BaldwinTel

Should You Aggregate Multi-Location Broadband Internet Bills Under One Invoice?

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email 

Back "in the day" when there was just one phone company, business owners only had two problems with their single phone bill:

1. Too much money charged for ...

2. Marginally useful phone service

Today any business owner can get super low rates for terrific phone or internet service but a new problem has developed:

1. No provider can service all locations

Today's business owners are faced with the old problem of a single phone & internet provider with high rates and marginal service OR ...

Great rates and terrific service but from dozens of different service providers who all bill separately and can't coordinate with each other.

Not surprisingly most business owners and managers choose to go with multiple providers and hope their internal admin staff can figure out how to manage multiple invoices from multiple vendors for the firm's multiple locations.

 

Can't This be Outsourced to an Expert at a Decent Price? Yes!

Yes Virginia, Santa Claus lives, he serves free lunch and says "You can have your cake and eat it too!" (In other words, broadband service aggregation and invoice management is possible at an affordable outsourced rate.)

Multi-location broadband aggregation started as soon as DSL service become a popular replacement in the late 1990's for dial-up internet for businesses.

Over time, as DSL has been replaced by 3G/4G/LTE/WiMax, local cable and fiber, experienced internet broadband aggregators that originally specialized in certain regional geographies or services have now grown to be able to handle any service provider anywhere in the USA and beyond.

Watch the following short video to see how one aggregator, Bandwave Systems does business.

 

 

Is Broadband Internet Aggregation Right for Your Business?

Probably ... if you hook up with the right aggregation management company. Some broadband aggregators specialize in cable companies while others specialize in wireless. Other aggregators specialize in matching vertical markets to required online business applications used in that vertical market.

Maybe you need a software solution that lets you aggregate your broadband invoices and management duties in-house. It might be worth taking a look at.

Give us a call at 714-525-8100 to start a conversations with us about which broadband internet aggregation solution is right for your business - if any. 

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Photo credit:  Drowning in bills

Keywords: broadband internet, outsourcing, bandwave systems, aggregator, 3g, 4g, lte, wimax, aggregation solution, cable, fiver, vertical market, dsl, multiple locations, 

 

How many Hops is Too Many Hops? What to look for if latency is killing your global data applications...

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email  

"One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi..." nothing annoys your customers and employees more than waiting around after they hit the "enter key" on their computer or smartphone for your firm's computer applications to do what you said they would do (increase employee productivity, enhance customer service, reduce sales cycles, etc.)

Maybe your application is working right but your data network service provider is still trying to figure out how to best connect the application users and the application data.  According to NTT America, for some ISPs (Internet service providers), 20 or more hops from one data network to another around the globe are required to make the right connects to make your application work.

Since every extra hop your data packets have to endure in their travel increases latency (one Mississippi, two Mississippi), to figure out how to increase network performance one has to understand how autonomous system numbers (ASNs) work and how jumping from one to another increases latency.

Click here for a short 10-minute YouTube tutorial on ASNs. Click here for WikiPedia's spin on ASNs.

 

For Global Data Apps, a Global Single ASN Minimizes Latency (and Increases Happiness)

Just as a non-stop flight will get you from Los Angeles to New York faster than a flight that make multiple stops where you have to switch planes, so too does using a global single ASN network reduce the redundancy experienced by your data application users.

 If you're deploying a data application globally across such continents as North America, Europe, Asia and Australia you'll want to consider a global data network service provider like NTT Communications.

NTT Communications fully controls the collection of routers that make up our Global Single ASN. We have independent links to the other leading networks around the World. We use our network to get you connected and to keep your data streaming. 

Why is One Better?

According to NTT, of the 20,000 or so autonomous system numbers in use,  NTT has ONE, where other ISPs have many. That means that North America, Europe, Asia and Australia all connect across a single backbone. NTT's customers experience stellar performance no matter where they are. 

For some ISPs, data has to travel across multiple ASNs to arrive at its destination. Traveling across multiple ASNs can mean up to 20 hops. NTT claims they can do it in fewer than five. With strategically located exchange points around the world, you can get to ANY access point on NTT's global network in fewer than five hops. That's around the world (and back), smoothly, and with fewer delays. 

