With the price of T1 service dropping from it’s high point of roughly 20 years ago, it’s no wonder that more and more businesses are searching out and using this cost effective solution. Whether it’s voice, data, or a combination of voice and data, T1 service providers can satisfy your communications infrastructure requirements.

But where do you find an appropriate provider that offers a great price and support?

This is a great question. The biggest mistake is to base a purchasing decision on price alone. Beware of this. As most know, the net effect of any business purchase is the return on your investment. The ‘cheap’ T1 service providers may be just that. A cheap cost for an oversold service that would be unable to provide the throughput advertised.

When making this important decision to build up (or out) your communications infrastructure, ask yourself some important questions.

a. If you’re looking for a voice T1 service, what are your current requirements? (local/long distance, fax, toll-free service, number of lines needed, etc.)

b. If you’re looking for a data T1 service, what is your objective? Web hosting, internet access for your employees, ASP, etc.

c. If you’re looking for an integrated solution (voice and data) consider both points above.

Obviously these are some general considerations. There are also cost factors, time lines to implement, technical support, hardware requirements, contract time frames and extensibility issues to consider.

Whether you have an in-house technical staff or not, whatever provider you choose for service should be willing (and technical able) to work with you every step of the way to understand and provide the service that meets your needs.

So, how exactly do you find an objective third party to help you understand requirements, cost, support and extensibility?

A communications broker provides an objective look at your unique situation. Communication brokers work for you and not for any specific vendor. If you were to contact a specific vendor, their assistance would be geared towards a specific product or service they themselves offer. Their solution would be partly tailored based on what they themselves can provide. Using a communications broker removes that limitation by having access to products and services from many different vendors. Further, the communications broker can objectively evaluate your situation and design a solution that meets all your requirements and needs.

There are many T1 providers out there. Do yourself and your business a favor and use a communications broker to help you navigate the waters and build an infrastructure that will solve your immediate needs and provide the infrastructure that can handle the growth of your business. Whether you use our services or that of someone else, your business success is too important to leave in the hands of the ‘cheap’ guys.

It used to be the case that Sony laptops were very much better than others – they had much better build quality, better components and so on. Lately, though, Sony has been cutting a few corners to try to maximise its profitability, believing that once the Sony label is on something, their reputation will win through and they will be able to sell mediocre laptops at high prices.

To a certain extent, this is true. There are still plenty of buyers who remember Sony’s glory days and have stuck with them out of loyalty and genuine conviction that their Sony really is better than the competition. And while it might be better than the very cheapest laptop out there, a Sony laptop is really no longer any match for the best, and certainly not the laptop of choice for running Windows as it used to be.

Of course, all this doesn’t so much apply if you buy only from the very top of Sony’s range, where the laptops are generally just as good as they ever were, but even more expensive. Sony’s strategy has been to try to make normal laptops and top-end luxury ones at the same time, which basically results in the Sony laptops people want being the ones that are priced for people who’ll pay anything – Apple have a similar strategy for their iBooks and MacBooks.

However, if you can get your hands on a top-end Sony laptop, you will notice a genuine difference in quality. The components are very, very good, the case is high quality, it’s small and rugged and everything fits together well. It’s just a shame that they can’t make all their laptops like that. So, beware: while Sony do make good laptops, the Sony name itself is no longer a universal badge of quality, and you need to do more research and read reviews before you buy anything that today’s Sony produces.