Buying Tips

From Bandipedia

There are a number of things to consider when looking to buy a T1.

Make sure that the T1 you are quoted is a completely nailed up circuit dedicated for your purposes. Many 2nd and 3rd tier providers oversubscribe their network. They'll provision a nailed up T1 local loop to you, but oversubscribe the port in such a way that at times of peak traffic you won't get your full T1's worth of connectivity

Check the SLA as it tells you what you can expect from the carrier and just as importantly, what the damages will be against the carrier should they fail to deliver

Does the carrier you are working with have an online customer portal where you can check your installation progress? Can you create trouble tickets online? Is customer service provided in the US, or outsourced to a foreign country? What is the average experience of the service engineers? Do they have SLAs regarding hold times and MTTR (Mean Time to Repair)?

Making sure that you are getting the right quote: When receiving a quote from an ISP for a T1, be sure that the quote is inclusive of both the port and the local access loop. Buyers are often duped into buying a T1 that in reality is only one part, typically the part that the quoting party sells. An ISP may quote the port to the internet, because that is the commodity they control. They are selling access to their edge. For them to bring their edge to you, they have to transact with the LEC, adding costs and lowering margins. It is much more simple and profitable for the ISP if the user contracts for their own local access loop. In the ISP world, this is called Customer Provided Access or CPA.

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