http://www.phonesystemsbrisbane.net.au 1300 851 411 Brilliantly Simple Phone Systems http://www.slideshare.net/IPGEN/bandwidth-report

1. Here’s how to
understand
Bandwidth
“So what does Quality of Service actually mean?”
By Greg Eicke
© Greg Eicke 2012 | www.phonesystemsbrisbane.net.au | 1300 851 411 | page 1 All Rights reserved

2. LEGAL NOTICE
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation
of this report, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any
time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the
Industry.
While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication,
the Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary
interpretation of the subject matter herein. Any perceived slights of specific persons,
peoples, or organisations are unintentional.
In practical advice books, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of
savings made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their
individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This book is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or
financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals
in legal, business, accounting and finance fields.
© Greg Eicke 2012 | www.phonesystemsbrisbane.net.au | 1300 851 411 | page 2 All Rights reserved

3. Introducing Greg Eicke
My name is Greg Eicke and I’ve been working at the leading edge of voice
communications for the past 29 years. In that time I’ve found that most
companies are interested in better voice and data communications.
Another key frustration for businesses is the sheer complexity of many phone
and data solutions. The good news is that communications complexity ends
with Greg Eicke! As do all of its painful implications. Almost three decades in
this industry has enabled me to develop what I call ‘brilliantly simple’ phone
solutions. These solutions will make communications and collaboration
second nature for your workforce. And of course they save you big dollars in
ongoing phone costs… another reason why they are brilliant!
Now onto the ’Here’s how to understand Bandwidth…’ I’ve been able to piece
all of this together because for the better part of my career I’ve installed,
maintained and sold Telephone Systems. This has also allowed me to provide
sound advice from ‘Feet on the Street and Hands on Technical Experience’ so
that my clients get the best solution and value for money.
© Greg Eicke 2012 | www.phonesystemsbrisbane.net.au | 1300 851 411 | page 3 All Rights reserved

4. When shopping for bandwidth, there are things that matter and things that don’t. For
example, most bandwidth vendors make a big deal about the hardware they use. But
it’s really not an issue — a router is a router is a router. So don’t let the marketing
hype sway you. What you should care about are the answers to these questions:
What are you prepared to pay?
Although bandwidth is as cheap as it has ever been, commercial-grade bandwidth
still carries a significant cost. Prices range from as low as $50 per month all the way
into thousands of dollars per month, and the number of users and speeds that the
services support vary widely. It is also important to look at installation and/or startup
costs, as well as whether the vendor includes any equipment and if that equipment is
leased or purchased. Can you roll an existing service (VoIP for example) into the
bandwidth offering to save overall costs? A small business (one with less than 10
users) should not be paying more than a couple of hundred dollars per month. But a
lot depends on usage. If you are hosting your own servers for public and/or private
access, then you need bandwidth to handle the expected traffic.
Does the provider service your area?
A simple inquiry will determine the answer — but it is crucial.
Unmanaged or Managed?
Managed WAN providers usually provide a pro-active break/fix management service.
The network is actively monitored and issues are raised via alarms. Managed IP
networks can also provide reporting on availability, latency and throughput via the
Internet, which you can access using a login and password.
Usually backup links are optional with a Managed IP Network. Mostly the router will
automatically switch to the backup link if the main link goes and will switch back
when the main network has been re-established.
Quality of Service (QoS)?
On the Internet and in other networks, QoS (Quality of Service) is the idea that
transmission rates, error rates, and other characteristics can be measured,
improved, and, to some extent, guaranteed in advance. QoS is of particular concern
for the continuous transmission of voice information. Transmitting this kind of content
dependably is difficult in public networks using ordinary "best effort" protocols.
End-to-End QoS – Means your voice traffic is prioritised as the most important
traffic so you enjoy “Toll Quality” Calls.
Some providers claim to offer QoS over the public Internet. These claims are simply
not true. Without a QoS enabled network it’s simply not possible to control quality.
The public Internet is NOT a QoS enabled network. Claiming to have QoS on the
© Greg Eicke 2012 | www.phonesystemsbrisbane.net.au | 1300 851 411 | page 4 All Rights reserved

