How is your internet? Is your team satisfied with the speed and reliability of your connection? Do you have remote team members? If so, what experience do they have? Are you simply looking for an upgrade or want to see if you can get a better service for a better price? In a rapidly changing world, there are almost certainly better solutions for your company. That’s where we can help!
Our team at Telecom Audit Specialists will review the services you have now, look for the best options for your business needs along with the best internet options available in your area.
We will find you the best services, with the best carrier, at the best cost!
Ethernet & Fiber
What is the difference between ethernet and fiber?
Ethernet uses copper cables to deliver data, and it has a reputation of being a lot slower than fiber optic cables. That has, however, changed somewhat over the years. There was a time when ethernet speed had a 10Mbps limit. Now, however, “fast ethernet” offers speeds of up to 100Mbps, while gigabit ethernet can deliver speeds of a hefty 1000Mbps.
Investing in fiber internet may cost more than copper in the short term though costs are drastically decreasing as this option becomes more commonplace. Ultimately, the total cost of ownership (TCO) over the lifetime of fiber is lower. It’s more durable, cheaper to maintain, and requires less hardware. Copper wire infrastructure and TDM technology are limited in nature. Because it was originally designed for transmitting voice calls only, the demand for bandwidth wasn’t high. For organizations considering shifting their voice communications to Voice-Over-IP (VoIP), having your bandwidth delivered over fiber can be an indispensable asset. In an era of increased attention towards cyber security, fiber-optic internet is touted as a cost-effective way of instantly increasing your Internet security.
Copper Circuits
Private line or dedicated internet access (DIA) is a solution where fiber-optic and ethernet are not available. For instance, T-1 can only carry 1.5 Mbps of throughput. And because of how electrical signaling works, many types of connections over copper are limited by distance. ethernet over copper service (EoC) is typically not available if the circuit is longer than 15,000 feet. Multiple T1 circuits can be bonded to give customers a higher dedicated speed as a last resort when there are no other Internet options available such as rural areas, however be prepared to pay the price as these circuits are charged at a premium.
VPN – Virtual Private Network
VPN technology was originally developed to allow remote workers to securely connect to corporate networks in order to access corporate resources when away from the office. Although VPN is still used in this way, the term now usually refers to commercial VPN services that allow customers to access the internet privately through their servers. Normally, when you connect to the internet you first connect to your internet service provider (ISP), which then connects you to any websites (or other internet resources) that you wish to visit. All your internet traffic passes through your ISP’s servers, and can be viewed by your ISP.
When using VPN you connect to a server run by your VPN provider (a “VPN server”) via an encrypted connection (sometimes referred to as a “VPN tunnel”). This means that all data traveling between your computer and the VPN server is encrypted so that only you and the VPN server can “see” it.
MPLS – Multi Protocol Label Switching
MPLS is a technology and protocol for transmitting data between two or more locations. It operates much like a switch and router does that currently exists on your business network. It is an overlay technique designed to simplify and improve performance. It is not tied to any underlying technology and delivers anything from IP VPN’s to metro Ethernet. The most common use cases of MPLS are companies with multiple locations that need quality of service for real-time applications.
SD-WAN – Software Defined Wide Area Network
SD-WAN can be used to simplify a network by automating site deployments, configurations and operations. Administrators are able to reduce or eliminate reliance on expensive MPLS circuits by sending lower priority, less-sensitive data over public internet connections, reserving space for critical or sensitive traffic.
SD-WAN & MPLS
Ability to route traffic across multiple links, which may allow you to re-evaluate the use of MPLS.