedicated.

You may have been thinking wireless, landline, satellite or fiber optic. Those are delivery technologies that can determine price and availability. But your fundamental decision is whether to go with shared or dedicated Internet access.

What’s the difference? The name pretty much describes the nature of your service. Shared Internet access is something like a buffet. You see that big roast and think that you can fill your plate with meat. But by the time you get to the head of the line, you only get a sliver of beef. “Sorry,” says the chef. “We have to limit portions of this entree because there is so much demand.”

That’s how shared Internet service works. You sign up for what you think is 10 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload. But if you look carefully at the supplier's disclosure, they say that you get “up to 10 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload.” Up to means a maximum, not a minimum or even an average value. In other words, 10 Mbps is the fastest line speed you can ever expect to see and don’t count on seeing it at any particular time.

Why is this the case? It’s the way that the shared Internet connection is organized. The service provider figures that not everyone who signs up for their broadband service will be online simultaneously. Even those who are at their computers aren’t likely to be all downloading huge files at the same time. So they sell that 10 Mbps service to 10, 25 or even 100 different users. If most people are composing email or reading web pages, you’ll have the lion’s share of the bandwidth to yourself. But as soon as one or more users start downloading, that 10 Mbps is divvied up to support as many users who want to use bandwidth at that time.

As you can imagine, the amount of shared bandwidth you have available can vary greatly and will change from minute to minute. If you have an important document to upload or download, you initiate the transfer and take your chances. There’s no guarantee of how long that transfer will take. It might go quickly. It might drag on seemingly forever.

Who puts up with this type of service? Consumers, that’s who. The reason is cost. The provider pays for the 10 Mbps backbone service and divides the cost among the number of users sharing that bandwidth. The price of shared broadband Internet is reasonable for residential users, who rarely are doing anything critical. The worst they experience is streaming audio or video that breaks up, or long delays in accessing their favorite Web sites.

Contrast this situation with dedicated Internet access. Dedicated means just that. The bandwidth you order is dedicated for your use only. You may still experience congestion on the Internet itself, but that 10 Mbps connection to your provider will always run at 10 Mbps.

Most dedicated connections are also symmetrical. That means they run at the same speed in both the upload and download directions. Your 10 Mbps service may be described as 10 x 10 Mbps bandwidth. You get 10 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload. That can be very important if you transfer files in both directions. You won’t be slowed down by a lower upload bandwidth.

The other difference between shared and dedicated bandwidth is that dedicated bandwidth is sold as a professional business service. It most often comes with an SLA or Service Level Agreement that describes what service you are ordering and how reliable it is expected to be. If the line goes down for any reason, it gets high priority and should be available again within a certain number of hours.

Shared bandwidth is sold on a “best effort” basis. That means that the carrier will try to keep things running properly, but there are no guarantees as to availability or how long repairs will take. If someone down the street is having service problems, the repair effort might disrupt your service too. That’s just the nature of sharing facilities to save money.

Now you know why home broadband services seem so much cheaper than business grade dedicated Internet access. It comes down to performance and availability. If the Internet is important to your business activities, then you’ll want to check the prices and availability of dedicated Internet access for your location. You may find that prices have come down so much in the last few years that dedicated access is now well within your reach.

Doing BACKFLIPs with MOTOBLUR

Are you given to doing backflips over your cell phone? I didn’t think so. Here’s a new and unique smartphone design from Motorola that might change your mind. Its called the BACKFLIP.

What’s unique about the BACKFLIP? It’s all in the hinge. Most phones with built-in physical QWERTY keyboards make you open the phone to find another display screen hinged above the keyboard. It’s too expensive to have a full size touchscreen on the face of the phone and other one the same size inside. So, you generally have to contend with a smaller inside screen or the main screen inside and a very small status screen outside.

The BACKFLIP solves this dilemma by reversing the hinge so that opening the phone puts the full size main screen above a large keyboard of similar size. Closed, the screen is on the front of the phone and the QWERTY keyboard is on the back. Problem solved. The photo gives you the idea.

What Motorola has done is give you a more spacious QWERTY keyboard than you expect in a smartphone and a high resolution touch screen to go along with it. It’s like carrying around a small computer as well as a cell phone.

Actually, it’s more than that. MOTOBLUR that runs on the Android operating system is a step-up in mobile access. Your social networks are all collected on one screen that you can access with just a flip of your thumb. Include your messages and favorite apps on the same customizable screen. With AT&T 3G wireless service you can talk and surf the Web at the same time. It’s a multitasking must-have.

What else does this clever phone do? It takes high quality pictures with 5 megapixels of resolution. That’s as good or better than your old digital camera - and it’s built into the phone. It also works as a camcorder at movie speeds of 24 frames per second. That’s something your old camera doesn’t do. That one never let you edit your pictures right in the camera and then send them to your friends immediately with multimedia messaging. This one does.

There are many other features that may also induce you to do backflips. You can put this phone in table-top mode as a digital picture frame or bedside alarm. You can geo-tag your photos, see where you are with Google Maps and listen to music on the Android MP3 player or watch videos. For really high speed operations, there’s built-in WiFi and you’ll have free access to more than 20,000 AT&T WiFi hotspots nationwide.

So much phone for so little money. How little? How about free (as of this writing) with a new AT&T account. That includes free shipping right to your home, all set up and ready to use. So, are you ready to flip? If so, learn more and order your Motorola BACKFLIP with MOTOBLUR for AT&T now.

If prefer another model phone, a different carrier, or just want to browse the latest special offers of free and deeply discounted cell phones, check out the selection through Cell Phone Plans Finder now.

Ethernet Over Copper Can Be A Steal

We all like a good deal on anything telecommunications related. But some of these Ethernet prices can make you feel like you are getting away with something. Are you wondering just how good they can be? Go ahead, take a second and inquire about Ethernet prices for your business locations.



