T1 Service Options: High Speed T1 Data Lines and T1 Phone Service

Internet Access - T1 Data Service
Your business can have reliable high speed internet access via T1 data line service. T1 data line service gives quality, reliable, bandwidth-consistent high speed internet access. If you are considering cable and/or DSL and/or T1 internet service, read Comparison of Cable, DSL and T1 Internet Access. If you need 3 Mbps or higher and Ethernet service is available, it is almost always more cost effective than T1, DS3, or OCx service. Enter your location, to determine if Fast Ethernet and/or GigE is available for your business location(s).

Phone Service - T1 Voice Service
If you have more than 8 or 12 phone lines and/or a large amount of chargeable outbound and/or inbound calls, you can possibly save by using a T1 voice line. T1 voice lines give you reliable dedicated service with low rates for incoming toll free and outgoing phone calls.

T1, DS3, Fast Ethernet, OC3, GigE, DSL, Cable Pricing for Businesses
Go to T1Guy.Net to see T1, DS3, Fast Ethernet, Gig E and Cablefor Price Ranges.
Go to T1Guy.com to obtain T1, DS3, Fast Ethernet, Gig E and Cablefor Price Quotes for your business location(s).
Already have T1 service? Even if your T1 contract does not expire this year, compare our low rates for quality service - the cancelation penalty may be inconsequential compared to the savings.

With UCaaS over a T1 or with an integrated T1, you can use part of the T1 for phone service and the rest for data or internet access. In some cases, the savings in phone costs means you effectively obtain T1 Internet Access free.

Residential Internet Access
Since the reliability and bandwidth consistency required by most businesses is not required for most home Internet services, residential Internet access can be obtained for a much lower cost than for the Internet services discussed on this web site. Residential Telecom services are not presented on this site.

Below are definitions and discussions to help you understand T1, DS3 and Ethernet line service and their speeds and capacity.

T1, DS1, T3, DS3, OC3 and Ethernet Dedicated Service Glossary

Ethernet - Various Ethernet options (Ethernet WAN, Metro-Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, GigE, EoC, EoDS1, EFM) are now superceding T1, DS3 and OCx solutions since they provide the same or better reliability and quality service as traditional dedicated solutions.

DS-0 (Digital Signal Level 0) - A non-switched dedicated service that can be provisioned as a private line point-to-point and multi-point service. DS-0 service allows full duplex transmission of voice, analog data and digital signals at speeds of 56 to 64 Kbps. The circuit is BI-directional and moves information simultaneously in both directions.
A home telephone line is normally a DS-0 line. You can get 56 KBPS of data or voice through a regular phone line. The DS-0 is the "building block" of dedicated products.

DS-1 (Digital Signal Level 1) - The terms "DS-1" or "DS1" and "T1" or "T-1" are often used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, T1 means the physical components used in DS1 service: wires, repeaters, plugs and jacks, etc. DS1 is the electrical signal carried on a T1 circuit. A T1 is simply 24 DS-O circuits all bundled together into one circuit.
DS-1 service provides a dedicated connection from your premises to a local or long distance switch, providing you with a single high-capacity digital circuit for voice or data applications. With a DS-1, there is a choice of allocating all of the DS-0 channels for data, for voice, or for any combination of the two. A carrier's implementation may limit this choice.

T1 Internet Service
For Internet Access, you can allocate ALL 24 channels to data, giving a two-way connection to the Internet at 1.544 Mbps. (Typical DSL accounts run between 128Kbps and 3 Mbps.) DS-1 Internet connections typically range from $200 to $500 per month, depending on the geographical distance between the customer and the long distance switch.
Customers who will benefit from T1 data connections are typically businesses who need very reliable high speed internet connections to transact business, communicate electronically with other offices, and who either do not have cable or fiber service available and either need more reliability and/or more speed than DSL can offer at their location.

T1 Voice Service
Businesses with 12-24 phone lines typically rely heavily on DS-1 voice service. With 24 DS-O circuits on one T-1 circuit, you can have 24 phone lines connected to the local or long distance carrier at the same time. Any number of the total 24 channels (circuits) can be set up as:
* Outbound only - for 1+ dialing
* 800-inbound only - for incoming toll free calls
* BI-directional - for both incoming and outcoming calls


T1 Voice, however, has two costs associated with it: 1. The Local Loop, and 2. Long Distance Usage (LDU). The Local Loop is the flat fee for your connection to the telephone switch. There usually is an installation charge and a Monthly Recurring Charge (MRC). Typically the MRC is in the $250 to $500 range - the actual value is a function of geographic location relative to the carrier's T1 switch. The Long Distance Usage (LDU) is a separate charge in addition to the local loop. LDU rates for dedicated accounts are usually 10-40% less than regular switched long distance rates. Interstate rates have recently been in the 2 to 3 cent per minute range.

