Copper Decommissioning Expands Demand for Metro Ethernet

By: John Shepler

If you are still getting by with last mile Internet over DSL, T1 lines, or Ethernet over Copper, you should take a serious look at Metro Ethernet over Fiber. You’ll get more bandwidth, better pricing and… it will continue to be available.

Copper Decommissioning is Now
Copper based telecom services have been the go-to technology for the last century, but not this century. The ubiquitous twisted pair telephone line has supported our needs from the introduction of the telephone through the fevered growth of the commercial Internet. But, like cellphones the size of a brick, the technology has run its course. Copper just can’t keep up with today’s and tomorrow’s needs.

The phone companies know this. The network operators know this. They are well aware that we are way past “peak copper”. As you read this, copper lines nationwide are being retired or “decommissioned”. In some cases the copper is physically ripped out of conduits so that fiber optic cables can be pulled right back in. In other cases the copper bundles in the ground are simply disconnected and left to rust away on their own. In the coming years there will be fewer and fewer copper options available to order, until a copper wireline is as rare as a cranked telephone set.

Fiber is the Future AND the Present
The replacements for copper telco right now are Cable in the form of hybrid fiber/copper systems, Fixed Wireless Access, and Fiber Optic bandwidth. Fiber in cities is also called Metro Fiber or Metro Ethernet. Most urban, suburban and even small town businesses now have access to Metro Ethernet and its flexible options.

Fiber is your most flexible option for several reasons. First, fiber optic strands offer extremely high bandwidths, to 10 Gbps or more. With wavelength division multiplexing, you might get a dozen or more 10 Gbps lambdas, each a virtual fiber in itself. Now, consider that nearly all fiber cables have multiple strands, even dozens, and you can see how fiber bandwidth is nearly unlimited. Once installed, that fiber will likely last as long as you need.

Second, fiber, unlike cable or most wireless, can provide exclusive dedicated line services. You can order private point to point connections and have all of the bandwidth available for your traffic. Compare that to the consumer-oriented broadband services that share bandwidth among many users to keep the cost down. With dedicated Internet access or private point to point lines, you won’t be competing with everybody else for limited resources at high traffic times. This can be especially valuable in connecting your network to a distant cloud provider that hosts business critical applications.

In addition to massive available bandwidth, fiber service is also very scalable. You can typically start off as low as 10 Mbps at pricing comparable with a current T1 line, but with over 6x the bandwidth. Many smaller businesses find that 100 Mbps is plenty, but Gigabit bandwidth is easy to come by and very affordable. If your applications demand it or your workforce is substantial, 10 Gbps is easily available on fiber. Even 100 Gbps is now being offered to larger companies and hospital complexes, content developers, etc.

Why Ethernet over Fiber
The earlier implementations of fiber optic service were based on a telephone company standard called SONET that offered fixed bandwidth levels and was designed for voice calls, not data. While protocol conversion circuitry made SONET the backbone of the Internet, Carrier Ethernet is now the standard to be embraced. This is the same switched Ethernet that runs on your local network, but extended to transport packets over hundreds or thousands of miles.

Metro Ethernet uses the Carrier Ethernet standard running over fiber optic cabling. This makes it virtually plug-and-play with your network. You can even set it up so that your business locations all over the state or country act like they are on one big network. Metro Fiber Ethernet is the new standard for business connections. Network connections within the metro area are often referred to as MAN or Metropolitan Area Network, while those more distant are referred to as WAN or Wide Area Network.

Are you ready to replace aging T1, DS3, DSL or other network services with something more modern that is future-proof and likely less expensive? Check your Metro Fiber Ethernet options for one or more business locations now.

Two Flavors of Fast Ethernet Service

By: John Shepler

No need to let bandwidth limitations stifle your business. Here are two affordable options to acquire 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet service, likely as much as a small to medium size operation will need. I’ll tell you later how to upgrade that to Gigabit Ethernet when the time is right.

Fast Ethernet over Fiber
The gold standard in business bandwidth has shifted from legacy T1 lines to fiber optic service. Not the old expensive SONET telco fiber that you know as OC-3, OC-12 or OC-48. I’m talking about the modern Carrier Ethernet standard known as Ethernet over Fiber, also called Metro Ethernet.

Entry level fiber service typically starts at 10 Mbps. That’s enough for many small businesses with limited Internet or file transfer needs. With even a few employees or heavy use of cloud applications, you’ll be craving more performance. That’s where Fast Ethernet shines. It offers 100 Mbps x 100 Mbps dedicated bandwidth 100% of the time.

Features of Fast Ethernet over Fiber
Performance is much like your old T1 line or DS3 connection, but much faster. Symmetrical bandwidth means that your upload and download speeds are both 100 Mbps. That’s important if you run cloud applications that send large files in both directions. Backup to cloud storage is almost exclusively in the upload direction until you need to recover a file.

Fiber optic bandwidth is known for low latency, packet loss and jitter. Your service will be solid since all of the line bandwidth is dedicated to your business. Whatever capacity you aren’t using at the moment sits idle, much like the way a Local Area Network behaves.

That brings up another important advantage of Fast Ethernet over Fiber. It is directly compatible with your LAN. Just plug it in to your router or switch and it’s ready to use. Many business networks run at 100 Mbps, although new installations are typically 1000 Mbps and larger networks are 10,000 Mbps or 10 GigE.

