Every Thursday at 12:15PM – Free piano event

Keep up your musical inspiration by joining us for our weekly Thursday Lunchtime Concert Series. Experience world-class talent performing in the most intimate listening environment in Seattle!

Please call us or email to find out who is playing!
You won’t be disappointed. (206) 622-7580.

Jazz Great Jessica Williams Live in Concert
Saturday, March 6th at 7PM – Free concert but RSVP required

Dave Burbeck has called her, “One of the greatest jazz pianists I have ever heard.” McCoy Tyner says,”Jessica is a beautiful player.” This two-time Grammy Nominee was classically trained at the Peapbody Conservatory of Music. For the past four decades she has written and recorded extensively. Her appearance includes NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and on Marian McPartland’s Piano Show. She’s written scores for PBS and HBO and has received more than twenty ASCAP Special Awards for her prolific musical output.

Limited seating so RSVP’s required, but there is no cost. Call (280) 622-7580

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NY Times Building

The New York Times says it will start charging for online content next year, dropping a big shoe in the debate over whether newspapers should — and can — get paid for something they’ve been giving away for free for years. Instead, it plans to offer a certain number of articles for free before charging a monthly price.

“This is a bet, to a certain degree, on where we think the web is going,” said Times chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. in an internal memo sent to employees. “This is not going to be something that is going to change the financial dynamics overnight.”

Speaking of those financial dynamics, the Times needs this plan to work — as does, arguably, the rest of the newspaper industry, which has been crushed by debt from financial restructuring, the recession, a weak ad market and intense competition from the same online medium this plan hopes to embrace. The Times‘ cash flow appears to be fine for the moment, although its new 52-story Manhattan high-rise and a stock price that lost about 75 percent of its value over the past five years surely pressured it to make the internet — quite literally– pay.

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Google Traffic 2009

Americans conducted 14.7 billion core searches on the top five search engines in December 2009, an increase of 2% over November 2009, according to the latest qSearch data from comScore, Inc. Google searches accounted for nearly 66% of these queries. (more…)

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Split testing is a conversion-tracking method that separates your message into two or more variations to see which gets the best response. Different visitors see different versions of the message and the results are tracked to determine the best return.

We wanted to learn more about conducting split tests (also known as A/B tests), and so we corresponded with Paras Chopra, founder of Wingify, a company that produces Visual Website Optimizer, a split-testing tool for ecommerce merchants and other web operators.

Chopra cited the example of a holiday A/B test conducted recently by MedaliaArt, an online art gallery specializing in Caribbean and Latin America art. “MedaliaArt put up a holiday sale where they offered 5 to 55 percent discounts on all paintings,” he said. “They wanted to determine the best location on the home page to put the message so as to optimize for bounce rate.”

The challenge for the company was to determine where to show the message. “Displaying it prominently on the home page will make more visitors notice it, but some visitors may find it too intrusive and leave the site immediately,” said Chopra. “On the other hand, putting it at a not-so-noticeable location may have no effect at all.”

An Example Split Test

For its split test, MedaliaArt created a couple of versions of its home page with “Holiday Sale” displayed at two different home page locations. One version represented what Chopra calls an “in-your-face ‘Holiday Sale’ message displayed in big, red font prominently on the homepage.”

“In-your-face” Holiday Sale message placement.

The second version was a sidebar “Holiday Sale” message in a smaller font.

Sidebar Holiday Sale message placement.

“Usually, split testing tools track conversion rates (percentage of visitors doing desired action). But, to track the bounce rate, MedaliaArt defined a click on any link on the home page as conversion. Thus the conversion rate of, for example, 40 percent corresponded to a 60 percent (100 percent less 40 percent) bounce rate.”

The first batch of conclusive results was available within two weeks.

“Clearly, the in-your-face, prominent promotional message has a dramatically lower bounce rate (60 percent) than the sidebar one (76 percent), said Chopra. “The reduction in the bounce rate of 21 percent is statistically significant (at 95 percent confidence level) so the in-your-face variation obviously represents a better version. The improvement in bounce rate means more interest by visitors in the paintings they are selling and potentially more sales.”

