Is Dedicated Internet Access Better?

[donte10]

I guess my real question is if a 'dedicated' business connection of 3.0 Mbps down going to be better than a 24Mbps down with ATT Uverse that may be a 'shared' connection with surrounding neighbors. TDS salesman argument was that it was going to be a better connection because it was 'dedicated' Internet line, while ATT Uverse Business is shared amongst neighbors?

I have a business client with an office of 10-15 computer systems who is currently using AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Business Edition as his Internet service provider. He is on the MaxTurbo package which gives him up to 24Mbps downstream and up to 3.0 upstream for $115. Our last speed test gave us a reporting of 15.0 Mbps down and 3.0 up at around 10 am in the morning.

My client is considering switching to TDS Metrocom which is offering them a 'dedicated/private' Internet connection of speeds at 3.0Mbps down x 3.0 Mbps up for $150. TDS will also be adding VoIP phones to his network under their 'ManagedIP' service.

Added info from About.com: Some services share bandwidth among subscribers in a locality. The same cable line connects to many households. If many of your neighbors access the Internet simultaneously, it is a distinct possibility that cable speeds for you (and them) will decrease significantly during those times.

 

[teksquad]

With a dedicated line the provider (depending on the contract) has to conform to a certain SLA so you are guaranteed that bandwidth. Also most residential connections will block certain protocols going outbound. I have u-verse in the Raleigh NC area and ATT does filter outbound smtp traffic so if the business runs their own mail server this won't work for them.

 

[donte10]

In the last year, this client hasn't had problems with Uverse (except for the fact that the modem went out and was replaced once).

This client also has the 'business' services from Uverse (not the residential - if there's a difference). I don't necessarily care what provider the customer has, I really just want to make sure they are getting the best service. Is a 3.0Mbps dedicated line (guaranteed) better than the (up to) 24 Mbps that could be shared amongst the neighborhood - if that's how Uverse business works?

PS. Just want to provide more info... This customer doesn't have their own mail server in-house.

 

[Mushin]

I would have to say it really depends on the clients usage and demands.

If they are doing mostly web surfing that on a few computers that I would contend that it does not really matter. If they "need" a constant 3 Mps connection becuase of some other factor then yes it could matter.

So in essence to really answer the question you will have to ding in a bit and determine how they will use their connection. Ignore what the sales guy said because... while in theory the shared connect could be slower there are too many factors to account for.

As a side. At one of our locations we have a dedicated 3 mps DSL connection and at another we have Roadrunner business class that maxes out at 10 or 11 mbps. I like the road runner better and have never noticed slow downs.... but most of what we do is web surfing. The same applies to the DSL.

The one difference occurs with downloading larger files like ISO's and the 3 Mps site is slower. For our use... if the option were aviable for the DSL site I would have gone with roadrunner. Still it is more a matter of knowing that the other connection is faster more than an issues with productivity and performance.

 

[mraikes]

In the last year, this client hasn't had problems with Uverse (except for the fact that the modem went out and was replaced once).

This client also has the 'business' services from Uverse (not the residential - if there's a difference). I don't necessarily care what provider the customer has, I really just want to make sure they are getting the best service. Is a 3.0Mbps dedicated line (guaranteed) better than the (up to) 24 Mbps that could be shared amongst the neighborhood - if that's how Uverse business works?

PS. Just want to provide more info... This customer doesn't have their own mail server in-house.

The question shouldn't be about dedicated vs shared, but rather how often (if ever) does your client's network speed drop below 3.

You need to do some monitoring to see if this is even an issue.

My thought is that a 3.0 dedicated line consistently running 3.1 leaves you with no avenue of complaint, but your client could be MUCH worse off than a "shared" connection that slows down in the evening or weekends (non-business hours) due to Netflix or whatever.