Option #2 Fast Ethernet over Cable
Business Cable Broadband has come a long way over the years. Most systems are HFC or Hybrid Fiber Cable. That architecture employs a private fiber optic network for the long haul runs. Traditional 75 ohm coaxial copper cable connects from the curb to your building. The termination equipment is a DOCSIS modem. Most are DOCSIS 3.0, which easily provides 100 Mbps Internet service up to a maximum of 1.2 Gbps in the download direction. The newer standard is DOCSIS 3.1, which easily provides Gigabit Internet service with a growth path to as high as 10 Gbps in both directions.

Characteristics of Fast Ethernet over Cable
Two advantages of Cable broadband are availability and cost. You can get service if the cable runs past your building, and that’s most buildings in metro areas. The cost for 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet is likely a fraction of what you pay for Ethernet over Fiber. Construction costs are minimal, if at all. Simply plug your network into the Ethernet connector on the DOCSIS modem.

The cost difference is reflected in a difference in service level, although that may not make a difference depending on how you use the service. Cable bandwidth is shared, not dedicated, which can mean variations in line speed that depend on how many other users are online and how heavily they are using the service.

The bandwidth is asymmetrical, meaning that download is much faster than upload. A typical bandwidth service is 100 Mbps down and 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps up. Typically Internet usage is heavily in the download direction for web browsing and watching video. Email is both upload and download, but the files tend to be fairly small and not affected by the asymmetry. If you send to large mailing lists to deliver video from your own servers, the upload bandwidth could become a limitation.

Upgrading Bandwidth
One advantage that both fiber and cable service share is that they are easily scalable compared to the old T-Carrier and SONET telco standards. You simply need a port that can handle the maximum bandwidth you anticipate needing. For fiber, that’s a Gigabit Ethernet port on the Customer Premises Equipment. For cable it’s a DOCSIS 3.0 or 3.1 modem. With those in place, you can upgrade your speed with just a phone call and no equipment changes will be necessary.

Do you feel limited by your current point to point or Internet access speed? You may be surprised how affordable a major upgrade is. Check out Fast Ethernet service options for your business now.

Gigabit Metro Fiber Ethernet Means Business

By: John Shepler

More and more companies are running out of bandwidth as demanding applications eat up every Mbps of LAN, MAN and WAN bandwidth they can access. Are you doomed to fight a losing battle or is there a good technical solution available?

More Bandwidth to the Rescue
Don’t expect to roll back the clock and be able to do business today and tomorrow with the connections you ordered yesterday. X.25 is long gone. T1 lines have about had their last hurrah. Ethernet over Copper is a temporary solution, at best, to buy you time for what you really need to do. That is, connect to the world via fiber optic bandwidth

But What About Cable?
Cable broadband, also called D3 or DOCSIS 3 for the technical standard, is actually a good solution for some applications. Just don’t kid yourself. That cable connection doesn’t really go very far until it hooks up with the cable company’s metro fiber plant. The junction box may be a few blocks away or it might be handing on the utility pole you can see from your office.

The same is true for T3 or DS3 bandwidth, the longstanding upgrade path from T1 lines. The connection to your equipment may be a pair of coaxial cables, but they only go out to the street. At they point they join up with a SONET fiber optic system owned and maintained by the local telephone company.

What’s Special About MetroE Fiber?
Ethernet is the newer and future-proof technology for carrying digital traffic on fiber optic systems. It is based on the same Ethernet standards used for your local area networks. Certain standards have been added to fit with carrier operations, but otherwise it is switched Ethernet.

That means the interface between your LAN and the carrier’s MAN or WAN is trivially simple. Just plug in and go, like you would with any router or switch. No special interface cards are needed. Chances are that the carrier who is providing your service will install a managed router at your business to define the network edge.

Metro vs Internet
Metro Ethernet, strictly speaking, is a network that serves a particular city or city plus suburbs. The most common use has been to interconnect business locations that are geographically close. These may include headquarters, data centers, warehouses and branch offices. Some companies choose to include suppliers and important customers on their MetroE network for high connection speed and security.

Metro Ethernet is a point to point or multipoint service that directly connects particular locations. You can elect to order ELAN service that actually extends your local network to the other locations. It’s just like you ran your own cables across town, but without the prohibitive expense of doing so.

The Internet is another animal. It’s actually a massive worldwide network made up of national, regional and city-wide networks that all agree to a common standard. Metro Ethernet is not the Internet, but it can connect to it. MetroE networks can also connect to each other over longer distances, especially when ordered through the same carrier.

Why Order Metro Ethernet?
You can think of Carrier Ethernet or Metro Ethernet as the new gold standard in telecommunications. It gives you high bandwidth connections that are easily scalable and low in latency, jitter and packet loss. You have exclusive use of the bandwidth you’ve ordered. It’s also generally covered by a service level agreement to ensure that you get the highest level of availability.

That’s important because the tradeoff between Metro Ethernet and Cable Broadband is not so much in the connection method. Cable provides you with a shared bandwidth service that varies in speed depending on how heavy the usage is. Service is generally on a “best effort” basis rather than any particular guarantees of performance or availability. Thus, the lower price for a given bandwidth level. Some businesses, especially smaller ones, find this tradeoff well worth making. Others with large user bases and critical applications may find that only dedicated service is acceptable.

By the way, many Cable companies also offer Metro Ethernet service on their fiber backbones. It’s a different class of service with a different pricing structure than the coax connected business broadband offering.

Is Metro Ethernet For You?
If you are running out of bandwidth or already at the limit, or simply want a service that can easily be upgraded in the future, you should take a serious look at Metro Ethernet for your business. You may be able to get a break on construction costs or even have them waived if you sign a long term contract, have high enough bandwidth requirements or can join forces with other business customers in your building. There are likely multiple carriers serving your area. Find out what each can offer with a set of competitive quotes for Metro Ethernet service now.