Without split testing the company could have never known the optimal position of its promotional message. And, fears that a prominently displayed promotional message might backlash by irritating visitors proved not to be an issue.

How To Improve A/B Test Results

Chopra had a suggestion for MedaliaArt (and other ecommerce merchants considering A/B testing). “Also include a variation without the ‘Holiday Sales’ messaging. If MedaliaArt had included such a variation, it would have provided a benchmark to see the effect of the sales message, irrespective of the position.”

Chopra said MedaliaArt could also have used different versions of text in addition to different home page positions. “Maybe a message with the word ‘discount’ (such as ‘55 percent discount on paintings this holiday season’) would have worked better than the default message (‘Holiday Sale’). And, optimizing for bounce rate is fine, but a better metric would have been to measure and optimize for sales, which is what really matters to an ecommerce site.”

Conclusion

Chopra said he believes split testing is the only way to really know what will work and what won’t. “It is essential to check assumptions related to promotional messages, checkout process, product category ordering, buy now button, and more.”

He suggested that merchants should be a little adventurous and test radically different home page designs and ideas. “You can always choose to include only a small percentage of traffic and can disable non-performing variations at a click of a button.”

by Kate Monteith

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Comcast’s $30 billion acquisition of NBC | Universal, announced on December 2nd, has drawn interest from Washington regulators, concern from NBC employees, and speculation from bloggers about how the deal will affect others in the industry.

Here at Compete our first thought was “wow, that’s a lot of web traffic!” Looking at 54 leading web properties, such as Weather.com, Hulu.com, and Eonline.com* that are owned in whole or in part by NBC | Universal or Comcast we found that Comcast properties receive 30 million visitors each month while NBC domains host almost 44 million monthly visitors. A combined reach of 74 million web users would put this new behemoth ahead of AOL, MySpace, and Disney’s Go.com as one of the most trafficked companies on the internet. But, will this acquisition help Comcast reach a new audience, or is there a significant overlap in those that already visit both Comcast and NBC properties?

The chart below captures the overlap between the NBC and Comcast domains we examined.

What we found was that only 30% of current NBC web visitors also frequent Comcast properties. Comcast is adding over 30 million new web visitors with this acquisition, doubling its online audience reach.

This finding has a host of implications. Comcast can now sell advertisers on this increased reach in cross-channel marketing agreements, demand better ad rates from online marketers, offer special access on more sites to Comcast cable or internet subscribers, and the implications for net neutrality could be part of the imminent regulatory hearings on Capitol Hill.

While it will take considerable time and effort to get all of these different constituencies moving in unison, the opportunity to leverage this huge new online audience will not pass Comcast by. When this deal is completed, expect Comcast to exert its influence as an ISP and as a leading content provider.

*The complete list of sites includes – Comcast: Comcast.com, comcast.terra.com, comcastsportsnet.com, csnbayarea.com, csncalifornia.com, csnchicago.com, css-sports.com, csnne.com, web.sny.tv, csnphilly.com, themtn.tv, csnwashington.com, dailycandy.com, eonline.com, exercisetv.tv, fancast.com, fandango.com, fearnet.com, g4tv.com, thegolfchannel.com, golfnow.com, movies.com, sproutonline.com, plaxo.com, mystyle.com, tvoneonline.com, versus.com, and NBC | Universal: nbc.com, ivillage.com, neversaydiet.com, momtourage.com, astrology.com, gardenweb.com, petside.com, healthvideo.com, travelskoot.com, bravotv.com, televisionwithoutpity.com, syfy.com, cnbc.com, usanetwork.com, oxygen.com, universalsports.com, weather.com, hulu.com, msnbc.com, holamun2.com, universalhd.com, chillertv.com, sleuthchannel.com, accesshollywood.com, nbcsports.com, nbcolympics.com, telemundo.com (Source: www.nbcutransaction.com)

Written by Steve Schuler

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Finding the best deal on a mortgage loan can save you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. So who offers these kinds of deals today? How do you find the best rates when shopping for a mortgage loan? These are a few of the questions we will address in today’s lesson.