Why are Ethernet service prices so attractive right now? What’s happened is that technology has changed almost overnight. Yesterday the traditional telco services were all that you could get. Today, there are competitive options that change the whole value proposition.

Ethernet over Copper is a major game changer. You may have heard that Metro Ethernet service was available, but when you last checked you found that it was only available over fiber optic cable. That’s a big negative if your building isn’t already lit for fiber optic service. Construction costs can make Ethernet over Fiber prohibitively expensive.

Well, that was then and this is now. A couple of things have changed. First, that fiber you couldn’t afford to have installed a few years ago may be a lot less expensive now. Competitive carriers have been building POPs or points of presence in most major cities and suburban areas. More and more buildings have been lit for fiber optic service. What that means to you is that the nearest fiber connection may be closer than you think. It might even be next door.

But even if fiber isn’t available, you can get Metro Ethernet bandwidths of 10 to even 50 Mbps delivered over ordinary twisted pair copper wiring. That’s the same telco bundle that comes into your building now. That means little or no construction costs. The carrier will provide you with a router designed to interface with the Ethernet over Copper connections. You just plug-in with a RJ-45 cable and you’ve got higher bandwidth.

What’s more, Ethernet services are often dramatically less expensive than their legacy telco counterparts. You may find yourself saving half or more on your next telecom services lease. The higher the bandwidth, the better the savings.

Of course, location is still important. The range of available services and number of competing carriers depends on your business address. But you only need a minute or so to request a list of Ethernet services and prices for your location. You wouldn’t be the first to think that these prices are a steal.

Advantage of Independent Toll Free Numbers

You may have a toll free number that you got from your telephone company, or you may be considering one. Toll free numbers have tremendous advantages for all size businesses when it comes to sales and customer service. If you shop carefully, they are so affordable right now that even the smallest start-up companies and independent professionals can have their own toll free number. You’ll have the most flexibility if you order an independent toll free number.

What’s an independent number and why is that important? Independent toll free service is not associated with your landline or cellular phone bill. You'll have the ability to have your toll free number ring to any telephone you wish. You can even change your mind and have it ring to another phone anytime you want.

So what difference does that make? It makes a huge difference if you move or want to switch to another phone company. You may or may not be able to take your telephone company supplied toll free number with you. If they allow it, there can be a high fee charged to transfer the number to another service. Otherwise you’ll have to start all over with a new toll free number and change all your advertising and business cards.

You also won’t likely have the ability to decide which phone your toll free number rings to. If it is attached to your landline phone service, that’s the number that will ring when toll free calls come in. That may be no big deal if you are always at your desk or have a full time receptionist to take the calls. Otherwise you can be out and about when you get that important call that means the difference between sale and no sale. If you can’t grab it, the prospect may go elsewhere.

The alternative is an independent toll free service such as Kall8. With Kall8 toll free service, you get to pick from their suite of available 866, 877, 888 or 800 toll free numbers. Find one you like and by the time you are done placing your order online, your number will be ready to accept calls. You get an online control panel that lets you decide if toll free calls will come to your cell phone, home phone, or business phone. Change that any time you like. Some sales people switch it between phones depending on where they happen to be at the time.

You also get Kall8 toll free number features that include voice mail that you listen to online, by calling in or by having a sound file sent to your via email. Any incoming FAX messages will be converted to graphic files and sent to you via email. You also have conference call ability, so that you can conduct a conference call with up to 25 participants at any time for as long as you like. Even use your toll free number in reverse as a long distance calling card at the same rates.

That’s a lot of capability for just $2 to order an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number and $2 per month to maintain the service. Incoming calls are 6.9 cents per minute from the 48 contiguous states and a bit higher for calls from Alaska or Hawaii. Traditional 800 numbers are $5 each and $5 per month for service, plus the 6.9 cents per minute rate for incoming calls.

PAETEC Adds Intrusion Detection For MPLS Networking

MPLS networks are on the ascendant as the preferred solution for linking multiple business locations. Now PAETEC is offering a new service to further enhance the security of its already secure MPLS network solutions by monitoring for network intrusions. What distinguishes this service is that operation and management is largely transparent to users.

Network security has become a hot topic in recent years. We’re all familiar with the constant barrage of viruses, phishing schemes, hacking and other criminal activities on the Internet. You don’t need a connection to the Internet to worry about electronic security. Any company or organization with a computer network is a target for those who think they can benefit from compromising it. No amount of physical security protects your network once it leaves your premises. But to do business today, you need connections to multiple office locations, factories, warehouses, customers and suppliers.

This is where PAETEC, a telecommunications company with a nationwide fiber optic footprint, steps in. Rather than trying to build a meshed network from dedicated point to point lines and then having to install and manage network security appliances and software, you can simply turn the job over to PAETEC. They provide each of your locations with access to their privately-run network cloud. You define how you want each location to communicate. Built-into the network is the new managed Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention System known as IDPS. You don’t need to buy any special on-site equipment or install and maintain any network security software. It’s all built into the PAETEC MPLS network.

How does this system work? It’s a network based firewall with two components. The intrusion detection part inspects all traffic entering and leaving the network to identify suspicious patterns. It notifies the enterprise system administrator with recommendations on how to respond to any threat it finds. The second part is an intrusion prevention system that looks for potential threats and makes recommendations on how to respond before an actual break-in occurs. PAETEC operates a 24/7 Security Operations Center that can handle alarm responses for customers who don’t have their own full time system administrators.

The addition of an IDPS to your WAN network is more than just a good idea. It’s a requirement for sensitive applications such as PCI for credit card transactions and HIPPA for medical records. Health care modernization initiatives are certain to increase the number of locations connected by high speed MPLS networks and in need of industry mandated security.

