Increased Bandwidth with Bonded T1

Your reliable T1 offers 1.5 Mbps full-duplex connections for voice, video and data. But what do you do when you need more bandwidth?

Do you jump straight to a T3? Is there any alternative?

Fortunately, a better alternative exists, and is known as bonded T1. Read this blog to have fast and increased bandwidth with bonded T1.

T1

T1s are dedicated circuits. Unlike most broadband connections, they are symmetrical in nature. That is, they offer the same upload as well as download speeds. Due to this capability, T1s are just what you need if your users are engaged in upload-heavy tasks such as video conferencing or data backups.

T1s can be provisioned over fiber optic or copper media. T1 circuits are extremely reliable and come with excellent Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that guarantee uptime and mean time to repair etc.

Bandwidth Limitation in Comparison to T3

While T1s are capable of carrying data at a speed of 1.5 Mbps, this may not be sufficient if your bandwidth requirements are higher.

A higher-bandwidth alternative is the popular T3 line which offers excellent service at 45 Mbps. However, a T3 may be overkill in terms of both bandwidth and cost.

How to Increase the Bandwidth Capacity of T1?

If your bandwidth requirements are more than what a single T1 can offer, but you don’t need a T3, then an efficient solution is available for you: it’s called bonded T1.

Bonded T1

As the name suggests, bonded T1 is a collection of T1s ‘bonded’ together to attain high-speed connectivity.

By combining multiple T1s, the connection speed can be increased from 1.5 Mbps to nearly 12 Mbps. These bonded lines are called dual-bonded T1 (3 Mbps), triple-bonded T1 (4.5 Mbps), quad-bonded T1 (6 Mbps), and sextuple-bonded T1 (9 Mbps).

Bonded T1 is created by connecting multiple T1s on the same router. The router can be configured to either

1. treat the multiple physical T1s as a single logical connection, known as Inverse Multiple Access (IMA), or
2. load-balance traffic across the available T1s.

Bonded T1 is also an excellent option if your business requirements are likely to scale up gradually. Rather than opting for a T3 connection, you can begin with a single T1 and use bonding to scale up bandwidth until you are ready to move to a full-fledged T3 connection.

Applications of Bonded T1

Internet, data, and voice are the most common applications of T1 lines. And this holds true for bonded T1 as well. Most customers prefer purchasing all of these three services over the same T1. Therefore, as their requirements increase, it makes sense to bond multiple T1s to increase the bandwidth. Other popular applications of bonded T1 include the following:

• Offsite data vaulting – If your business requires daily or frequent offsite data uploads as a part of your organizational contingency requirements, then you can meet increased bandwidth requirements by shifting to bonded T1.
• Hosted virtual desktops – Using bonded T1 for hosted virtual desktops can assure improved reliability and availability of the Internet connection.
• Hosted virtual PBX – If the G.711 codec is used, a single T1 connection is capable of supporting up to 15 hosted VoIP devices or virtual telephone systems. If your requirements increase, you can use bonded T1.
• Real-time voice and video – Bonded T1 is suitable when there is a need for high-quality video or audio transmission. Rather than shifting to a T3, you can use bonded T1 to cater to increased bandwidth requirements.

Pros of Bonded T1:

• The biggest benefit of bonded T1 is cost-effective scalability.
• Bonded T1 offers symmetric bandwidth
• When it comes to performance, bonded T1 performs just as well as single T1 connections.
• Bonded T1 is covered by SLAs for assured performance guarantees and network uptimes.

Cons of Bonded T1:

• Bonded T1 is costlier compared to broadband connections such as DSL and cable.

Conclusion

Bonded T1 offers an effective solution for businesses with increasing bandwidth requirements, who don’t yet have need the need or the capacity to make the jump to a T3.

You can also opt for more modern approaches such as broadband bonding that allows for bonding of a T1 and a DSL connection, or a cable and a DSL connection.

If you want to learn more about the best way of managing your bandwidth requirements, reach out to us directly at Carrierbid.com. You can also fill out our web form and our experts will get in touch with you for an initial consultation.