It makes me wonder when T1′s will be obsolete, at least, bundling them for business use like in a hotel atmosphere.  If you did not know, most hotels across the United States, whether it be a Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott or a Starwood property are all still using T1 lines.  In most cases, a 2xT1 bonded for a maximum of 3.0Mbps symmetrical bandwidth.  These hotels share this bandwidth for its guest rooms, its offices and meeting spaces.  Can you imagine that?  If you are a business traveler staying at a hotel, and check into your guest room and get prompted to pay $9.95 for internet access and the best you get is some shared internet access with hundreds of other surfing, what type of speed will you be getting?  This may not be enough for 10 people to be watching Youtube videos, let alone hundreds.

At the same time, you may be conducting a meeting which needs this high speed internet access and you are prompted for a $250.00 charge, at least.  And then you find out that your basically paying for something that is equivalent to what is in the guest room but at 25 times the charge just because its in a meeting room atmosphere.

Hotel owners/operators need to play catch up to technology.  They need to re-invest in their infrastructure and actually offer something worth paying for.  A couple years ago, if a hotel had a DS3 circuit (45Mbps) it would have been sufficient.  Now, it’s just getting by and should be standard.  Honestly, if I was the corporate CTO of these hotel’s I would be ashamed that my hotel’s were selling puny shared T1 access for $9.95 in the guest room and $250.00 in the meeting rooms.  But then again, what is not a rip off in a hotel?  A gallon of “freshly squeezed orange juice” for $60 sound about right.

I did a bunch of tests and under the best scenario, I got about 8 mbps download and 5 mbps.  Blazing speeds compared to the usual T-1 lines at 1.5 mbps.  How did this bandwidth fare for the 400 wireless users?  I believe there was more than 400 people, and they were not using this bandwidth to do some general browsing.  The entire bandwidth spectrum was eaten up and used up.  However, the network held up with good signal provided through 20 wireless access points.  Sure, the bandwidth was slow but that all depends on what people use it for.  In the end, no bandwidth is enough because people just do too much whether it be downloading, streaming audio or video, calling on Skype, etc.  

The funny thing is when I was at the Apple store, I did a speed test and the store has a fatter link than I had which makes me wonder, what type of circuit are they pulling?  I did a quick test and got about 9 mbps download and upload.  Which means, they may have had more because there were other people using it which makes me conclude that they must have a DS3 capped at 10 mbps.  

If you work at the Apple store, can you let me know what type of circuit you have?  And how much are you paying for that?  Just curious, thats all.

Now let us compare that to true T-1 lines as I see at work.  As a service provider, we get T-1 lines from AT&T, MCI, Qwest, Verizon, etc.  A single T-1 line gives you exactly 1.544 mbps download and upload (no more, no less).  You always have the option of adding to the bandwidth by adding T-1 lines, thus introducing NxT1, which N = number of T-1 lines.  So for a 3xT1, it just means 1.5444 mbps times 3 or roughly 4.5 mbps.  Of course you will get about three T-1 drop offs and need an enterprise router like Cisco with multiple interface cards to get these T-1′s bonded together.  The cost for a T-1 circuit can range from different providers but a safe bet would be about $1,000 per month.  (This number could be less now with many different LEC’s (Local Exchange Carriers) selling T-1′s now.  

As you add more users onto your network, as you have more software applications and devices depend on the internet, and as web content become fatter and fatter, you will have the need for even more bandwidth.  At about 6xT1′s or roughly 9 mbps still does not meet your bandwidth requirements, the next step would be getting a DS3.  DS3 is 28 T-1′s bonded together giving you about 45 mbps.  A bit too much bandwidth for the typical small or medium business, even some hotels and convention centers I would say.  You get the option of capping it off at say, 10 mbps, so you will not be charged for a full DS3.  As we move toward heavier network usage and more network traffic, obtaining a DS3 for a large network should be required.  

It is silly but I still see large convention hotels or convention centers try to settle with a pair of T-1′s or some type of NxT1 solution.  The bottom line may be better in the short run where you pay less per month and the equipment may be less, but thats probably why neither Google nor Microsoft are not coming to you with their next large convention.  Get with the program, get your self a capped DS3 and be proud to join the big boys with ample bandwidth.  Especially if your a 600 room hotel with about 100,000 square feet of meeting space trying to upgrade from a 2xT1 and deciding whether to go the DS3 route or a 5xT1.  Put up a bit more capital in your technology budget and get that fat pipe.  In the end, your still selling your internet access at a ridiculous rate for just one connection and marketing it as a T-1 access, but in reality, your just providing access to a shared network that the bandwidth your client is getting is not even close to 1.544 mbps.  In the end, you will just hear them cry foul and pissed off about the crappy service.

So here’s a quick warning; internet access is not a commodity, it is a premium service.  But if you charge premium prices, offer premium service.  Upgrade and get with the future.  No way should you charge premium for a share network access, and no way should you give it away because your network slows.  Keep in mind, if you can charge $40 for a gallon of coffee or $60 for a gallon of freshly squeezed orange juice, then it quite justifies charging a bit more for internet as well.  However, you wouldn’t water down your orange juice or use generic brand coffee now, would you?