Are you interested in starting a secure multi-location WAN network or improving the security of the one you have now? Would you like to do that in a cost effective way? If so, you should take a look at the secure MPLS network options from PAETEC and other competitive network service providers.

Can Ethernet Enable Electronic Health Care?

It’s no secret that there is ample opportunity to improve service and cut costs in the health care field. Much of the “low hanging fruit” involves digitizing, storing & transporting medical records and automating what remains of clerical processes. Beyond that, there are new applications such as remote diagnostics that can bring medical services to remote areas and emergency scenes like auto accidents. Sounds good, so what’s stopping us?

One big bottleneck is the lack of universal broadband infrastructure, both wired and wireless. Until recently, the best connection that many doctor’s offices, clinics and medical centers could afford was the venerable T1 line running at 1.5 Mbps. The sheer size of high resolution medical images, especially when bundled into complete electronic medical records, makes the once speedy T1 line a potential bottleneck to productivity.

The FCC has identified barriers to e-care caused by limited adoption of high speed digital connections and has proposed remedies in its National Broadband Plan. Bringing broadband connections to rural areas for the first time is the focus of stimulus funding. There are also licensing, privileging, and credentialing standards that need to be modernized to enable physicians to practice remotely. Additionally, structures need to be put in place to ensure patient privacy in an insecure online world.

The private sector hasn’t been sleeping through all this. There’s a quiet revolution going on in the telecommunications industry that will be a major factor in enabling the efficiencies of e-health care. The FCC estimates that over $700 billion could be saved over 15-25 years through electronic health records and remote monitoring technology alone. What will be the primary transport technology for these wide band applications? It’s almost surely going to be Metro Ethernet, Carrier Ethernet and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks.

The thing these communications technologies have in common is a core based on packet switching or IP networking. MPLS adds privacy and efficiency for connecting multiple locations in a single mesh network. That could include hospitals, clinics, physicians offices and insurance companies.

One reason why Ethernet will play such an important role in the medical networks to come is cost. Metro Ethernet over both fiber and copper has proven to be less expensive per Mbps than traditional circuit switched telecom technologies. MPLS networks have all but taken over the role of multipoint to multipoint secure networks from Frame Relay. In some cases, Ethernet connections are even cheaper than T1 lines on an absolute cost basis.

There’s no need to wait if you need more bandwidth to improve the efficiency of your operation, or simply want to save money during this challenging economy. See how much you could save with Metro Ethernet services for your business location.

The Motorola ROKR Rocks On

The original iTunes cell phone was the Motorola ROKR “rocker” phone. It was extremely popular when introduced. Rather than just making a splash and fading from the scene as many cell phone designs have done, the ROKR has morphed into the latest technology as the ROKR E8 for T-Mobile. Does it still rock? You decide.

Now a sleek black, with glowing red detail, the Motorola ROKR E8 is one hot multimedia phone. In fact, it’s three devices in one. It’s a cell phone, it’s a music player, and it’s a digital camera. The touch sensitive keypad morphs to fit the profile of the device you want to use at the moment.

Any decent music player has a scroll wheel. Most cell phones don’t But the ROKR E8 has this control feature right in the middle of the case, below the display screen. It’s just what you want to control your music, but also helps you navigate other menus.

Does the latest Motorola ROKR model still support Apple’s iTunes? Of course. The built-in music player supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV and Real Audio files. You can have polyphonic ringtones with up to 48 chords. Hey, it’s a music phone. It should sound like one!

The ROKR E8 is also takes pictures and short video clips. It sports a 2.0 Megapixel resolution for pictures good enough to print as well as send to your friends via multimedia messaging. Of course you can text message and instant message as well.

Will you run out of memory with all this multimedia capability? Motorola planned ahead so you won’t. The ROKR E8 has 2 GB of internal memory, a lot for a cell phone. If you need more, there’s a microSD card slot for additional storage. When you've loaded it up, just plug in your headset and enjoy the music. You have the option to stream your tunes to compatible A2DP Bluetooth stereo headsets or stereo systems for that truly BIG sound.

Does the new “rocker” phone sound like the one you’ve been waiting for? If so, learn more and order your Motorola ROKR E8 Black with T-Mobile service online so you can get it FREE with free delivery via FedEx. This deal isn’t going to last indefinitely, so don’t wait too long if this is the music phone you want.

If you prefer a different make and model cell phone or smartphone, or just want to shop around for the best deals on deeply discounted and free phones, check “Today’s Special Deals” at Cell Phone Plans Finder now.

1,000,000 Miles of Metro Ethernet Fiber And Growing

If you’ve been thinking that Metro Ethernet is just some little niche service that probably won’t catch on, here’s an eye opener. XO Communications alone has about a million miles of metro fiber and more than 3,000 fiber-fed buildings on net. That’s not even counting all the Ethernet over Copper delivered to buildings that aren’t yet lit for fiber. Oh, and that’s just one carrier.

Metro Ethernet and its long haul equivalent called Carrier Ethernet are no niche services. This is the future of telecommunications. Why? Because the whole world is transitioning from switched circuit TDM communications to packet switched IP networking. It’s happening faster than you might think or experience in your everyday telecom usage. You may currently be connected to the Internet by a T1 dedicated Internet connection. It’s a telco-based legacy service based on TDM channels. Yet once your packets are transported to the carrier’s point of presence, they are passed to an IP-based Internet backbone. Protocol conversion circuitry makes this process transparent to the end user, so your last mile connection can be just about anything.

This suggests that it would be more efficient to keep everything in the Internet Protocol from the computer on your desk all the way to the servers you are communicating with. That’s a correct assumption. Now that Ethernet in the WAN (Wide Area Network) is becoming as available as Ethernet for your LAN (Local Area Network), it is more efficient and generally less expensive to keep it Ethernet all the way.