Fiber Optic Service FAQ, Part 2

Here are some more frequently asked questions and answers about fiber optic service for your business You may also be interested in the first list of fiber FAQs.

Q: What types of services are available over Ethernet fiber?

A: The Metro Ethernet Forum has standardized three popular services that are of interest to business users. Ethernet Private Line or E-Line is a dedicated point to point connection between two business locations or from your location to the Internet. Ethernet LAN or E-LAN provides a meshed network service that interconnects multiple locations. Ethernet Tree or E-Tree is a one to many connection popular with companies that distribute content to many subscribers.

Q: How do you connect multiple location LANs together

A: E-Line and E-LAN can do this easily. E-Line is appropriate for two locations to connect as a single bridged network. E-LAN makes sense for 3 or more locations, even those located internationally. E-LAN can make many separate LANs work like they are one larger network.

Q: What is Ethernet over SONET?

A: Most Ethernet providers offer a “native” Ethernet that powers their entire network. If you are in a location that can only get SONET, some carriers offer Ethernet that runs over the SONET fiber. From your prospective, this is the same as any other Ethernet over Fiber.

Q: Can Ethernet carriers interconnect?

A: Yes. The equipment that does this is called E-NNI or Ethernet Network to Network Interface. It allows service providers to seamlessly transfer network traffic back and forth. This allows both carriers to expand their service footprints to wider geographical areas.

Q: What are low latency fiber routes?

A: Most fiber networks strive to minimize latency or time delay between locations. Those advertised specifically as low latency routes are specially engineered to minimize the fiber route length using the straightest path available. They also minimize equipment along the route that can introduce additional latency. Low latency fiber services are in big demand for financial companies that deal in high speed trading.

Q: What is Metro Ethernet?

A: Metro Ethernet or MetroE is a fiber optic network that connects business and other locations within a limited geographic region, usually a single city or metropolitan area consisting of city and suburbs. MetroE connections can also connect to other locations nationally or worldwide.

Q: Does Ethernet support telephone service?

A: Ethernet is a great choice for enterprise VoIP phone service. A specialized service known as SIP Trunking connects your networked telephones or IP PBX to a distant service provider. The higher the bandwidth, the more simultaneous conversations can be supported. Traditional analog phones are better supported with analog phone lines or ISDN PRI service over T1 lines.

Q: Is Ethernet over Fiber distance limited like Ethernet over Copper?

A: No. Fiber offers unlimited transmission distance at any speed you wish. Most service providers have regional networks that serve multiple states or offer nationwide service. Some carriers connect worldwide using undersea cable between continents.

Are you interested in what fiber optic bandwidth service can do for your business? If so, get get instant online pricing up to 1 Gbps and complementary consultation with a bandwidth expert if you wish.


You may also be interested in reading Fiber Optic Service FAQs, Part 1 and Part 3.

FastE Fiber as MetroE for Business Ethernet Service

Business bandwidth demands are not only rising, but rising fast. What’s a good solution for fast data transfer? Fast Ethernet is an excellent option. It is readily available and affordable over fiber optic connections nationwide. Let’s take a closer look at how FastE works and how it fits into your bandwidth strategy.

Chances are that you’ve been using Fast Ethernet or FastE for years on your own network. Fast Ethernet is another name for 100 Mbps Ethernet. Standard Ethernet is 10 Mbps, Fast Ethernet is 100 Mbps and Gigabit Ethernet is 1,000 Mbps. Network Interface Cards (NICs) in every device with an Ethernet jack, also called a port, support one or more of these Ethernet speeds. For instance, a 10/100 port supports Ethernet communications at 10 Mbps and also 100 Mbps. A 10/100/1000 port includes 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1000 Gbps.

Nearly every computer, switch, router, modem, firewall, printer, NAS (Network Attached Storage) Disk and other network device supports 10/100 Ethernet. The 10/100/1000 spec is becoming more and more prevalent. In both cases, these devices support Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbps.

So, what doesn’t support Fast Ethernet communication? Many MAN and WAN connections come nowhere close. Clearly computer technology has accelerated faster than communications technology. Actually, support for 100 Mbps communication over long distances has been available for a long time. It’s just that you needed special interfacing and the cost was beyond what most businesses were willing to pay.

High priced proprietary data communications are a legacy of the telephone industry. Nearly every company has ordered a DSL or T1 line to be able to communicate between business locations and connect to the public Internet. The cost of those lines has fallen dramatically in recent years. Even so, the limited bandwidth is starting to become an uncomfortable constraint on even smaller operations.

What’s changed the game recently is the introduction of Carrier Ethernet services. Carrier means that you lease these lines from a service provider, a carrier, rather than stringing the wires yourself. Any connection that goes beyond your property is handled by carriers. At one time the only carrier available was the local telephone company. Deregulation has allowed other service providers, called competitive carriers, to enter the marketplace and compete on technology and price.

Carrier Ethernet is one of those competitive services, although you’ll now find it offered by incumbent as well as competitive carriers. What’s allowed Carrier Ethernet to grow by leaps and bounds is standardization by an industry group called the MEF or Metro Ethernet Forum. Any provider that meets the MEF standards will be compatible with Carrier Ethernet equipment and interconnection with other provider networks.