NTT specializes in access and connectivity. For VoIP, streaming media, database application 
and backup, NTT claims you'll experience a significant reduction in latency. Their single global ASN is available to all NTT customers, globally. Wherever you are, your data travels seamlessly across our network and around the world.

 

For more information about NTT's Global Single ASN Service

Click here to download NTT's Global Single ASN brochure.

Is this service right for your business? Please give me a call at 951-251-5155 or email me at [email protected] so we can learn what makes the most sense for your Southern California business.

 

How to Use Coax Cable Aggregation to Backup or Augment Your MPLS Wide Area Network

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email  

 For years the business phone companies in Southern California have been telling business owners and IT directors that using any sort of cable Internet solution in a business environment is a bad idea because cable does not have any quality of service ("QoS") and is an inherently "shared" resource meaning a business would never get the data throughput they were promised.

Well that argument is certainly still being waived around by the telcos but after experiencing the successful use of cable Internet in their homes, few business owners or IT directors have a problem with the idea of backing up the wide area date network for their business with a professionally aggregated mix of coax cable providers.

But since all the cable companies have different service areas across the country, most businesses are hesitant to try an aggregated cable backup solution because of the problem of having to do all the aggregation in-house and then keeping track of individual cable company invoices.

Fortunately there are cable aggregation companies available to businesses that want to try an aggregated cable solution to backup or augment their main MPLS wide area network or "WAN". Of all the cable aggregation companies to choose from, few have the "one stop shop" success that has been found by Bandwave Systems out of Philadelphia. 

To learn just how a coax cable solution works when backing up or aggregating an MPLS network we recently interviewed Tom Azelby, Managing Director of Bandwave.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the white paper created from this interview.

To listen to the interview, click here to download the MP3 recording.

You can also listen now with your computer speakers by clicking the player below and then follow along by reading the transcript below. 

 

Interview Audio

Click the player above to listen to the interview now.

 

Interview Transcript

Dan Baldwin:  Today I'm speaking with Tom Azelby, the founder and managing partner of Bandwave Systems, a nationwide business broadband provider that integrates and aggregates all carriers and cable operators and technologies, DSL, T-1, cable, fiber, Ethernet, wireless and so on, so that businesses with multiple locations are provided a complete nationwide network solution with just a single point of contact. Tom, thanks for speaking with our audience today.

  Tom Azelby:  Thanks for having me, Dan.

  DB:  Tom, for years, IT directors have been led to believe that an MPLS network was the perfect solution to connect a nationwide multi-location business over a single wide area network, or WAN, but for multiple reasons, your company, Bandwave Systems has been brought in by MPLS carriers to augment and/or backup the MPLS solution they were selling a business.  

 

Question #1:  Why are MPLS carriers bringing Bandwave into their solutions?

  TA:  Well, I think one of the big reasons today is network redundancy, and coax cable is a diverse pathway to traditional Telecom infrastructure, so the Bandwave Cable -Connect product is a perfect fit for a redundant Internet connection.

The next reason Telecom Consultants and Carrier Sales Reps are coming to Bandwave is due to our experience. We've been in data aggregation since 2000. We were one of the first nationwide DSL aggregators. Today as a cable Internet provider or a cable aggregator, we have the experience, the relationships, and all the systems in place to provision and manage Nationwide Cable Internet Connections, Our main marketing message is one contract, one bill, one customer support, and we do that for Multi Site Enterprises using our partnership with all the cable providers Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, Cox, Brighhouse, RCN, Cablevision, Suddenlink, Mediacom (MSO’s).

Solution Review: How Distributed Enterprise IT Directors Solve 3G/4G Fixed Wireless Connectivity Problems

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

 What's an IT director for a quick service restaurant ("QSR") or similar distributed enterprise company in Southern California or beyond to do when the wide area network ("WAN") solution he or she wants to implement using a low cost DSL landline solution can only reach 80% of the companies locations?

Throw a 3G cellular AirCard in a wireless router, right?  Wrong.