How much less expensive? You can find that out with a quick check for Metro Ethernet prices and availability. The Ethernet Buildings site makes that as easy as it could possibly be. You simply enter your building’s address and check the map that comes up.



Even if your building isn’t already lit for fiber optic service, you may still have the options of getting service via Ethernet over Copper or wireless service. XO Communications owns 28-31 GHz spectrum in 75 markets specifically for this purpose. Other carriers also want to compete for your business and they are rapidly deploying their own Ethernet solutions nationwide.

Have you been missing out on the opportunity to save considerably on your monthly telecom lease costs? Well, there’s no time like the present to check your options. It only takes a few minutes and may save you as much as 50%. Can you think of a better way to spend the next few minutes? If not, check Ethernet service availability for your business location right now.

CLEAR Sailing for 4G Wireless

You’ve heard that 4G wireless is coming. Well, CLEAR is deploying 4G WiMAX wireless services right now. If you are one of the lucky ones living in an area where CLEAR WiMAX high speed wireless broadband Internet is available, you’ll enjoy bandwidth similar to what you get from DSL or Cable, but without the wires. Various plans are available for home, mobile or both.

So, what’s WiMAX and what is the difference between 3G and 4G? WiMAX is an international standard for wireless broadband service. It’s been described as WiFi with a city-wide coverage area. Technically there are a lot of differences between WiFi and WiMAX, but that’s probably how you’ll use it.

WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It’s defined by IEEE standard 802.16. You’ll remember that WiFi is also an IEEE standard, 802.11. One difference between WiMAX and WiFi is that WiMAX uses licensed frequencies at high power. WiFi shares unlicensed frequencies with microwave ovens, Bluetooth headsets, cordless phones and other devices that operate at relatively low power levels. This is why you can get WiMAX in your car or at home, while WiFi disappears as soon as you drive away from the restaurant or leave your driveway.

Remember all the hoopla about kicking analog TV stations off the air so their channels could be sold to the highest bidder? Clearwire was one of the big winners in that spectrum auction and CLEAR WiMAX is the service they are offering on the channels they won. With no interference and towers transmitting powerful signals, WiMAX service can go for miles and even penetrate buildings. You’ll need a modem for your PC or MAC. It sits next to the computer on your desk or plugs into your WiFi router just like any other broadband modem. A WiMAX picks up its broadband Internet connection through the air. A smaller version looks like a USB memory stick and plugs into your laptop computer for mobile use. But WiMAX gives you service all over town, even in your car.

Isn’t that also true of 3G cellular broadband? Indeed it is. What WiMAX has to offer is generally higher speeds than 3G. That’s why it’s called 4G or fourth generation to indicate that it is a step up technically from 3G or third generation. How fast does WiMAX run? CLEAR says that the average expected download speeds are in the range of 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps, with occasional bursts up to 10 Mbps. Sustained rates of 3 to 6 Mbps are pretty rare for 3G mobile broadband.

Where is CLEAR WiMAX available? Right now it’s in selected areas of the country with more cities on the way as the build-out continues. The greatest concentration of service is in Texas, in almost a dozen cities. You’ll also find CLEAR in Hawaii, the Seattle-Portland area of the Pacific Northwest, Boise, Chicago, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milledgeville, Georgia, and Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Another advantage of CLEAR WiMAX 4G is cost. Plans start at $30 a month, which is less many DSL and Cable broadband plans and much less than 3G cellular broadband. Being wireless, the equipment is shipped to you and you install and activate it yourself. No waiting around for the cable guys. Plus you can get combined home and mobile service, which is something DSL and Cable can’t offer.

Does this sound like a broadband service you might like to have? If so, learn more and order your CLEAR WiMAX 4G broadband service online now.

Ether Rabbit Finds Cheap Ethernet Fast

What's quick as a bunny and knows where the best deals on Metro Ethernet services are hiding? Why, the Ether Rabbit, of course!

Don’t you mean Easter Rabbit? Sure, for eggs both colored and chocolate. But to find cheap business Ethernet connections, you need a technology specialist. That’s the Ether Rabbit. Here’s a sneak peak at the newly updated site:



What sort of services do you require? Just use the handy inquiry form for service. If you know exactly what you are looking for, put that into the comments so that the expert consultant serving you can get prices and availability right away. If not, that's OK. Simply describe your application or business needs in general and we'll see what matches.

Go ahead and use this inquiry form now. The sooner your needs are known, the faster you can get service. Please note that this service is for businesses with their own business locations. Home office and residential users are encouraged to find appropriate services at Can I Get DSL?

What type of Ethernet services are available? There’s just about any bandwidth you could want available over fiber optic service, from standard 10 Mbps on up to 10 Gbps. Most of the time you can get scalable service, so you only have to buy what you need right now and have the ability to upgrade to a higher bandwidth later with only a phone call to your provider. In many cases you can get 10 Mbps and even higher Ethernet bandwidth delivered over twisted pair copper wiring. This means you save on fiber construction costs but still enjoy lower prices that typical telecom services for the same bandwidth.

So, are you interested in fast Ethernet service in all senses of the word? Then hop over and see what the Ether Rabbit can find for cheap Ethernet service near you.

DS3 Internet Service Options

Medium size businesses and large corporations that have long exceeded the bandwidth available from T1 lines have migrated to DS3 Internet Service as the next logical step in telecom line services. Now there are more options than ever before for smaller businesses that have large bandwidth requirements and larger operations that need and want this level of service.

DS3, or Digital Signal level 3, is a longstanding telecommunications standard for digital transmission. It offers highly reliable 45 Mbps bandwidth for dedicated point to point, PBX telephone, or Internet connections. Smaller Internet Service Providers find DS3 service to be the right size and price to serve their customers. Other key applications are medical image transmission, video transport, and call center operations.

