Talk:Why is a T1 router more expensive than a DSL or Cable router?
From Bandipedia
A 'T1' router implies that you are connecting to an actual 'T1' circuit, a dedicated communications line that offers vastly differently service levels and qualities of service than cable and dsl services, and is targeted at different customers who have needs that cable and dsl systems don't provide. The price difference comes from technology as well as customer expectations.
The first difference, is that T1 is a dedicated communications medium, that _guarantees_ a particular rate of speed in the up and down directions. This is as opposed to 'consumer' cable and dsl services which make NO SUCH PROMISE OR GARUENTEE of any particular rate of speed, where you the customer are simply contending for any available bit rate.
The second, is that T1 services typically come with an SLA (service level agreement) that spells out things like uptime, mean time to repair, latency and packet loss, and provides usually some kind of service credit iin the event that these garuentees are not met. Cable and Dsl systems put the onus on you the end customer for %100 uptime, makes no promises whatsoever regarding availabillity of the service, or any warranties about latency or packet loss. If it goes down and it's not your fault, you could be out for days or even weeks in extreme cases while a repair is made. But with T1, the telco will roll a truck 24 hours a day.
The third (and key) difference, is that T1 is intended to be truely an always on connection requiring no maintinence at all, something you can bank your business on no matter what, where cable and dsl are intented to be consumerised versions for a mass market. So a 'T1' router then, differs from cable and dsl systems, because Cable and Dsl focus on 'cheap, low end', where the goal is to be the cheapeast on the block, whereas a T1 router's primary design goal is years and years of uninterrupted operation first, and price doesn't come into the picture at all. This means a T1 router typically NEVER EVER requires 'power cycling' or goes down 3 times a week, it simply continues to function uneventufully year in and year out. Which is as opposed to most cable or dsl devices which DO 'go down' and the connecting equipment occasionally requires rebooting or other manual procedures in order to restore service.
So in summary, you get what you pay for. Between the $19.95 for a cable/dsl router and the $300 T1 router, guess which one will stay running for years at a time without a single hiccup? Which one will actually be supported by it's manufacturer down the road? Which one will still have new firmware updates and such available 3 years down the road when you're still using it??
You have to be kidding
Few people carry full routing tables in a T1 router. I've seen 20 or 30 routers that just do T1, and only 1 or 2 that carried routing tables.
They are more expensive because T1's are business-class lines, and the vendors can charge more.
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