Once upon a time, shopping for a T3 connection detailed the process of grabbing up a copy of a Yellow Pages Directory and searching it’s contents for a bandwidth broker or provider in your area. You might find a provider, but with little selection to choose from, prices did not come by as affordable.While obtaining a T3 business line was a necessity, it was costly and with fewer providers, you paid a premium rate for reliability.
Finally along came the Internet and allowed for T3 providers to branch out and get noticed on a national scale. This opportunity gave birth to additional bandwidth providers making the Internet shopping place a crowded space and somewhat confusing for business bandwidth shoppers. Luckily bandwidth brokers saw a niche to fill and ultimately grew online to serve the needs of the shopping business IT community. The brokers allowed one source shopping for multiple T3 providers, giving the customer less headache.
It was in this time of need that real-time quotes became a new industry standard. Everywhere you look online now, there are offers for instant quotes from tons of providers and brokers, made to save you time, but are they good for saving money?
Okay, so it’s true you can browse T3 providers in an instant and usually get very accurate quotes. Even better, you can compare without having to call different bandwidth providers and deal with sales pressure, however, will you get the best negotiable rate, and even more important, will the provider be reliable?
There is the possibility you can, in reality though the chances are good that you may end up loosing more money than you tried to save. With low pricing, low quality of service can follow, and if not properly informed, a business can experience loss of an entire operation for days. Not all good deals will result in this nightmare scenario, but you must be aware, it is a high probability.
How would your business fair if your operations were to be halted for a day? How much would you loose in customer sales? How much would you loose in employee man hours? How much would you loose on Internet sales if your website is run from an in-house server? As you can see, not having a reliable connection can cause you a lot of harm.
The same problems that could plague you with a bad T3 purchase can affect you all the same with any other bandwidth leases including T1, OC1, OC3, OC12, OC48, OC96, OC192, and up. On a larger bandwidth scale, obviously, the repercussions are more severe.
Make sure when observing the best prices on T3, that you discuss in depth the reality of the provider´s track record for performance with the broker providing the quote. If your broker tries to sell you entirely only on one provider, be aware that they may be in amidst a spiff period where they are compensated more than usual for offering one provider over the others. When this happens, you may not be getting the best advice, however, this is not to say that a bandwidth provider offering a spiff isn´t a high value provider, but all the same, you may end up paying more for a T3 connection during a spiff if the wrong provider is providing a spiff to agents.
Well your probably wondering how you can possibly get a good price if you need reliability as well. The obvious answer is to find yourself a good broker that can offer guidance and consult with you on the best provider options for your region. Finding the right broker for you may not be as easy as it sounds, but once you find one, you can be assured you will be taken care of.
Your broker should function much like an IT employee of your company and represent only the offers that will ultimately benefit your situation. If a broker starts trying to up sell you on bandwidth, this can be a bad warning sign.
Also keep in mind that consulting with a broker does not obligate you into a purchase. A broker who pressures you into thinking you are indebted to their agency for consultation services not under a contract should be avoided. In addition, it’s advisable you consult with more than one broker to compare advice and recommendations.
There is one kind of bandwidth broker that has the best pricing advantage for any company seeking bandwidth at a more reasonable rate. This kind of broker acts as both wholesaler and broker. This T3 broker has already purchased the bandwidth that they are selling and this means they are able to negotiate in-house lower rates for you without having to bargain with the actual provider, giving you bigger savings. You are able to still get a choice of which bandwidth provider network you work with so you aren´t as much at risk going with an unreliable provider.
A type of bandwidth broker that can save your company a lot of money without sacrificing quality is a wholesale broker. A wholesale bandwidth broker essentially has pre-leased bandwidth from various providers and is able to negotiate lower rates and possibly more flexible contract terms.
(c) TopSavings.Net – Locate wholesale T3 service and OC3 bandwidth options for your business bandwidth needs. Also shop and compare business phone products such as toll free numbers and Hosted IP PBX.
t3, ds3, t3 line, t3 internet, t3 service, t3 broadband, business bandwidth
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