An aircard in a router is probably the best solution if the business location is actually a recreational vehicle - contantly on the move. AirCards are great for mobile wireless data needs be far from perfect in a fixed office environment.  So how does an IT director solve the 3G/4G connectivity problems when trying to implement a fixed wireless solution?

Call on Accel Networks, the wireless data company that "tunes in" your wireless data signals with their unique proprietary antennae like no other wireless or landline company can.

If you've tried fixed wireless using AirCards for your data network locations unreachable by DSL and couldn't solve the connectivity problem, don't give up without calling your authorized Accel Networks solution partner.

 

How and Why is Accel Networks Solution Better than Everyone Else?

How does Accel do it better than all their competitors including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint?

Listen to Jonathan Forest, VP of Accel networks explain it himself in the following short recorded interview.

 

Listen to Recording:  Click Here to Download MP3

 

 

Read Transcript:   Click Here to Download PDF

How Quick Service Restaurant & Other Distributed Enterprise IT Directors Solve 3G/4G Fixed Wireless Connectivity Problems:

Accel Network's New Cellular Broadband Antenna

February 2012A Business Phone News conversation with Jonathan Forest, Vice President of Accel Networks, about how their new Maestro cellular broadband antenna system is gaining traction with CIOs and IT directors of many quick service restaurant chains and other similar multi-location retail businesses.

 

  DB:  So let's get right to the problems that QSR (“quick service restaurant”) IT directors have. They want to power the broadband needs of their retail stores with affordable 3G or 4G fixed wireless, but they're getting killed by connectivity problems.   

Question #1.   Please describe the nature and prevalence of the connectivity problems.

  JF:   Yes.   Specifically we see in our market that broadband is certainly the desire of many of the QSR and retail customer since it's a lower cost option, and it really fits their needs; however, broadband, DSL and cable isn't really prevalent in all locations, and we see consistently approximately 10% to 20% of the market not being covered for these customers, and that's where we fit in. 

Accel provides a high-grade, premium wireless solution that provides broadband type of service at these 10% to 20% locations, and that's with 3G.

With 4G coming out, and we're launching that next month, 4G speeds will, in many ways, surpass DSL.   So, the 4G solution that customers will be experiencing will be right on par, or superior to what they are experiencing, and we fully expect the wireless services to continue expanding.

 

  DB:  Question #2.    Can you describe how does Accel's proprietary fixed wireless Maestro antenna address the problem? 

  JF:     Yes.   I would be glad to.  If you had to boil it down, Accel provides the cleanest wireless signal.  What does that mean?  What it really means is that we're trying to minimize the carrier noise, and optimize the signal.  The result is better performance.    

2:11  Accel comes from this perspective, the wireless perspective.    We do not come at this from a landline perspective.   This is crucial, and the reason is that in landline technologies, the transport, DSL, cable, T1, it's a commodity.  No matter whether provider A or provider B is offering the solution, the same result is going to happen.   DSL, the same distance from the CO (phone company “central office”), it's all the same, and with wireless it couldn't be any different. 

What are the Benefits of Connecting Your Business to "the Cloud"? How should you choose a business cloud consultant?

By Dan Baldwin

In the 20+ years I've been helping Southern California multi-location business customers choose telecom and technology solutions I've never had a customer call and say, "I need some cloud" or "Connect me to the cloud" or simply, "Cloud me, baby!"

When I have suggested to clients that their next technology solution can be provided to them from "the cloud" though some have asked, "What the heck are you talking about!"

Following is the simplest answer that I've ever come up with for the question "what's the cloud?"

"The cloud is actually a windowless building someplace that's built for the comfort of computers instead of people. One of the comfortable computers in the cloud is the computer that makes the 'call waiting' feature on your phone work. The cloud can accommodate almost any business computer that can help your business do almost anything."

 

What Parts of Your Business Benefit from a "Cloud Connection"?

Maybe some, maybe none, maybe all.  The decision really boils down to your your thoughts as a business owner around "convenience, cost and security".

Convenience - Can you conveniently access your business email account from any computer or