DS3 vs Multiple T1 Lines
Bonding T1 lines for greater bandwidth is a good value up to about
8x or 9x bonding. Above that, it makes better economic sense to
order DS3 service over fiber or T3 copper line. In metropolitan
areas with high levels of buildout, the decision point may be
less than 8 T1 lines.
WAN Bottlenecks Now Readily
Unclogged
Your Wide Area Network or WAN may be the bottleneck in your network
when you have significant voice or data transfer between facilities.
With lower line prices available, unclogging the WAN can cost
less than you think and can unleash higher business productivity.
DS3, OCx over SONET and Carrier Ethernet connections are recommended
for the corporate WAN.
Applications Demanding DS3
Bandwidth
DS3 transport is often used for real time video transport, high
resolution images, large engineering files, and data backups to
remote data centers. You can get this bandwidth through fiber
optic delivery or over copper coaxial lines, called T3 lines.
What is the T-Carrier System?
T-Carrier is a set of standards developed by the Bell Telephone
Companies back in the 1950s. These include T1 and T3 lines. They
also define digital signal levels such as DS0, DS1 and DS3. DS0
is 64 Kbps, DS1 is 1.5 Mbps and DS3 is 45 Mbps.
What is Fractional DS3 Service?
Fractional DS3, as the name implies, is a fraction of the full
DS3 bandwidth of 45 Mbps. Companies order fractional DS3 when
they don't need or want to pay for the full bandwidth offered
by DS3. Even with fractional DS3, you still need the full coaxial
or optical hardware support for 45 Mbps signaling. At low fractional
requirements, bonded T1 lines offer a more cost effective solution.