The Best Deals Are Limited to a Few

The first concept you need to understand is that only a small percentage of borrowers will qualify for the best mortgage deals a lender has to offer. So when you see a low interest rate being advertised by a particular lender, it’s guaranteed to be followed by an asterisk and a disclaimer. The disclaimer will say something to the effect of: “This offer is limited to well-qualified borrowers only.” This means the lender reserves their best mortgage deals (i.e., their lowest interest rates) for certain borrowers who meet pre-determined underwriting criteria.

What are these criteria, and how do you meet them?

Every lender has its own underwriting guidelines, which they use to approve or reject mortgage applications. But while their internal processes may vary, all lenders consider the same basic factors. These factors include your credit score, your current income, the amount of debt you are carrying, and the affordability of the loan when compared to your income. If you perform well in all these areas — particularly the credit score — you may qualify for the best mortgage deals the lender has to offer.

Who Offers the Best Mortgage Rates?

In the previous section, we discussed the fact that lenders have a broad range of interest rates they can assign to loans. In order to get the best rate, you have to meet certain criteria established by a particular lender. So it’s hard to say who offers the best deals at any given time, because there are so many variables at play. In other words, a well-qualified borrower can probably get a good deal from any lender. Granted, one mortgage company might be able to shave off a tenth of a point here or there, but it really comes down to the borrower’s qualifications. That’s the key to all of this.

Here’s what it boils down to. Trying to figure out who offers the best deals on mortgage loan is only half of the picture. You also need to ask the question, “What can I do to make myself better qualified in the eyes of a lender?” If you can improve your credit score and pay down your debt, you’ll have a much easier time getting a low rate.

Using the Internet To Shop for Deals

The Internet makes it a lot easier to shop for the best rates on home loans, because you can compare offers from multiple lenders with very little effort. For example, if you use the links provided on our mortgage quotes page, you can receive information from several different companies at once. Not only is this convenient, but it also helps you find the best deal on a mortgage based on your qualifying criteria.

Here’s what you need to take away from this lesson:

• Getting a low interest rate on a home loan has more to do with you, as the borrower, than it does the lender.
• Every mortgage lender has a range of rates and terms they can assign to a particular borrower.
• So if you want to get the best mortgage deals available from a particular company, you need to make sure you are well qualified — as defined by the lending industry.
• You will probably need a credit score higher than 760, and you will need to have a favorable debt-to-income ratio.
• These are just minimum requirements. Each lender may have additional underwriting guidelines and criteria in place.

Who offers the best mortgage rates is a common question asked by first-time homebuyers. But the better question is: What can I do to make myself better qualified in the eyes of a lender?

Where to Go From Here

I hope this article gives you a better understanding of the lending industry and how it operates. If you would like to learn more about home loans, interest rates and similar topics, use the menu provided at the top of our website. There are thousands of articles, lessons and Q&A sessions on this site, so you’re bound to find the information you seek.

Here are some articles that go along with this particular topic:

How to Find the Best Deals on Fixed-Rate Loans
The Best Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

by Brandon Cornett, publisher of Home Buying Institute

Mortgage Protection

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While often very complex in their calculations and data processing, the critical operations performed by the major search engines in order to rank websites isn’t as lengthy as one might think. The processes they use to provide relevant results when a web search is undergone can best be described in the following four steps.

