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Business Long Distance Service Overview

Advances in telecom-based technology have led to reduced costs and additional applications for the majority of business long distance services. This has opened new doors for small businesses that, in the past, were forced to settle on the most basic business long distance service plans.

The following is a list of the most widely used business long distance services. The cost of each will vary depending on your location and the provider you choose, but it helps to focus on choosing the service itself before focusing on a specific provider.

POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service): When you think business long distance service, you’re most likely thinking about POTS. Around for 100+ years, POTS has remained incredibly reliable, and it effectively serves businesses of all sizes. The most basic business long distance service using POTS is known as a “switched” service. In essence, a switched call requires you to go through the local telephone company’s network in order to connect to the long distance carrier’s network. In order to make the switch, you dial good old “one” before the area code. While POTS (and the analog voice services it provides) have stood the test of time, it has simply become too expensive for many businesses, because you pay for every connection you make to the phone company. This means that if your company needs ten phone lines just to operate efficiently, you’ll pay monthly for each one of the ten.

T1: Unlike POTS services, T1 business long distance services provide you with a dedicated line for voice transfer. With a dedicated line you can connect directly to your long distance network without using the local service and without dialing “one.” Before being transmitted across a T1 line, voice (and data) is converted from analog to digital at a PBX (Private Branch Exchange). Perhaps more importantly to business owners, a T1 line provides you with the equivalent of 24 POTS lines, meaning it can handle 24 voice calls simultaneously. A single line can outfit 24 employees in a “one-to-one” environment such as a call center where everyone needs his own line and upwards of 100 employees in offices where call patterns are more sporadic. T1 offers per-minute rates that are close to 50% less than those of POTS, but there are other fees attached that can reduce the savings somewhat. T1 business long distance services have been operating effectively for over 20 years, and they are offered by a wide range of companies. However, regardless of the provider, T1 business long distance services generally require you to make a commitment of at least a year, so if you’re unsure of whether you’ll be in the same office for that amount of time, you should look for an alternative. Click here if you’re interested in receiving free quotes from up to four T1 providers.

DS3 (T3): A single DS3 or T3 line provides you with the capabilities of up to 28 T1 lines or 672 POTS lines. If your company has added several (6+) T1 lines to accommodate your voice and data needs, a DS3 could offer much more power for a comparable cost. Just as T1 service, DS3’s requires a time commitment, so it’s probably not the best choice for companies that aren’t committed to a space for an extended period of time. Click here if you’re interested in receiving free quotes from up to four DS3 providers.

Integrated services like a T1 or DS3 are effective tools for merging voice and data. If you’re not using enough of either service to justify both a dedicated voice and data line, you can combine the two elements on a single DS3 or T1, greatly reducing your expenses without reducing your capabilities. Click here if you’re interested in receiving free quotes from up to four integrated service providers.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol): Depending on which industry insider you ask, VoIP is either the future of telecommunications or a service that is yet to really find itself. As of today, there are many issues surrounding VoIP ranging from basic voice quality to government regulation. At this point, VoIP has only really proven effective and efficient on an enterprise level for companies who have large, full-time IT staffs. However, there are hopes that it will someday help SMBs fulfill all of their voice and data transfer needs. If VoIP isn’t right for you at this stage, it might prove to be the perfect choice down the line, and at this point you can still purchase the bandwidth needed to run the service at an affordable price. Click here if you’re interested in receiving free bandwidth quotes from up to four providers.

Now that you’ve considered the business long distance services on the market, it’s time to take a look at the providers out there. Despite what many people believe, AT&T, MCI, Sprint, and other telecom giants aren’t the only game in town.

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