Fast Ethernet is one of the Carrier Ethernet services you can order in both metropolitan and long haul connections. These are known as MAN or Metropolitan Area Networks and WAN or Wide Area Networks. The difference is really one of scale. The MAN serves a local geographical area that includes a city and surrounding suburbs. The WAN joins cities and may cross state and national borders. International WANs use undersea fiber to link far-flung destinations worldwide.

Metro networks based on Ethernet rather than the older SONET technology are sometimes referred to as MEN or Metro Ethernet Networks. You’ll hear them referred to as MetroE networks. These networks are almost always based on fiber optic rather than copper lines. Increasingly, so are the connections to the network. It’s fiber all the way for FastE and above.

What kind of connection can you make to a MetroE network. One of the most popular is the Fast Ethernet or FastE connection at 100 Mbps. Another popular service level is GigE at 1000 Mbps. What’s just emerging now as a business service level is 10 GigE at 10000 Mbps or 10 Gbps.

Going Ethernet all the way through your network, across the metro or wide area networks and to another LAN at the far end, has some real benefits. The interface is trivially easy. Your handoff from the carrier is a standard fiber or copper Ethernet jack. You’ll also be able to order both point to point connections called E-Line and meshed multi-location connections called E-LAN. Don’t think that you are stuck with only the standard Ethernet speeds either. You can generally get many increments between 10, 100, 1000 and 10000 Mbps.

The biggest advantage of all is cost savings. You’ll pay far less per Mbps for Ethernet than other services. The difference is sometimes half as much for Ethernet as SONET or other telecom services. This easily allows you to afford the bandwidth you really need for today’s communication-intensive applications such as cloud services.

Is your business bandwidth constrained? No need to be stuck at low copper technology speeds when fiber connections to high bandwidth metro and wide area networks are available and affordable. Check now for bandwidth services and prices available for your business location.

Instant Metro Ethernet Provider Maps

Metro Ethernet (Metro E) services have big advantages for businesses and organizations. These include higher bandwidths, lower costs and special services such as meshed WAN connections. The big question is what Metro E services are available for your business. For that, you need a Metro Ethernet provider map.

Why bother mapping out Ethernet availability? This service is so new that it is not yet universally available. You can call up just about any major carrier and ask about T1 service with the expectation that you can get one or more T1 lines anytime you want them. If you want Metro Ethernet, however, you may well find that your usual provider has no Ethernet capability as of yet or that they don’t service your business location.

Besides the newness of the service, there are a couple of other tricky aspects to Metro E. First, there are several methods of providing service. High bandwidth connections, say 50 Mbps and above, almost always require fiber optic lines. It is estimated that fewer than 30% of all business locations are currently “lit” for fiber optic service. If you don’t have it, or have service from a carrier that only deals in the older SONET protocol, there may be costs and/or time delays in getting your building connected.

Your odds of getting the Metro Ethernet service you want increase dramatically when you include a multitude of competitive service providers in your assessment. The problem is that the time honored ways of looking for service providers in the phone book or industrial directories may miss many good opportunities. What you really want is a service that specializes in business bandwidth. That service is readily available at no cost through a bandwidth services broker.

One of the best in the business is Telarus, Inc. They’ve made available a self-service mapping tool called GeoQuote (tm). The GeoQuote search requires only some basic location information such as street address, city and state of the location you want to check. The patented system then searches a massive database and even accesses carrier IT systems to gather information on the Ethernet services at or near your building. The results are presented on a standard street map plus a listing of distance and capability of each service available. If you wish, you can then go on to get a detailed real-time price quote by entering your contact information.

By knowing where high bandwidth fiber is already installed, you can then get competitive quotes and see just what the construction costs are. You may get lucky and find that your building is “on-net” for one or more providers. That means there is already fiber in the building and it only has to be installed to your offices.

What if there is no fiber nearby? You may still be able to get Ethernet bandwidths from 3 to 50 Mbps using a technology called “Ethernet over Copper (EoC).” This service uses the same twisted pair telco wiring that bring in multi-line phone service and T1. The technology is a bit different and requires that the central office where your copper lines are connected has the specialized interface equipment needed for EoC. Many, many COs now have that capability. The speed of the service depends highly on how far you are away from the CO. If you are located nearby, you can get EoC bandwidth that rivals entry level fiber services. If farther away, you may be limited to 10 or 20 Mbps or not be able to get service at all.

Even if Ethernet over Copper is unavailable, there is a chance that a related technology called EoDS1 can work for your situation. This involves using multiple T1 lines to bring in the Ethernet signal. Distance isn’t an issue for this approach, although you are limited to 10 or 12 Mbps max.

Are you curious now about the fiber and copper based Ethernet services available to your business? Try using the GeoQuote instant Metro Ethernet provider maps and get complete price quotes for each competitive service.

Metro Ethernet Networking Technology

Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN) are well established as a way for businesses to transport their traffic within a given metropolitan area. Now the MAN is becoming the MEN, or Metro Ethernet Network. Let’s take a look at what this new technology has to offer.

Metropolitan or Metro Ethernet Networks are based on Carrier Ethernet standards established by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), and industry standards group. This ensures that you know what services you are getting and that you can directly compare these services from provider to provider.

Why bother with Metro Ethernet when the MAN connections you have now are working just fine? While these services are no doubt running reliably and getting the job done, you may be missing out on service options that could better meet your needs. You many also be paying more than you really have to.

The core networking technologies of Metro E networks could be pure IP networks or they may be Ethernet services running on top of legacy SONET fiber optic networks. That’s a perfectly legitimate technical approach. Protected SONET rings have a history of high reliability, low latency and considerable bandwidth. As a user, having to deal with SONET at the SONET level does limit your options compared with Carrier Ethernet. You can be better off with Ethernet over SONET or Ethernet over IP core networks.

