While some people may enjoy a trip to the local shopping mall, shopping for telecommunication services like a T1 line has never been fun. If you happen to be looking for a dedicated voice line you may call the local phone company. Chances are you'll be passed around to three or four different people who can't handle your request for a T1 line. When you finally speak with someone who can answer your questions you'll go through a litany of questions that don't get to the point of your call which is, "How much do I have to pay".

A step up from a call to the local phone company is the use of a broker or agent. An independent agent can help reduce the number of phone calls by asking you the questions once and searching through multiple providers to get the service that is right for you. The agent helps steer clear of the bias you will receive when speaking with one vendor as the agent will be paid no matter which service you choose. If you happen to be searching for a dedicated voice T1, the agent will give you quotes for dedicated voice T1's for multiple service providers. Still, the agent has a shortcoming in that there is typically a delay between the time you have your conversation and the time you get your information. This can take a day or two.

Why not have the best of both worlds? An agent who carried no bias for one particular carrier AND immediate feedback! While this was not possible a few months ago, we have found a T1 line provider than can offer real-time quotes through its agents. A real time quote give you information NOW. There is no waiting to find pricing. Simply enter your information and compare pricing immediately. Real time pricing will do for telecommunications shopping what Expedia and Travelocity did for travel. So why wait? If you're searching for a T1 line make sure you use a broker that can help you with your search in real time.

Is it time to look for t1 service? Many people are confused when they consider whether to upgrade from DSL or not. There are several factors to consider when examining you current DSL connection and the possiblity of replacing it. For many people the biggest factor is reliability and if reliability is critical to the applications you run over your connection you should seriously consider replacing your DSL connection with a T1. DSL is a quick and cost effective method of acquiring high speed bandwidth however it is not intended to support commercial applications or large numbers of users as are T1 connections.

Reliability becomes critical when customers or employees depend on your connection for immediate responses. If your customers use your connection to access your databases or your server or the internet then reliability of your connection is critical. If your employees depend on your connections because you host the e-mail server in house or host web servers or ASP type products, your connections is considered critical. A critical connection can be viewed much like a lifeline, without which your business would be negatively impacted. Your monthly savings of having a sub-par connections will not make up for the loss in productivity of your employees or loss of customers when your DSL connections gets bogged down or cut off. To reiterate, ciritcal connections should be supported with a T1.

Many customers are extremely price sensitive and cannot afford the cost of a T1 which can be as much as 20 times more expensive than a full T1 connection. Residential customers who are most sensitive to price should not consider a T1 circuit unless then have a business reason to pay for such a circuit and cannot access DSL service. Most people don't realize that a DSL connection can be just as fast as a T1 at 1.5Mbps. The shortcoming of DSL is that it is oversubscribed. This means there is a finite amount of bandwidth available and a customers speed can drop if other customers in the neighborhood decide to use their service. SDSL (Synchronous DSL) is a business class DSL and is ranked as a higher priority than residential DSL or ADSL (Asunchronous DSL). This means it is not oversubscribed to the extent than ADSL and is subject to fewer bandwidth restrictions. In short, if price is your critical factor go with DSL. If reliability is the critical factor purchase a dedicated T1.