1. Send out the Web Crawlers
   Search engines use invisible “bots” or “spiders,” which are really programs or automated scripts, that browse (or “crawl”) the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. Search engines use spidering as a means of providing up-to-date data. This type of technology is necessary because the rate at which people create new Internet documents greatly exceeds any manual indexing capacity. In fact, an estimated 20 billion web pages exist, and search engines have crawled about half of them.
2. Index the Pages
   After a spider crawls a web page, it makes a copy of it and adds it to its database. This process is known as indexing. With so many search queries submitted each minute, it is very important that search engines are steadfast in their index management so that they can search and sort billions of documents in fractions of a second.
3. Process Queries
   Search engines process hundreds of millions of search queries every day. When someone keys in a search term and clicks “Search,” the engine retrieves from its index all of the documents that match the query. It determines a match by finding the same terms or phrase entered into the search bar. Entering a multi-word phrase by itself can return literally millions of results, but entering that same phrase in quotes can greatly narrow the results, giving the user a more accurate listing of websites that relate to their particular search.
4. Rank Pages
   A very closely guarded mathematical equation, called an algorithm, is employed by each search engine to determine how to sort and rank search query results. This algorithm allows the engine to rank the most relevant web pages first, and the rest in descending order of importance to the user.

What You Can Do for Your Website: Avoid Speed Bumps & Walls

You may not know it, but you could be hindering or preventing your website from being crawled by search engine spiders. As spiders crawl the web, they rely on the architecture of hyperlinks to find new web pages and revisit those that may have changed. Complex links and deep site structures with little unique content may act as “speed bumps” in the process by slowing down the spiders. Even worse, data that cannot be accessed by web crawlers are really like “walls” in that they completely prevent your web pages from being ranked.

Beware of the Following “Speed Bumps”:

• URLs with 2+ dynamic parameters; i.e. http://www.url.com/page.php?id=4&CK=34rr&User=%Tom% (spiders may be reluctant to crawl complex URLs like this because they often result in errors with non-human visitors)
• Pages with more than 100 unique links to other pages on the site (spiders may not follow each one)
• Pages buried more than 3 clicks/links from the home page of a website (unless there are many other external links pointing to the site, spiders will often ignore deep pages)
• Pages requiring a “Session ID” or Cookie to enable navigation (spiders may not be able to retain these elements as a browser user can)
• Pages that are split into “frames” can hinder crawling and cause confusion about which pages to rank in the results.

Beware of the Following “Walls”:

• Pages accessible only via a select form and submit button
• Pages requiring a drop down menu (HTML attribute) to access them
• Documents accessible only via a search box
• Documents blocked purposefully (via a robot meta tag or robots.txt file)
• Pages requiring a login
• Pages that re-direct before showing content (search engines call this cloaking or bait-and-switch and may actually ban sites that use this tactic)

In order to avoid the above pitfalls and ensure that your website’s contents are fully crawlable, be sure to provide direct, HTML links to each page you want the search engine spiders to index. Remember to make every page of your site accessible from the home page, since the home page is usually the place spiders begin their crawl. It’s also a good idea to add a sitemap to your website in order to increase its navigation.

This article was written by David Montalvo. David Montalvo is the CEO of UnReal Web Marketing LLC. He has achieved over 150,000 top 10 positions for Fortune 500 companies since 1997.

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Twitter Tools
Below is a list of various tools for twitter, there are many many more. Please add your comments with tools you use. This list is meant to cover as many utilities as possible. A special thank you to the twitter users that gave me their recommendations, a list is at the end. Add to Delicious – Click Here.

Support this site by adding this
Support Bookmark to Delicious.

Desktop Applications for Twitter

• Seesmic – allows multiple Twitter (and Facebook) monitoring
• Twhirl – allows monitoring of multiple Twitter accounts
• Snitter – for Mac and Windows
• Twitterriffic – for Mac OS
• MadTwitter – for windows
• Spaz – open source twitter client

Twitter Organization

• Tweet Deck
• TweetMixx – shows tweets and summary of links out

Manage Multiple Twitter Accounts

• Splitweet

Twitter for Companies

• CoTweet

Firefox Plugins

• Twitbin
• Twitterfox

Send Messages to Twitter using Voice

• Twitter Fone

Blackberry Client

• TwitterBerry

iPhone Twitter Apps

• Tweetie for iPhone
• Twinkle for iPhone
• Twitter for iPhone
• Hahlo
• Pocket Tweets