SONET is a TDM or Time Division Multiplexing technology with all traffic loaded into neat little time slots lined up one right after the other. An ADM or Add/Drop Multiplexer handles getting specific traffic on and off the network. Your connection is by one of the standardized Optical Carrier levels, such as OC-3 (155 Mbps), OC-12 (622 Mbps), OC-24 (1.24 Gbps) or OC-48 (2.5 Gbps).

Carrier Ethernet is based on packets rather than time slots. Packets are distinguished by the information in their headers that are read by switches and routers. This is the same Ethernet than runs on your company LAN. That’s the first advantage of Metro Ethernet. It’s directly compatible with LAN Ethernet so there are no inefficiencies from protocol conversions between dissimilar networks.

The other obvious advantage is interfacing. Connections to Metro E is a conventional Ethernet connector. At lower bandwidths, including 10, 100 and even 1000 Mbps, a standard RJ-45 connector can suffice. Higher bandwidths have fiber optic connectors.

Carrier Ethernet is designed to be both highly and rapidly scalable. You can generally get far more bandwidth options than are available with SONET levels. They are also easy to scale up and down. What sets the limit on your bandwidth is the port speed that you connect through. If you have a 100 Mbps port, you can specify any bandwidth up to 100 Mbps. With a Gigabit Ethernet port, you can get any bandwidth up to 1,000 Mbps. Likewise a 10 Gig E port lets you scale to 10 Gbps. The GigE port is very popular for this reason. You can call up your provider and move up from 200 to 400 Mbps in a matter of hours or days. There is no need to change hardware interfacing as long as you are operating below the maximum port speed.

Metro Ethernet Networks can give you the same point to point connections that you are getting now or a multipoint service that operates as a LAN extension. E-Line is an Ethernet Line Service. E-LAN is an Ethernet LAN service. E-LAN can run at layer 2, letting you connect multiple metro locations together in one large bridged LAN. This is a popular service for companies with multiple offices, factories, warehouses, retail outlets and so on within a given metropolitan area.

Can Metro Ethernet networking technology work to your advantage? Get network options and pricing for Metro Ethernet services to compare with your current connection setup.



Note: Photo of city lights courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

150 Mbps Ethernet vs OC3 Cost

When DS3 bandwidth at 45 Mbps isn’t enough anymore, it’s time to take a look at higher service levels. So, do you make the jump to OC3 at 155 Mbps or take a look at competing Ethernet services? It can be worth your while to do the comparison. Let’s see why.

Once you start moving into higher bandwidth services, you are looking at fiber optic delivery. Yes, in rare situations you may qualify for 100 Mbps or higher Ethernet over Copper or fixed wireless microwave service. For these to work you need to be very, very close to the provider’s office and, in the case of microwave, have a clear line of site from your building to theirs. For everyone else, it’s fiber optic cabling. Fiber can transport Ethernet or OC3 equally well. So, how do you choose?

One big factor in your decision may be the cost of construction. If there is fiber running nearby, but not yet installed into your building, there is a certain one time cost involved in trenching the fiber and its conduit underground or bringing in the fiber cable overhead. Oddly enough, in densely packed downtown business districts, the cost of fiber construction can be higher than it is out in the burbs. Why? It’s because the available conduits may be all full or hard to obtain and the expense of tunneling under major roadways can be a deal breaker.

Don’t be discouraged by the possibility of high construction costs until you get competitive quotes for fiber optic service to your building. Each situation is unique. The cost for installing similar service to buildings across the street from each other can vary wildly. It’s also possible that you may get your installation for free or at a big discount. Some fiber providers are aggressively building out their networks. If they want your location, they may foot the bill for construction or at least part of it. The more bandwidth you need, the more attractive your situation is. If you are in a multi-tenant building, it could be worth your while to get together with other tenants and offer a much larger bandwidth requirement to lure potential service providers.

Another possibility is that your building is already “lit” for fiber optic service from one or more carriers. Let’s say that someone in your building is already leasing OC3 bandwidth from a telecom carrier. That carrier has already gone to the expense and trouble of bringing in the multi-strand fiber cable and installing termination equipment. They’ve hooked up the other end to their metro fiber network running nearby. How much trouble is it to also provide you with OC3 fiber optic service?

Not much trouble at all. Unlike copper cables, fiber optic bundles can support nearly unlimited bandwidth. It’s a matter of setting their add/drop multiplexers to bring enough bandwidth into the building and demultiplex it into separate services for each subscribing tenant. As you can imagine, the construction costs will be minimal, perhaps even complementary.

The same is true if there is already high bandwidth Ethernet over Fiber service installed in the building. The Ethernet service provider has done all the hard work. They can easily add you to the network rapidly and at minimal cost.

This may be the deciding factor. If one service is already installed and the other is not, the capital cost factor can outweigh other advantages. What if both services are in the building? Then it becomes a more level playing field. In general, Ethernet service is less expensive and easier to scale than SONET services, such as OC3. There is also a service called Ethernet over SONET that uses traditional SONET ring networks to carry the newer Carrier Ethernet protocol. That means a legacy carrier may well be able to offer you either OC3 or 150 Mbps Ethernet at an attractive price over already installed infrastructure.

How much will it cost you to get the high bandwidth business connectivity you require? Each situation needs to be evaluated on its own merit. You can get cost quotes for Ethernet services up to 1 Gbps instantly, with fast response on SONET or Ethernet over SONET services by using the Fiber Network Quotes service for US based locations. US to international destination quotes are also available upon request.