When DS3 was first deployed by the telephone companies, it may have been delivered by coaxial cable, microwave relay tower, or even rigid waveguide pipes. As soon as fiber optic trunk cables were available, DS3 logically moved to fiber based delivery. This is still the standard transmission medium for DS3, especially over long distances. Multiple DS3 signals are often multiplexed onto an OC3 or higher level SONET fiber optic carrier and demultiplexed to be dropped off where needed.

Recent developments by new network service providers with their own regional and nationwide fiber optic networks have dramatically lowered the price of DS3 services to where they are affordable by businesses and organizations that couldn’t previously afford the lease rates. They’ve also deployed additional deliver platforms so that there are multiple ways to get DS3 Internet.

If your building is already lit for fiber optic service, that’s likely the best option for DS3 Internet. If not, you might consider moving your high bandwidth Internet servers to a colocation center. Colo centers generally have the best prices on WAN bandwidth and the availability of multiple carriers to choose from. Construction costs are minimal due to everything being in the same building.

For business locations in a metropolitan areas, including nearby suburbs, there are a couple of other options for DS3 Internet. One is wireless transmission. This is line-of-sight microwave transmission on licensed bands from a carrier’s point of presence to an antenna on your building. It only works fairly close to the carrier and if there are no obstructions in the way.

DS3 over Copper isn’t affected by terrain or building density. This service uses multiple pair of standard twisted pair cabling to transport a DS3 level signal. Special modulation equipment is needed at each end of the path, which is provided by the carrier. DS3 over Copper (DS3oC) is also a relatively short range transmission scheme and is generally available only near carrier facilities.

Would your business benefit from a dedicated DS3 Internet connection, or do you already have one? If so, you owe it to yourself to check prices and availability of DS3 Internet for your business location. You may be surprised to find lower prices and more options that you expect.

An Android Phone to Devour

Hungry for a Google Android smartphone? Here’s one you can sink your teeth into, although not literally. It is possible to break those touch screens if you bite hard enough.

So, what are we talking about here? Why, the Motorola DEVOUR Silver of course. The DEVOUR is an Android 1.6 smartphone with a physical slide-out full QWERTY keyboard and a 3.1 inch color touch screen. It all wrapped up in a very professional looking silver color shell.

The DEVOUR features MOTOBLUR, a service that syncs and delivers your messages, status updates and contracts to the DEVOUR’s multiple customizable homescreens. No need to login or open apps. The updated data is available at your fingertips.

As a smartphone, the DEVOUR is web-enabled with 3G access where available on the Verizon Wireless EVDO Rev A network. It’s even updatable over the air with Motorola software updates. Plus, there are thousands of apps and hundreds of widgets available on the Android market to customize this smartphone to your personal needs. Your favorite Google apps come pre-loaded. That includes Google Maps, GTalk, Gmail, YouTube, Latitude and others.

The Motorola DEVOUR is a great choice as a business phone, but it’s also a multimedia phone. That starts with a 3.0 Megapixel digital camera that doubles as a camcorder and takes photos good enough to print as well as share. Sharing is made easy with multimedia messaging or via social media websites. Don’t forget that slide out keyboard... you can send text as well as pictures faster than ever with the DEVOUR.

The DEVOUR is a Google Android phone, but is it also a Verizon Wireless smartphone. That give you access to Verizon’s V CAST music with Rhapsody. You’ll have unlimited access to millions of songs for one flat monthly rate. Of course, you can also load your own music into the DEVOUR’s MP3 player and take your personal song collection with you. Just plug-in your standard 3.5mm stereo headset and you’re ready to listen. You can also use a Bluetooth stereo headset or other A2DP Bluetooth enabled device to stream your music wirelessly.

Have you been wanting an Android phone that works for both business and pleasure? Perhaps this is the one to tempt your taste buds. Learn more and order your Motorola DEVOUR Silver with Verizon Wireless service at a deep online discount, with free shipping via FedEX.

If your heart is set on a different model phone or carrier or if you’d just like to shop around and see what’s available, check out the current special offers of free and low cost cell phones and smart phones at Cell Phone Plans Finder now.

The DS1 DS3 Relationship

If you are involved with business telecommunications networking or need to be, you have probably heard the terms DS1 and DS3 bandied about. But what do these terms really mean and where did they come from?

The DS in DS1 and DS3 stands for Digital Signal level. It is a designation that is used to specify the capacity of a digital line in the T-carrier system. You know the most popular T-carrier service as T1. Another popular service is T3. In simple terms, DS1 goes along with T1 and DS3 goes along with T3.

Now, let’s see what’s behind these DS levels and T-carriers. The history of this system goes back to the 1950’s, when Bell Labs recognized the advantage of changing from an all-analog telephone system to digital connections between telephone company offices. Digital transmission carries many conversations on few wires and eliminates the noise and cross-talk that were commonly heard on long distance calls at that time.

The most basic service is one two-way telephone conversation. That was made the most basic element of the T-carrier system and given the designation DS0 or Digital Signal level zero. A DS0 signal is the digital representation of a single voice call. It has a bandwidth of 64 Kbps formed by sampling the audio conversation at a rate of 8 Kbps with 8 bits of data. Those numbers are critical, because they represent the minimum bandwidth needed to give the same audio quality as an equivalent analog phone line.

If a DS0 is one phone call and consumes 64 Kbps of bandwidth, then what is a DS1? DS1 is a collection of 24 DS0 “channels” packed together in a bundle. That’s 24 separate telephone conversations. The bandwidth for this bundle is 1.536 Mbps. When you add 8 Kbps for synchronization, the total bandwidth is 1.544 Mbps. It’s commonly referred to as 1.5 Mbps. A T1 line is a DS1 digital signal package carried on a very specific physical network consisting of 2 pair of twisted pair telco wires with a defined voltage and waveform characteristic.