Twitter on any Mobile device

• Tiny Twitter – phone needs java
• Twitter Mobile – only go here on your phone
• iTweet
• twibble

Twitter on Windows Mobile

• Pocket Twit

Post via Mobile

• Twitterscan

Send via eMail

• Twittermail

Counter to show your twitter followers

• Twitter Counter

Enhance your Tweets

• Twitter Keys

Un-follow Someone for Just a Few Days

• Twitter Snooze

Find out who Stopped Following You and Why

• Qwitter
• Twitterless

Manage who Follows You and Who You Follow, Recommendations Also

• Friend or Follow
• Mr. Tweet – Recommendations

Top Twitter Lists

• Twitter Counter Top 100 List
• twInfluence Top 50 List

Visual Map of Twitter Posts

• Twitter Vision

Share Files, Pictures & Videos via Twitter

• Tweetcube – files
• Twitpic – pics
• Visual Twitter – pics
• Twixxer

Share Quotes and Bits from Webpages

• Tweet All About It

Monitor Twitter for Keywords & Whats Hot

• PeopleBrowsr – filter, sort, follow, post, repeat
• Tweet Grid – monitor keywords
• Monitter – monitor keywords
• Twitscoop
• Flaptor Twitter Search – search twitter for a keyword
• Twitspy – monitor twitter public timeline in real time
• Tweetscan
• CityTweets – follow tweets by City

Monitor Conversations

• Tweet 2 Tweet
• Twitalks – find out what two users are saying about you

Monitor Trends

• Twist

Autoresponder & Setup Automatic Tweets

• Tweet Later

Autopost your Blog entries to Twitter

• Twitterfeed

Evaluate your Twitter Profile

• Twitter Grader
• Twitter Ratio
• Tweet Value

Twitter Statistics and Graphs for a Twitter Account

• Tweetstats
• Twitgraph

Twitter Dictionary

• Twittords

Wordpress
There are a bunch of plugins for twitter and wordpress, will make that another article.

Special Thanks
Thank you to the following for their suggestions:
@iamrasa, @sumaya, @zebb, @tessneale, @SeanMarler, @david_tinney, @officemate.

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These days, most business require either DSL or T1 Internet access. We’ll help you determine which is right for you.

By BuyerZone.com Editorial Staff – BuyerZone.com

Internet access introduction

With the Internet such a vital part of everyday business, the speed and reliability of your Internet access is more important than ever. Solutions such as T1 lines and business-grade DSL provide always-on broadband connections, giving your employees the ability to consistently communicate and exchange data with co-workers, customers, and vendors at speeds much faster than standard dial-up.

In addition to providing seamless access to the Internet and faster downloads of large files, a high-speed connection lets you access a wide range of applications – web hosting, streaming video, voice over IP (VoIP), video conferencing and virtual private networking (VPN). And the good news is that prices have dropped, making broadband more affordable than ever.

This BuyerZone.com Internet Access Buyer’s Guide is designed to explore the various Internet access options available to you, how to choose an Internet access vendor, and the costs of getting your company up and running.

High speed internet access options

You have multiple options for setting up high-speed Internet access for your company. The one you select will likely be based on your company size, data requirements, budget, and proximity to the central office of the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Here are the most common solutions:

DSL: An inexpensive and distance-sensitive solution that provides Internet and telephone access on the same lines. While a standard dial-up connection transmits data at speeds up to 56,000 bits per second (56 Kbps), DSL speeds range from 384 Kbps to 1,500 Kbps. This is one of the more popular options for small businesses, supporting up to 20 employees who need only basic Internet applications like web surfing or e-mail. (See “DSL service for business” for more details)

T1: A service that supports data connections up to 30 times as fast as a 56 Kbps dial-up modem with digitized voice capabilities over the same lines. This is the most popular option for small-to-medium-sized businesses with up to 50 employees, and can support all basic Internet functions as well as large file downloads and uploads. (See “T1 internet service” for more details)

T3: A T3 line offers the combined bandwidth of 28 T1 lines – up to 43 megabits per second (1 Mbps=1000 Kbps). It’s a good option for mid-sized to-large businesses with 100 or more employees. T3 lines run on fiber optic cable and can support 30,000 times the traffic of standard copper phone wires. While T3 is available in fractional increments like T1, it is more expensive than having multiple T1 lines bonded together to produce the same speed.

