What are the pros/cons of Fractional T1s?

From Bandipedia

Fractional T1s

Pros: Lower Overall Cost

Cons: Less throughput that doesn't outweigh the cost savings = bad value proposition

Many in telecom shy away from recommending fractional T1s as they aren't a great value proposition. You typically spend 65-90% of the price of a full 1.54, but get from 15-50% of the throughput. The reason for this is two-fold:

1. A fractional T1 still relies on the provisioning of a full T1 local access line to your end point, and that is costly.

2. While there have been some price wars over the bellweather commodity in the marketplace, namley full T1s, by and large fractional T1s have not participated in the same price decreases.

A fractional T1 line belongs to the Tcarrier family of telecom products, and as such is a tried and true means of getting Internet Access (particularly as opposed to the varying reliability of DSL, Cable and Satellite). It is this reliability that provides the main benefit to the fractional T1 line.

The main drawback quite simply is price. A fractional T1 line circuit is made up of 2 components: a fractional T1 port, and a full T1 local access line. The main challenge to the fractional T1 line and consequently the reason for it's sporadic adoption is evident in it's decription. As phone companies only provision full T1 local loops, the buyer of the T1 line ends up paying for last mile capacity that they can't use (since they've only bought a fractional T1 port). So, the end result is that the fractional T1 typically has a worse cost/benifit balance than a full T1. A 768k fractional T1 may cost 75% as much as a full T1, but only deliver 50% of the throughput.

A fractional T1 may still make sense in some situations:

1. A company who needs reliability and not throughput. This may be true for many governmental services, services that need to be up 24x7 but don't need to be fast. In this situation $450 for a 768k nailed up line, may make more sense than paying $600 for a full T1. They save $150 a month and sure they give up speed, but they don't need it.

2. Companies that purchase fractional T1 lines that can burst up to a full T1. As fractional T1 lines come with a fully provisioned T1 local loop (which is the hardest of the 2 components of an Internet circuit to be provisioned), the fractional T1 can become a full T1 when the port is opened up at the carrier. Many carriers offer the option to increase port speed intra contract with notice, or several allow for a burstable port which means that when a situation occurs that a company needs more speed on the fly, the carrier will allow for it. Be careful, though, as you can pay dearly for this option. If a company bursts past the fractional port speed often, the monthly bill will most likely be much more than it would have been for an ordinary "price protected" T1.

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