That’s what DS1 means. Now, how about DS3? If you bundle 28 DS1 signals, the equivalent of 672 DS0 voice channels, you get a DS3. The bandwidth of this signal is 44.736 Mbps, often referred to as 45 Mbps. A T3 line carries a DS3 signal on coaxial cable, although T3 service may also be sent by microwave.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. You can generate the DS digital signal protocol but not necessarily use a T1 line or T3 line for transport. In a process called multiplexing, multiple DS1 and DS3 signals can be combined and transported over fiber optic cable. The SONET fiber optic services were designed to directly accommodate this. The lowest bandwidth SONET service generally available is OC3, which carries 3 multiplexed DS3 signals with a total bandwidth of 155.52 Mbps. When the signals get to where they are needed, they are separated or demultiplexed to get back the 3 DS3 signals, which might be constructed of 28 DS1 signals each.

When used to transport data packets instead of telephone calls, the individual channels are generally invisible to the end user, although they exist within the T-carrier and SONET systems. DS1 and T1 can be said to have a bandwidth 1.5 Mbps. DS3 and T3 can be said to have a bandwidth of 45 Mbps. It is these numbers that you can use to compare pricing with competing telecom services , such as Metro Ethernet.

Biggest Cisco Router Yet

If there is any doubt that we are smack in the middle of the information age, it was put to rest today with Cisco’s announcement of their newest and largest routing platform. The CRS-3 Carrier Routing System is an evolutionary upgrade to their CRS-1, used as a core router for Internet traffic and data center operations.

The CRS-3’s throughput of 322 Terabits per second is mind-boggling enough. But just as important is Cisco’s acknowledgement that the nature of Internet traffic is changing. What started as a packet data network is now quickly becoming dominated by video transmissions, mobile services, and new architectures such as cloud computing. You might yawn at the old benchmark of how long it takes to download the Library of Congress (1 second), but I’ll bet you’ll be impressed to know that the CRS-3 can stream every motion picture ever made in less than 4 minutes. Now, that’s video-ready!

Speaking of video-ready, check out this informational video from Cisco to see the CRS-3 in action and learn more about its capabilities:



Obviously, this isn’t something you’re going to install in the basement of your house or in the office of a quick serve restaurant. Entry level pricing is $90,000 and goes up from there. But if you are an Internet service provider or operate a fiber optic content delivery network, you may be eyeing one of these with a thought to purchase sooner than you think. Perhaps you’ll simply want to upgrade your CRS-1 Carrier Routing System as gigabits of video content grow geometrically.

AT&T can see the future coming. They recently tested the Cisco CRS-3 on a 100 Gigabit link between New Orleans and Miami. It’s not just server capacity that will have to grow by leaps and bounds. Network connections will also have to scale up across the board.

How’s your network capacity doing? Are you about to use up the remaining margin in your copper or fiber optic WAN? If so, you’ll be pleased to know that bandwidth upgrades at all service levels are more available and affordable than ever before. In many cases you can get more capacity for the same price you are paying now. Want to find out if that’s possible for your situation? Check out Gigabit bandwidth prices and availability now.

Trade In Your T1 Line For 10 Mbps Ethernet

Is your T1 line lease about to come up for renewal or has it already expired and you’re just paying month to month? Don’t be too quick to re-sign that agreement until you see if you can get 10 Mbps Ethernet for the same money.

What? How can that be? Business telecom services are priced on both bandwidth and distance from the carrier. How can you possibly expect to get 10 Mbps for the same price as 1.5 Mbps at the same location?

It is indeed possible for many business locations to upgrade from the T1 service they’ve had for years to much higher bandwidths. It’s all because of a revolution that has taken place in the telecommunications market recently. You’re aware that traditional landline telephone services are being quickly replaced by wireless and VoIP telephony. Well, the same thing has been happening with the underlying networks. They’re all being upgraded from switched circuit time division multiplexing technology to packet switched IP networking.

This revolution in wide area networking (WAN) technology has also opened the door for new competitive carriers who don’t have a legacy telephony switching system to support. They’ve hit the ground running with all-IP fiber optic networks with both fiber and copper access. In some cases, wireless access at speeds similar to T1 lines is also available.

To be fair, the pricing on both T1 lines and the newer Ethernet services have dropped substantially over the last few years. But you wouldn’t be aware of that unless you shopped competitively for bandwidth using a service such as GeoQuote. The Telarus GeoQuote search engine calculates the distance from your business address to the nearest carrier points of presence (POPs). It then accesses the carrier databases to get pricing information for various levels of service.

Now, here’s what’s really exciting about the quotes I’ve seen coming out of GeoQuote lately. T1 line prices have been on a steady and rapid decline over the last few years. At the same time, Ethernet services have been expanding at a rapid rate with both higher bandwidths and lower costs per Mbps. If you are a long time user of T1 line services, you may well be paying a small fortune on your T1 line lease. But I’ve seen some quotes for 10 x 10 Mbps Ethernet coming in at less than the quotes for standard T1 that were common only a few years ago. If you simply traded in your expired T1 line lease for Ethernet over Copper (EoC) service, you could easily double or triple your bandwidth for the same cost. It’s even possible in some cases to move from 1.5 Mbps to 10 Mbps without having to increase your telecom budget.

Like all business telecom services, Ethernet pricing and availability is highly dependent on location. In fact, two businesses across the street from each other could have different lease rates for exactly the same service. So, how do you find out what’s available and how much it is going to cost? The fast and easy way is to simply run an online check for business Ethernet service for your building’s address and see what shows up. A Telarus consultant will be happy to discuss your particular needs and budget and see if there are any current special offers that are available at even better than the standard rates.

