subject: Broadband Costs And Benefits For Voip [print this page] One of the things that initially attracted people to VoIP was the reduction of telephone costs, both in calling interstate and abroad. Most of the early VoIP adopters were plainly fed up with the high costs for long distance calls and VoIP gave them some latitude to call outside the state/country without hurting the pocket too much.
Unfortunately, the days of almost-free VoIP in business settings ended before they even began, as things like taxes and government restrictions quickly caught up with the fast rising technology. VoIP has evolved from a computer-to-computer service to a system that uses hardware with IP-based local or hosted phone systems in a merry mix meant to ensure dependability, high quality, and low costs.
VoIP-Related Costs
As most companies adopt VoIP to converge data and voice communications, the logical tendency of businesses is to ditch their phone company, and ask the retained Internet service provider to provide broadband service that will accommodate VoIP. This could reduce monthly expenses, or at the very least, allow the company to lease dedicated transport lines for the amount they spend for separate phone and Internet subscriptions.
Dedicated lines are naturally more expensive than regular broadband subscriptions, but these are worth the price as they offer the quality of service (QoS) required in VoIP systems, as well as guarantee higher bandwidth and speeds that are normally not offered to regular subscribers. The following are the types of dedicated lines currently available:
DS (digital signal) Transport
This is a five-level standard with each level offering a set numbers of channels (DS0s) each with 64 kbps bandwidth. A DS1 (or T1) transport includes 24 DS0s while a T3 transport gives 672 channels. DS may be delivered via terrestrial cable, a microwave relay, or a fiber optic carrier.
T1
T1 is the most ubiquitous transport in businesses these days, as one T1 line replaces up to 24 regular telephone lines and gives up to 1.5 Mbps upload and download bandwidth that suits standard VoIP systems perfectly. T1 can also be bundled together to give higher bandwidths and with prices for T1 continuing to drop, usage is expected to rise in the foreseeable future.
T3
For companies that require more bandwidth than single or bundled T1 lines can provide, leasing a T3 line is the perfect alternative. This transport service can handle up to 45 Mbps in its 672 channels, is capable of handling 672 simultaneous VoIP conversations and is most suited for purposes that cover wider locations.
OC (optical carrier) Transport
The OC transport was introduced in the 1980s, when fiber optics gradually replaced copper-wire cables. Dedicated transport lines were installed to replace existing copper-wire lines or as new installations, mostly by the telecom carriers and a few large corporations. The most popular of these transport standards is OC-3, which can deliver up to 155 Mbps bandwidth. Currently, most carriers install fiber optic cables that can handle OC-3 for large facilities, as they anticipate future rise in demand.
The continuing improvement in broadband and dedicated services surely impacts VoIP availability and reliability. Recent developments like Dense Wave Division Multiplexing that can handle up to a terabit is sure to make more bandwidth available, not only for VoIP but also for other bandwidth-intensive applications.