Frame Relay: An alternate solution for customers who can’t get DSL or cable service. Frame relay is fast and flexible and sends digital information between one or several destinations at T1 speeds. While the service is inexpensive, the equipment and setup can be quite pricy. It’s not a recommended option for small-to-medium businesses.

Cable: A high-speed option that uses the same connection as cable television. It offers data transfer speeds around 1.5 Mbps, but is not really considered a business-quality service. Because many people in your area share a cable network, performance dramatically decreases as multiple users go online at the same time. Also, many high-tech applications of broadband – VoIP and streaming video, for example – do not work well over cable.

Satellite: Internet access using a satellite dish. This technology can be deterred by bad weather and the speeds can’t handle large applications such as web site hosting, video conferencing or multiple file downloads. This is only a worthwhile option for very remote locations such as boats at sea.

DSL service for business

A digital subscriber line (DSL) is an inexpensive digital solution that transports high-speed data from your phone company’s central office to your company’s network. The data is transmitted over the same copper wires used by most phone systems.

DSL is very distance-sensitive. The closer your company is to the phone company’s central office – where phone lines connect to switching equipment – the faster your connection. It is generally recommended that your office be located within 2-3 miles of the central office for faster, more affordable service. Beyond 3 miles, you would only qualify for low-speed DSL service – if any at all.

You can find out if you are within range for DSL by calling your local ISP, or looking up your location online. There are many Internet sites that allow you to check if your area can get DSL and how fast a connection you qualify for.

Types of DSL There are various types of DSL (referred to as xDSL). The two most common are Symmetrical DSL (SDSL) and Asymmetrical DSL (ADSL).

ADSL uses your existing copper phone lines to transmit data, but limits upload speeds to as little as one quarter of download speeds. SDSL is a more robust (and more costly) version of DSL that supports equivalent upload and download speeds. This is good for companies that regularly upload large files, but requires dedicated wiring.

The downsides of business DSL Reliability is the primary concern with DSL. On average, the uptime for DSL isn’t as good as it is with a T1 connection. Service level agreements (SLAs) that ensure your connection will always be running are often not offered with DSL service. And while a DSL connection can support many simultaneous users for sending e-mail and surfing the web, it’s not optimal for applications requiring a lot of bandwidth such as large file downloads or streaming video.

DSL also runs into the problem of slow connections due to oversubscription – the act of selling more bandwidth than is actually available. DSL providers will sign up more subscribers than they have bandwidth for, with the expectation that not all users will be online at the same time. While you’ll get faster connection rates – up to 2 Mbps – when there aren’t a lot users online, your connection will lag when more customers connect. This can be highly frustrating, to say the least.

In the end, the savings you may gain from using DSL can be offset by how much you compromise critical business applications like internally maintained e-mail server or web servers.

Necessary equipment
Most business DSL customers use a router to connect their local area network (LAN) to the Internet. While more expensive than a standard DSL modem, a router provides data security and data filtering services, which are valuable in business environments. If you have fewer than 10 computers to connect, you can opt for a less expensive DSL modem, although you will still need to purchase firewall software to secure your network. Your DSL provider will lease or sell you the appropriate hardware.

T1 internet service

A T1 connection is the most popular method for Internet access among businesses. It is fast and reliable – most providers can guarantee 99.99% uptime – and features increased security. Like DSL, T1 connections are “always on,” meaning that as long as your computer is turned on, you will be connected to the Internet.