Looking For A Lit Building?

If you are in the dark about where to get higher levels of business bandwidth, what you should be looking for is a lit building?

Sure, you can wait until dark and then look to see which buildings are illuminated, but that’s not going to get you the kind of lit building you’re looking for. What you need is one that is on the receiving end of telecommunications laser. In other words, you want to find a building that is “lit” for fiber optic service .

What difference does it make if the building is lit or not? It makes all the difference in the world when it comes to bandwidth. We’ve become accustomed to being able to just call up and order T1 line service without giving any thought as to how it would be provisioned. The technicians just show up one day and wire up the demarcation point. The reason is that nearly every building is automatically wired for telephone service. Businesses usually have multi-pair telephone cables brought in to support two or more business phone lines. T1 is a telco technology that uses the same twisted pair cable that connect analog telephones. So, you might say that businesses are pre-wired for T1 service.

That makes PBX telephone, dedicated Internet access, and point to point data connections easy to come by as long as you only need the bandwidth a T1 line can provide of 1.5 Mbps. You can also order multiple T1 lines to get 3, 6 or 9 Mbps as long as you have extra copper pair available. But what if your business needs bandwidths of 10 Mbps or more?

Ah, that’s where the power of light shows its value. Fiber optic bandwidth is nearly unlimited. In fact, you’ll run out of money before you run out of bandwidth capacity. A single fiber can support at least 10 Gbps. There are almost always multiple strands of fiber within a fiber optic cable. Beyond that, you can split the laser beam feeding each fiber strand into multiple colors, or lambdas, with wavelength division multiplexing. Each wavelength gives you the equivalent of a whole new fiber. We’re talking terabits per second at least.

If you have fiber optic communications service provisioned to your building, it’s pretty easy to turn up the bandwidth to whatever you require. Sometimes all it takes is a phone call. But what if you go into the equipment room and find only copper wiring as far as the eye can see? Then what?

This is where the next best thing to having a lit building is being near one. The reason is construction costs. Generally, the farther you have to build-out fiber optic service, the more expensive it will be. It’s a one-time expense, but the costs can easily be prohibitive. It might just make more sense to move your whole business than pay to have trenches dug or cable strung on poles for miles.

So, do you have to be right next door to a lit building to get your building lit at a reasonable cost? That sure helps, but you have options even if the nearest service is way done the road. Remember all that copper? If you only have to deliver high bandwidth services a few miles from the nearest lit building, a technology called Ethernet over Copper (EoC) can transport 10 Mbps bandwidth. In fact, within a mile or so you might extend that up to 45 Mbps. That’s as much as many businesses really need. For longer stretches, Ethernet over DS1 (EoDS1) bundles twisted pair capacity using T1 technology to give you 10 Mbps to many more locations.

You should also know that you don’t always have to pay fiber optic construction costs. The carrier may well bear that expense, as long as they have enough service commitments to justify the investment. This is something to consider if your business is located in a large office building or industrial park. By getting together with other businesses who have the same need for bandwidth, you may be able to convince a provider that it is worthwhile to light your building.

So, do you know where the lit buildings are in your area? You can find out in seconds by simply using this fiber optic service lit building finder. Just enter your building’s address and see what shows up on the map.

Internet Soothes The Savage Beasts

How do you get a bunch of unruly teenagers on a school bus to behave themselves on the trip to and from school? Have the driver scream threats? Hire a pro wrestler to intimidate them? Put in a spy camera and give the troublemakers detentions? Nope. The answer is much easier. Just give those kids access to WiFi Internet and you won’t hear a peep out of them.

That’s what Vail, Arizona has done to one of its busses. Reports are that once the WiFi router was installed, rowdy behavior simply disappeared. What’s more, there is more homework is getting done that ever before. Can you find a better return on your school district dollar than this?

Of course, not all of those students are likely writing term papers. Some are tweeting about their teachers, some are sending amorous emails to classmates, some are reading computer and science news sites, and I’ll bet a bunch are playing online games. It really doesn’t matter. The problem was discipline. The Internet was made available. Afterwards, no discipline problem.

I suspect there is a wider lesson to be learned here. We’re constantly hearing about those computer or gaming addicted kids who just won’t go outdoors and play. Yeah? Well, those are also the kids who aren’t tagging buildings with spray paint, stealing other kids’ lunch money, or terrorizing the neighborhood. Perhaps the solution to both childhood and adult behavioral problems is more Internet, not less.

There’s and old saying: “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” That’s as true today as it ever was. For some kids, the under-supervision problem is severe, with parents absorbed by careers and social lives. A lot of adults fare no better. They’ve been trained through childhood and schooling to do what their teachers and then their bosses order. But with unemployment rampant, there is no boss anymore and they find themselves both directionless and squeezed financially.

What’s that got to do with the Internet? I think there’s a case to be made that universal Internet access is at least as important as universal telephone service or public libraries. The information world has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades. Everything is moving online, including communications, reference and research materials of all sorts, newspapers, job postings, magazines, games, and a lot of socializing and support. If you aren’t connected, you are more than disconnected. You are disadvantaged.

There’s something online for everyone. Whether you want to solve a puzzle, read up on what’s going on in the world, do your homework, look for a job, or even make your own job using your computer. Every profession, every trade, every hobby, every political action, and every interest is represented online. It’s even possible to go to college and get a degree online.

So, here’s something to roll around. How much could we reduce our juvenile delinquency and adult crime problems by making the Internet not only available, but mandatory? We need to insist on broadband everywhere as being as important as electricity and indoor plumbing everywhere. The “one laptop per child” project isn’t just important in Africa. It a crying need in the United States. Instead of turning kids into hunchbacks with backpacks loaded down with heavy and non-interactive textbooks, why not get those lessons online and accessible through the tablet or laptop computer every child gets from school day #1?