Is Metro Ethernet Available?

You’re looking to initiate or expand bandwidth for your company. What type of service should you go with? Metro Ethernet is in the news these days. You may have heard that it offers more bandwidth for less money than traditional telecom solutions. But, is Metro Ethernet even available?

There’s a quick way to find out. Use an Ethernet service finder to get a map of the lit buildings near you. What’s a lit building? No, that doesn’t refer to how many lights are on in the offices. It refers to the presence of fiber optic service to that building. Lit means that the service is turned up and active with laser light shining through the fiber. There’s also such a thing as dark fiber, which is just the fiber optic cabling installed but not connected to anything.

Why are lit buildings important? Because those are places where you can get fiber optic service quickly and easily. All the hard work of digging trenches or attaching new fiber cables to utility poles has already been done. It’s just a matter of connecting to an almost limitless supply of bandwidth available through the fiber.

If you are in or can readily move to a lit building you can almost certainly get Metro Ethernet service at an attractive price. You might even decide to share a high bandwidth connection with other tenants to get an even lower price that comes with high volume usage. But what if your building has no fiber optic service yet? Is there any chance you can get Metro E?

There certainly is. If the building next door has fiber coming in, chances are high that you can get the same service. Most of the hard work has been done already in getting fiber strung from the carrier POP (Point of Presence) to the telecom room in the facility. It’s not that big a deal to extend fiber next door. In fact, you may pay little or nothing to get your building lit if you require a reasonable level of bandwidth.

What if there is no fiber anywhere nearby? That’s a little more tricky. It depends on where you are and how much bandwidth you require. You may not realize it, but Ethernet can be delivered on twisted pair copper telco cables as well as fiber. Not every business requires Gbps data pipes. In fact, two of the most popular Metro Ethernet services are 3 Mbps and 10 Mbps. Both of those easily qualify to be brought in on existing copper cable. You can be several miles from the nearest point of presence and still get Ethernet over Copper. Speeds up to 45 Mbps are available, but you’ll need to have a carrier POP much closer for those higher bandwidths.

Is Metro Ethernet available out in the boonies? Probably not. That’s what the “Metro” part implies. Even so, you may be able to get something called EoDS1 or Ethernet over DS1. That services uses T1 lines to bring in Ethernet service. Alternatively, you could simply order a T1 line or multiple bonded T1 lines to meet your bandwidth needs no matter where you are located.

Ready to see if Metro Ethernet is available for you? Simply enter your business address (not for residential locations) in to the Shop For Ethernet WAN Search box and have a look at the map results. You’ll see just how close you are to a lit building. Then get availability and pricing for Ethernet and other telecom services from our Telarus consultants. Your location probably qualifies for more services at lower prices than you expect.

What is Metro E?

Metro E is short for Metro Ethernet, a popular and rapidly expanding network connection service.

Metro E is Ethernet like the protocol you run on your Local Area Network (LAN). But it has been standardized and adapted to also run on a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN). The organization behind this standardization is the MEF or Metro Ethernet Forum. It’s an industry standards organization dedicated to Carrier Ethernet.

Here’s why you should you know about Metro E and seriously consider using it for your business connectivity. Metro Ethernet services are better suited to today’s packet switched networks than the legacy telecom services such as T1. Connectivity is almost trivial. Ethernet is what nearly all networks are running as a protocol. The connection from your service provider is an Ethernet jack. That’s it. No need for special conversion equipment to connect to your switches and routers.

Metro E is supported by a number of incumbent telecom carriers, plus many new competitive service providers that have no connection to legacy telephone services. Nearly all of these new competitors have built their networks on fiber optic lines and IP or MPLS core networks. Metro Ethernet services are easily transported on these networks. The result of all this competition is that Metro E prices are often considerably lower per Mbps than T1, DS3, or OCx bandwidth. It is not uncommon to get 3 Mbps Ethernet service for the same price as 1.5 Mbps T1 and similarly reduced costs at higher bandwidths.

Like other telecom services, Metro Ethernet can be set up to provide point to point connectivity between two business locations. Unlike older technologies, Ethernet Line Service can be configured as a layer 2 connection between two LANs, effectively connecting them to make one larger LAN. Ethernet LAN Service, or ELAN, can do the same thing for multiple locations. It’s a high performance and cost effective way for businesses to tie-together branch offices, factories, headquarters and warehouses. It works just as well for hospitals and their related medical centers in the area.

Another use for Metro E is as an access network connection. Metro E links are used as last mile connections to larger MPLS networks for national or worldwide service. They are also used as dedicated broadband Internet connections for small, medium and large organizations.

Metro E bandwidth tends to be easily scalable. Service at 3 Mbps is a popular entry level bandwidth. Many companies move up to 10 Mbps, a standard LAN speed. Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbps, 1000 Mbps and 10 Gigabit Ethernet are other standard LAN speeds that are also supported by Metro E providers. While these speeds are popular, most providers offer incremental bandwidths between each of these levels. You can order any bandwidth up to the limit of your installed Ethernet port. Start with what you need now and easily upgrade as the need arises.

One thing you should know is that the Metro in Metro E generally means just that. This service is available in most metropolitan areas, but rarely in rural areas. It may be possible to get Ethernet connectivity over T1 lines, called EoDS1. This is a way to extend service to include remote business locations.

If Metro E the right service for your business situation? A quick way to find out is to request a list of Metro E service levels and prices for your business location or locations.