T1 is symmetrical connection, allowing for downloads and uploads of up to 1.5 Mbps, which is about 30 times as fast as dial-up. The quality of a T1 line is much better than analog phone lines, which translates into a clearer signal and faster connections to websites and quicker downloads.

Since T1 lines are dedicated, you will always have access to the full amount of bandwidth you are entitled to. However the actual performance you experience at an individual level will drop depending on how many users are online at that time. A single T1 connection can support dozens to hundreds of users, but the speed and efficiency will drop as more people use it simultaneously.

Levels of T1 service
There are multiple flavors of T1 lines. At its most basic, a T1 line can be used to handle either your voice or data needs.

An integrated T1 line provides voice and data on the same digital circuit. With this service, you can decide how many of the T1 connection’s 24 channels will be reserved for voice calls, and what’s left is used for data.

You can also purchase a fractional T1 line, which provides only a portion of the total bandwidth. However, with prices of T1s as low as they have ever been, many companies are selecting full T1s because the price difference is almost negligible.

Another option to consider is burstable T1 – a type of “pay as you go” service where you pay for a specific amount of bandwidth you intend to use. If you exceed that amount, you can still tap into the ISP’s total available bandwidth and pay a premium above your standard rates. Think of it as going over your allotted minutes on your cell phone plan. Pricing can be very expensive but could be worthwhile for companies that know their data traffic patterns and have highly seasonal activity. Consider investing in a full T1 – or multiple T1s – before looking into burstable options.

For even better speed and performance, ISPs offer bonded T1 lines. Bonded T1s allow you to use the full bandwidth of multiple T1 lines at once. For example, two bonded T1 lines can provide up to 3 Mbps of data transfer in a single connection. By combining the speeds of individual T1s into a single pipeline, you allow for more bandwidth than two separate T1 lines.

Downside of T1
The most obvious drawback of a T1 connection is the cost. You will pay far more for T1 access to the Internet than for DSL. In fact, actual connection speeds of T1 and DSL are very similar. However, T1 provides a much more reliable connection and you are paying for that guaranteed uptime. For businesses that rely heavily on employee and customer access to data and applications, T1 is likely the best option.

Choosing an internet access provider

Signing up for high-speed Internet can be as easy as calling an ISP directly or working through a vendor. If you’re able to evaluate the customer service, pricing, and technology of multiple providers and choose the best one yourself, you can call that provider directly. If you want expert help in comparing the various ISP offerings without having to contact each one, a broker can do all the legwork for you.

Internet access brokers
As a middleman, Internet access vendor will consult several ISPs to find the best combination of price and services for your needs. This service is conducted at no charge to you — instead, the Internet service provider pays the commissions.

Have your broker furnish you with three to five quotes from various providers. Reliable brokers should have no problem doing that for you. When reviewing recommendations, find out how long the broker has worked with each ISP. If they have worked with the provider for a long time, you can be more assured of a reliable setup since the recommendations are driven by firsthand experience.

Definitely ask for a broker’s references before doing business with them. A reliable broker will provide you with this information and allow their previous work to speak for itself. Contact at least a couple of references and ask questions such as:

• Were they readily available to answer any questions you had?
• How quickly did they resolve problems?
• Did they clearly detail everything written in the contract?
• Did they try to sell you additional equipment that you didn’t need?

You can also gauge the level of service you’ll get from an Internet access vendor by how much attention they pay you. If they follow up with you and ask good questions rather than simply throwing quotes out, it is a positive sign that they care about your satisfaction above their bottom line.

Brokers continue to work with you after the contract is signed. You should demand – and a broker should offer – an ISP that provides 24/7 live person customer support. Once you’re connected, the vendor will continue to monitor your setup remotely. They will install any patches and keep system upgrades configured.

They should also provide e-mail contacts and be proactive when it comes to letting you know when there is a network problem and your Internet access is slow or down altogether. If something isn’t working right, the vendor should work with the ISP to get your network up and running.