5. public Internet is like claiming to never be affected by traffic jams simply because
you have a fast car.
How big is your organisation?
And how many locations and connections/endpoints do you need networked?
Although this is basic information, you need to have it accurate before you even
begin — it is almost the first question any potential provider will ask you. Make sure
you think a couple of years ahead in terms of growth. If the provider can’t scale to
your anticipated volume, then look elsewhere.
How many static IP addresses do you get?
You are going to need several static IP addresses if you want to run servers at your
site that are accessible externally via your proposed bandwidth. Whether they are
public or private servers, you still need to make sure you have a static IP address for
each of them.
What protocol or type of connection can you get?
This is much less important than most people think — DSL, E1, Frame Relay, and
Ethernet and so on. These affect the upload and download speeds of your
connection and some other technical factors, but by and large, in this case (and
unlike with most technology), you really do only care about the end result: speed.
Small businesses with less than 10 users might be able to get away with sub-1-Mbps
connections, but realistically, almost any business is going to want to start at 1 Mbps
for download and close to that for upload, and then scale up from there. The one
exception is wireless broadband. This is a brand-new arena, and if you need
wireless broadband, most bets are off; there are very few providers, and you really
have to look at whether the technology can do what you need it to in every respect.
What are your billing options?
These typically only come into play for large-scale bandwidth supplies, where the
provider is meeting very large traffic volumes and charges at a rate that involves the
amount of bandwidth consumed — either up to a cap per month or at a rate
determined by the 95th percentile of usage.
What SLAs (Service Level Agreements) can you expect?
These are critical — even for small businesses — because they lay out the expected
level of reliability, support and service, as well as options in the event of failure. For
many businesses, good connectivity to the outside world is critical. For companies
that are also going to carry VoIP service over the bandwidth supplied, this issue
becomes even more critical. SLAs differ widely from vendor to vendor, but the basics
are a certain level of guaranteed uptime, a certain level of guaranteed performance
© Greg Eicke 2012 | www.phonesystemsbrisbane.net.au | 1300 851 411 | page 5 All Rights reserved

6. and a service-and-support offering. Uptime is typically expressed as a percentage of
total time, with the ideal being the hypothetical five nines (99.999 percent).
To give you some perspective, 99.999-percent guaranteed uptime would mean a
total of 26 seconds down per month. A good level of uptime is four nines — 99.99
percent — which means about five minutes of downtime per month. However,
problems usually run in a big block, so a year’s worth of downtime (one hour) at once
is a more likely scenario, which could still be pretty disruptive if that hour was at a
critical period. Unfortunately, real world uptime is worse than this — more like three
or even two nines — so look closely at the available options to remedy problems. Do
you get a refund, money back or some other form of compensation? Is there a
redundant line that can be switched in?
How is installation handled?
This is a significant issue. Even at the very low end with “self-install” DSL kits, it is
important to make sure you have good support for doing it yourself. Does the vendor
have good online support forums? Are they active, with a good range of answered
problems, or do questions disappear into black holes? And for company installations,
make sure you look at costs for wiring, running cable to a building and so on. These
are often hidden extras that can make a significant difference. Also, don’t sign off on
the installation until you have tested it thoroughly. For instance, are all systems
getting the bandwidth they are supposed to?
Finally, what extras should I consider?
One option that some companies offer is additional security. This isn’t a bad thing at
all and usually comes with very little overhead — essentially the supplied router has
the ability to run and manage security features like a firewall, and you reap the
benefit.
Private networks are another optional extra that can make a difference. There are
two kinds of private networks to consider. One is essentially a formalised VPN
(virtual private network) that makes for secure connections between your business
and external employees and/or customers. You can always build this yourself on top
of any bandwidth solution, so it isn’t necessary, but if you need it, you should at least
take a look at the costs to see if the bandwidth provider can offer you a cost-effective
solution. The second is the carrier’s private network backbone. This is a real
advantage and means that the bandwidth supplier is using its own (or leasing space
on a) private network that is nationwide or even global in scope and is much like
having a private (and safer) version of the Internet across which to route traffic.
Ideally this means priority for your traffic, additional safety and security, since IP
traffic is harder to spy on or tap into, and closer control over uptime and other
performance issues.
© Greg Eicke 2012 | www.phonesystemsbrisbane.net.au | 1300 851 411 | page 6 All Rights reserved