How Growing Companies Buy Bandwidth

As business enters the recovery cycle and starts to expand again, it won’t be long until resources start to become stretched. But just how much of a commitment are you willing to make with so much uncertainty still hanging over the economy? Doesn’t it make more sense to step up incrementally? Oh, wait, can you even do that with bandwidth?

You can now. Traditional telecom contracts are sold on a 1 to 3 year basis for a particular level of telecom service. For instance, you buy a T1 line and you have a certain monthly lease price for 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth. You can double that by buying an additional T1 line to get another 1.5 Mbps. You can even have your lines bonded if you get them from the same provider or use an appliance such as the Mushroom Networks “Truffle” to combine the bandwidth yourself.

Bonding or combining bandwidth from multiple network connections is one way to manage your bandwidth needs without over-committing. But there’s another way to accomplish this that makes increasing bandwidth much easier than ordering additional lines and waiting to have them installed. You can have bandwidth virtually on demand with scalable Ethernet services.

Metro Ethernet services differ from traditional telecom services in that they are readily scalable by design. Your original order is for a certain bandwidth, say 10 Mbps. But you want to make sure that you have the ability to upgrade to higher bandwidth levels when business activity justifies it. That’s done by installing a high bandwidth port at your location. This could be a 50 or 100 Mbps port, or something really fast like a Gigabit Ethernet port. You aren’t committed to buy that much bandwidth at first. You may start out with 10 Mbps. In six months or a year you find that you really need 20 Mbps to keep up with expanded business needs. No problem. You pick up the phone and call your provider. They increase your speed to 20 Mbps and adjust your monthly bill accordingly.

Scalable bandwidth changes are fast, because the hardware port is already installed. The service provider only has to adjust the speed of the service at your request. They can do that remotely, without a truck roll to install anything at your building. That gives you the flexibility to adjust to changing business conditions and not have to purchase the bandwidth you need far in advance.

Do you have a growing company or expect your business to be picking up over the next few years? If so, scalable bandwidth could be the best tool you’ll have to control expenses. You’ll also be delighted to learn that Metro Ethernet service prices are not only affordable but can cost considerably less per Mbps than traditional telecom services, such as T1, DS3 or OCx. How much less? Find out by checking Metro Ethernet prices and availability for your business location.

Fast MEN Available Cheap

When you’ve got packets to move and lots of them, you need MEN to get them from point A to point B. If your MAN is a sluggish wimp, what you need is real MEN to get things moving. If the cost of your telecom connection has you seeing red, what you need is MEN - fast and cheap MEN.

What this testosterone laden introduction suggests is that MEN are the answer to your telecommunications problems. So they are, as long as we’re talking about Metropolitan Ethernet Networks as the MEN in question. What? You were expecting some guy in a cape?

Metro Ethernet is rapidly becoming the connectivity solution of choice in downtown and suburban areas for two reasons. Compared to traditional telecom solutions, they are fast and they are cheap.

Normally fast and cheap don’t go together, at least in the technology world. If you want more bandwidth, you pay more money. It’s a simple and longstanding relationship. Well, your relationship with MEN is going to change all that. Metropolitan Ethernet offers the connectivity you need from point to point or multipoint to multipoint at prices per Mbps that can be half that of high bandwidth SONET services and even less than T1 lines.

Metro Ethernet is a fairly new business-grade telecom service that has been standardized by the Metro Ethernet Forum, an industry standards group. The move from circuit switched telecom to packet switched networks, such as Ethernet, is based on the almost universal adoption of Ethernet as the local area networking protocol of choice. If every LAN is running Ethernet, then why do a protocol conversion between the local network and the wide area network only to get the packets across town?

Why, indeed? When all inter-location connections were under the control of local telephone companies, then telephone company standards defined the services available. Now that competitive carriers have entered the marketplace with their own networks based on IP rather that telco TDM standards, there’s no good reason not to keep the networks and all their connections as Ethernet. Interfacing is trivial, network efficiency is improved, and scalable service levels are much easier to provide. It’s not unusual to be able to purchase Metro Ethernet services in 1 Mbps increments and add bandwidth when your business needs dictate.

Just how powerful are these MEN? They range in bandwidth from 1 Mbps on up, although 10 Mbps Ethernet, 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet and 1000 Gigabit Ethernet levels are very popular as they mirror the standard LAN and network interface speeds. Lower bandwidth services, including standard 10 Mbps Ethernet, may be provisioned over copper as well as fiber to save construction costs for buildings that are not “lit” for fiber service. You need to be reasonably near a carrier’s facilities for Ethernet over Copper or EoC to work.

Would you benefit by putting real MEN to work for your organization? If so, check pricing and availability of Metropolitan Ethernet Network services for your location.

The Stunning Truth About Metro Ethernet Prices

Over the last couple of years, a new type of network connection has become available. It’s the Metro Ethernet Network also called MetroE. Metro Ethernet services have defied conventional telecom pricing models by offering more bandwidth for less money. That’s right, MORE bandwidth for LESS cost.

Really? Is this true? If so, how can it be that way?

The answer breaks down into two primary drivers. The first is technology. The second is aggressive service providers. This double-barreled business advantage gives you something that you may desperately want in this depressed business climate. It’s an opportunity to get more for less. Alternatively, keep the bandwidth that works for you now and really pay less. By shaving your monthly telecom service expense without requiring any counterbalancing expense or capital investment, this savings is pure profit. It's just what the beaten-up bottom line has been waiting for.

Let’s take a closer look at the forces that result in lower Metro Ethernet prices. If you have a outside data connection, such as a dedicated broadband Internet service or a point to point data line that connects two business locations, you are most likely using a traditional telecom service such as a T1 line, DS3 bandwidth, or fiber optic SONET service. These are telephone company inventions that have been gradually offered to businesses as well as telco offices.