T1 PRI Voice Service
The last DS-0 channel is sometimes used to handle other applications, such as a connection with the local telephone network or routing to a hold queue until 1 of the 23 channels opens up. Call Centers are the most frequent users of PRI Voice Service. T1 PRI service leaves 23 channels available for voice calls.

Integrated T1 (Voice and Internet) Service
Integrated T1 service is just what the name implies: both voice and data traffic on the same T1. Since you have 24 channels (23 with PRI) to work with, you can divide up the load according to the business need. For example, a firm may allocate 8 DS-0 lines for Voice, and 16 DS-0 lines for Internet Access. In this example, the firm could handle 8 simultaneous calls while surfing the web at a speed of 1024 KBPS. Each supplier has specific numbers of channels that they can supply for voice on each T1.

Point-to-Point T1 Service
If your organization requires constant connectivity to another office location, you could use Point-to-Point T1 service. This is the same as regular T1 service, except now you have a Local Loop on 2 ends instead of just 1. This increases the cost of the monthly recurring local loop charge, but calling (or data transfer) between these two points is unlimited, with full T1 duplex speed(1.5 MBPS). Often multi-locations are networked together more cost effectively via SD-WAN Networks, or legacy networks that use MPLS Networks.

Frame Relay Service
Frame Relay (FR) has been used by businesses requiring constant connectivity between 2 or more locations. Unlike Point-to-Point, you can select sub-T1 speeds between each satellite location and the main office (or Host). In the past, the lower cost of Frame Relay sub-T1 speeds and the ability to upgrade in speed on an as-needed basis, made this an attractive alternative to Point-to-Point T1 service. With T1 prices having fallen substantially over the last few decades and cable and fiber costs that are even lower per Mbps, Frame Relay is no longer very popular. Nowadays, "always-on" connections between locations are typically provided by SD-WAN Networks.

DS-3 Service
DS3 (or T-3) service consists of 28 T1s giving a total bandwidth of 44.736 Mbps or a total capacity of 672 voice channels. The monthly cost of a DS-3 Internet Access line typically ranges between $2,600 to $13,000 depending on your location. In most cases, cable or fiber service is much more economical. Click here to obtain Real-Time T3 Service Quotes and Fiber Quotes.

Fractional T1 Service and Fractional T3 Service
Fractional T1 service is dedicated service using a fraction of the full T1 capacity, for example, 512 Kbps. 768 Kbps, 1024 Kbps, etc.; Fractional DS3 service is service using a fraction of the full DS3 capacity, for example, 5 Mbps, 6 Mbps, 10 Mbps, etc. These fractional services are being phased out by the carriers since there is not much demand for them.

Bonded T1 Service
Dedicated service using two or more T1s tied together to effectively give a higher capacity line. For example, a Dual/Bonded T1 has 3 Mb x 3 Mb of capacity. That notation means 3 Mb up the line and 3 Mb down the line. Normally, the bonded lines will come into a router specially configured to connect to the multiple T1s and to treat them as though they are one pipe.

Burstable T1 and Burstable T3 Service
"Burstable DS1" and "Burstable DS3" works much like Fractional and Full T1, but the bandwidth is not dedicated; it is provided "on demand" or dynamically and may be a little cheaper. Although Burstable DS3 service can be cost effective, currently, we find that the typical pricing for Burstable T1 overage is so high that it usually makes more sense to purchase service at the next higher Fixed, Fractional, Full or Bonded T1 bandwidth.

OC-3 (Optical Carrier 3)
OC3 service consists of fiber optic cable giving a total bandwidth of 155.52 Mbps, where typically 5.184 Mbps of this capacity is overhead.

More Info on high speed Internet Access

Quotes for Dedicated Service
If you would like to see dedicated service quotes for your location(s), go to the following:

T-1 Price Quotes and Info - https://T1Guy.com
Fast-E and GigE Price Quotes and Info - https://Fast-E.com
OCx Price Quotes and Info - https://ShopforOCx.com

T1 Resources    *For those interested in T1 or DS3!
Here are some additional resources on T1 and DS3 dedicated line connections.

Obtain Real-Time quotes for your dedicated service requirements.

To determine the speed of your current connection, go to AT&T Speed Test and/or Verizon Speed Test. For an accurate reading of what bandwidth is available, you should turn off all other devices that may be using your Internet connection, for example all PCs. Even though no person is using a PC, these days programs often access the Internet for such reasons as checking for and downloading new software versions. Also, you should measure the bandwidth at differing times of the day and using more than one of the options above. If you have a shared service, like cable or DSL, the bandwidth available to you will depend on how much bandwidth your neighbors are using at any given time.