Yes, the vast majority of kids are going to use those computers for a lot more than grinding out rote homework assignments. They’ll be exploring all sorts of web sites, playing games, sending each other messages and whatever else they find interesting. We should be thankful that happens naturally. It’s curiosity, exploration and self-teaching that is going to be as important to their success as any assignments they’ll ever receive.

Low Price Toll Free Numbers

Are you looking for a toll free number for your business, but want to pay as little as you can and still get quality service? Your best bet may be Kall8 toll-free service.

This is much more than just a simple telephone number where you pay the cost of the call instead of the person calling. Kall8 offers a complete suite of telephone services that can make your mobile phone as powerful as your office phone. We’ll take a look at those services, but first you have to hear the price...

Kall8 low price toll free numbers start at $2. That gets you an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number all set up and ready to use immediately. Plus you get an online management account plus all the features that work with this number. You can keep your toll free number by paying just $2 a month for as long as you want it. If you decide to stop using the service, you pay only for the cost of the calls that have come in. Nothing more. There are no contracts or disconnect fees.

Yes, you can also get an 800 toll free number. These have all the same features as the 866, 877 and 888 toll free numbers. The cost is slightly more at $5 each plus $5 per month to keep the account.

But how much will you pay for those toll free incoming calls? Most calls are just 6.9 cents per minute. I say most calls, because calls that originate in Alaska, Hawaii or U.S. territories have additional surcharges. Even so, may businesses pay more than 6.9 cents per minute for just their regular outgoing long distance calls.

Now let's take a look at the features included with your toll free number. First of all, you get to set the ring-to number and change it anytime you want. The ring-to number is the number of the phone that will ring when someone calls your toll free number. In a sense, your toll free calls are automatically forwarded to the phone number of your choice. That can be an office phone, home phone or even your cell phone. If you move around a lot, you can go online and change the ring-to number at anytime.

Kall8 low price toll free numbers all have their own voice mail. You have a choice of how you want to retrieve those voice mail messages. You can call-in and listen to them. You can go to your online account from any Web browser and listen to them on your computer. Or you can have those messages sent as audio attachments to email messages.

Your Kall8 number will also accept fax messages. If anyone sends you a fax message, you can get a copy as an email attachment or go online to read it. Your choice.

Ever want to conduct a conference call, but didn’t have time or energy to go looking for a conferencing service? Now you can conduct conferences with up to 25 participants at any time for as long as you want. No scheduling needed. The regular per minute charges apply for each participant that dials your toll free number and enters the password that you give them.

Your Kall8 toll-free number also works in reverse as a virtual calling card. You just dial any of the voice mail access numbers and use the system to make outbound calls at the same 6.9 cents a minute that applies to incoming calls.

Other features include call blocking, custom call forwarding, choice of Caller ID display, and setting a maximum call length so callers don’t prattle on for hours at your expense.

DROID vs DROID

You’ve heard plenty about the famous DROID phone, so named because it runs the Google Android operating system. But did you know that there were TWO of them? Yes, not only are there 2 DROIDs, but they are manufactured by two different companies to different specifications. So, which DROID is the DROID you have in mind?

The first DROID is build by Motorola for use on the Verizon Wireless network. It’s a touchscreen QWERTY smartphone running the Android 2.0 operating system. It’s so innovating, that it won Time.com’s “Top Gadget of 2009” award.

This DROID is the top of the line model, with a 5.0 Megapixel digital camera that doubles as a camcorder. It offers geo-tagging, auto-stabilization, a camera flash and on-board picture editing tools. You can take print your pictures or shared them online or via multimedia messaging.

Intended as a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone, the Motorola DROID is two phones in one. Closed, it has something of an iPhone appearance, also sported by a wide number of touchscreen phones today. The large 3.7 inch color touchscreen display gives you complete command of thousands of apps that you can download from the Android Market.

Slide out the full QWERTY keyboard and you have a messaging machine that should please the fastest texting aficionado. Connectivity is 3G wireless where available on the Verizon Wireless network plus WiFi for use at home, work or in cafe and other WiFi hotspots. Surf the Web, email, SMS text, IM or multimedia text those you want to stay in contact with.

The alternate DROID phone is the DROID ERIS build by HTC, also for the Verizon Wireless network. This one runs the Google Android 1.5 operating system, sports a 3.2 inch color touchscreen display and offers a virtual keyboard rather that the slide-out set of buttons. In this respect, it is more like the iPhone than the Motorola DROID.

You still get the 5.0 Megapixel digital camera that is integrated with GPS services. The DROID ERIS also connects to both the 3G Verizon Wireless cellular network and WiFi hotspots.

So why would you pick one model of DROID over the other? It’s personal preference, mostly. If you like the more industrial look or want a physical keyboard, Motorola DROID is your choice. It also runs the more advanced Android 2.0 operating system and can handle larger memory cards. If you like the more rounded look, are happy with an on-screen keyboard, prefer the HTC Sense display presentation, and like the separate phone control buttons, you may prefer the HTC DROID ERIS. In fact, these phones are more alike than different, so carefully read the specs and look at the pictures for each phone to help make your decision.

You should also know that, as of this writing, the DROID ERIS is available free after instant online discount and the DROID is available at a deep discount of just $49.99. Those deals are always changing, so check out the complete selection of smartphone special offers and learn more about the HTC DROID and Motorola DROID ERIS for Verizon Wireless now.

You can also shop by cellular carrier or view today’s special deals on dozens of deeply discounted and free cellphones, smartphones and wireless modem aircards at Cell Phone Plans Finder.