There’s nothing wrong with digital telco services. They’ve matured over the decades into reasonably priced and highly reliable connectivity. They’ve also been deployed far and wide so that today you can get a T1 line just about anywhere you can get phone service.

But there are two limiting factors related to telco services. The first is that they are deployed using local telephone company owned copper and fiber cables. Part of the cost of every T1 line, and the other mentioned services, is the last mile connection known as the local loop. The cost of this connection will only be as inexpensive as it is available from the incumbent local telephone company.

The other limitation lies with the technology. Telco services are based on a standard called TDM or Time Division Multiplexing. It partitions the bandwidth of a digital line into small channels capable of supporting one phone conversation each. For instance, a T1 line consists of 24 of these channels. This is an ideal arrangement when you are transporting telephone calls, but it introduces some inefficiencies when you want to bundle a lot of these channels together to make a big data pipe.

Computer networks are not TDM. They have standardized on a packet switching technology, which is Ethernet. Every LAN runs Ethernet. So does every switch and router. If you need to interconnect far-flung equipment using TDM communication lines, then all this equipment needs to covert between TDM and Ethernet at every node.

Metro Ethernet may use fiber optic or copper based connections, but the network is running an Ethernet protocol known as Carrier Ethernet. This is a standardized protocol that is rapidly expanding in metropolitan areas. One reason that it is called “Metro” Ethernet is that you’ll only find it areas where there are lots of business users.

Connecting everything with Ethernet offers a number of advantages for network managers. You have the choice of using either switches or routers connect separate site networks. Ethernet services also tend to be scalable. That means you can order bandwidth incrementally, sometimes in 1 Mbps steps. Traditional telecom services require a major provisioning effort to change bandwidth. With Ethernet, a simple call to your provider may be all you need to add bandwidth to your service.

The other piece in the puzzle of plummeting bandwidth prices for Metro Ethernet is the emergence of new competitive carriers with their own networks using the latest technology equipment. With no tie to traditional telephone company operations, these providers aren’t burdened with legacy costs or equipment that is too entrenched and expensive to update at this time. They can focus their efforts on offering a suite of high bandwidth Ethernet services for businesses that need just this type of connectivity.

Is Metro Ethernet the right network service for your business operation? Find out by checking availability and pricing of Metro Ethernet services in your area.

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.

Metro Ethernet For Your Business

Business users looking to expand a company network beyond their own building or campus have had to dig in and sort out the relative merits of DSL, T1, DS3, SONET fiber, ISDN and other communications standards. Everything but the Ethernet standard they are so familiar with on the local area network. No more. Now more and more businesses are gaining access to Metro Ethernet and saving a bundle in the process.

Metropolitan Ethernet, also known as Metro Ethernet or MetroE, is a wide area networking protocol that extends your LAN right out the door and across town. As a network administrator or management service provider, you no longer need to worry about limited bandwidths, protocol conversions or getting the right customer premises equipment to support your communications needs. Your Ethernet service provider installs a standard RJ45 networking jack. You plug an Ethernet cable into it and connect to the switch or router at the edge of your network.

Switch? Yes, it's Ethernet. That means you can use Ethernet switch ports to include a branch office across town. You can also connect your router to gain broadband access to the Internet via your Metro Ethernet connection. Perhaps you just want to standardize on Ethernet as your single networking protocol to link to branch offices, warehouses, suppliers, vendors, or franchisees across the country.

Nationwide? Yes. Metro Ethernet is the city-wide service for what is called Carrier Ethernet. The "carrier" designation means that this is a communications protocol with the scalability and reliability to be used by common carriers. Some of these carriers are traditional telcos who are updating their telephone-centric networks to transport Ethernet as well. Many others are competitive carriers without the telco legacy that have developed all-new state of the art fiber optic networks nationwide.

What about the underlying communications protocols that transport Carrier Ethernet? The beauty of this technology is that it has been designed to work with a wide variety of existing networks. They include native Ethernet based networks, MPLS networks based on IP transport, WDM or Wavelength Division Multiplexing fiber optic networks, and TDM networks including T1, T3, and SONET OC3, OC12, OC48 that were originally intended for telco trunking.

As a user, you needn't worry about what's at the core of the wide area transport network. Your connection will be a standardized Ethernet signal. The standardization group is the MEF or Metro Ethernet Forum, a alliance of 120 organizations including service providers and equipment manufacturers. Their mission is to : "...accelerate the worldwide adoption of Carrier-class Ethernet networks and services."

A major benefit of this move to Ethernet in the MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network) is getting away from the traditional pricing structure that always involved telephone companies for the last mile access. Instead, competitive carriers operate their own POPs or Points of Presence that function as their Central Offices. You may be able to contract with a single provider for both local and long haul carrier services... at a huge price bread from what you might expect.

Ethernet services typically start at 10 Mbps, the same speed as standard Ethernet in the LAN. Most providers also offer 100 Mbps and 1000 Mbps or Gigabit Ethernet service to match your network requirements. No longer are you stuck cramming your data through a narrow pipe just to get it across town or across the country. Your costs per Mbps are likely to be anywhere from 20 to 50% what you'd pay for equivalent bandwidth using traditional TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) services.

Is Metro Ethernet the right network service for your company? Find out now if your building is already lit for Carrier Ethernet service or there is a carrier POP nearby. If so, you could soon be enjoying the benefits of Ethernet end-to-end.