Service Level Agreements
Reliability is probably the most important factor in choosing an ISP. While it is impossible to maintain 100% availability, most service providers aim for the lofty standard of “four nines” – 99.99% uptime over the course of a year. Service level agreements (SLAs) protect businesses by making access providers pay penalties to the customer for downtime that exceeds a specified total.

Until a few years ago, SLAs were not widely offered by Internet access providers. Now, they have become a standard for quality high-speed Internet access like T1 connections. In fact, SLAs are one of the main reasons T1 lines are the most popular choice for Internet access among businesses.

It is difficult to get an SLA on DSL access. The reason is that DSL’s sensitivity to the distance between the company and ISP’s central office, coupled with the often-low quality of the wiring, makes it difficult to maintain a sufficient level of guaranteed uptime. Even so, some vendors do provide SLAs for DSL, but it is uncommon.

To ensure your provider is abiding by this 99.99% performance level, request monitoring reports that track downtime. Most providers will make this information available to you upon request.

Broadband internet access contracts

It definitely pays to read the fine print when it comes time to sign a contract for Internet access. The contract you sign should be comprehensive, with no unwanted surprises or hidden fees – detailing all costs, length of service, and the SLA. (see “Service Level Agreements” in Choosing an Internet access provider for more details)

The standard contract length for Internet access is three years. In most cases, this will include all setup fees (including the wiring for your phone connection to the phone company’s central office, known as “local loop” charges), installation costs, and equipment rental. Shorter-term contracts may require you to pay additional fees. We don’t recommend signing contracts longer than three years because prices could fall, leaving you locked into paying a higher price for the duration.

Also keep in mind that there are severe penalties for breaking a contract before it expires – it can cost your company anywhere from several hundred dollars to the entire balance of the contract left on the contract.

Find out how long an ISP has been in business before you sign any binding contract. Companies new to the business may not have the experience to deliver the quality of services you need. Also, make sure that the ISP you use is financially sound. The last thing you want is to find your Internet access – and ultimately, your business – was compromised because a provider was in fiscal trouble.

Getting set up
Once you sign a contract, the vendor will arrange an installation time. A telecommunications contractor will come to your office to set up and test the necessary circuits. Then, the broker will install the routers and connect your LAN. They also configure your IP addresses and firewall security, as well as any other equipment noted on the contract.

Once the broker works out the best deal for you, it takes the service provider 30-45 days from the day the client signed the contract to setup up your office for access. Plan accordingly.

Business ISP pricing

DSL prices vary depending on how close your business is to the provider’s central offices. Prices, which are higher than residential DSL rates due to lower limits on subscribers per line, range from $30 to $250 for both initial setup and monthly service fees according to the bandwidth you choose. In addition to these flat rates, expect to pay additional charges for “bursting” -using more than your allotted bandwidth.

Standard T1 Internet prices include the phone company’s local loop charge – typically $150 and up – the phone circuit that connects your location to the ISP’s point of presence (POP), and the Internet bandwidth access port. All in, monthly T1 prices range from $250 to $1,000 – expect to pay that much for initial setup as well. Pricing varies according to whether you select data, voice, or integrated service, and how many channels you wish to activate.

Fractional T1s can be obtained for as little as $100-$200 per month. Bonded T1s are typically priced at a multiple of a regular T1 line; 3 bonded T1 lines, for example, would cost $750 to $3,000 monthly.

As mentioned earlier, the typical contract length is three years. Most vendors will either provide the equipment – routers, T1 pipes, Ethernet cables – for free, or tie them into the monthly pricing. Certain setup fees – including local loop charges and installation – may also be waived based on the length of a contract.

Internet access tips

Plan ahead. It is always best to purchase more bandwidth than you need so your company is adequately prepared for increases in employee size and bandwidth requirements.

Hidden agenda? Keep in mind that brokers who sell products like computers and routers in addition to Internet access may steer you to ISPs that don’t provide them as part of their service.

Lease, don’t buy. If possible, do not purchase equipment for your company’s Internet access. Make it part of the deal and let the company own and maintain them so they can fix problems when they arise.

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