Standard lines, which consist primarily of copper wire though they have slowly been changing to fiber optic, are perfect for home use. They transmit voice signals or they can transmit voice and data though they have limited bandwidth. For most home based businesses, this will be adequate to run any application or voice services that you need.

However for businesses that employ multiple computers, connections and have more than a couple of staff members you may find that regular standard phone connections are not adequate to handle the data and voice applications at the speed and reliability that you need. The solution however is a simple one and that is the installation and use of a T1 line.

T-1 Phone Lines can handle approximately 60 times the amount of data that can be handled by a standard phone connection. It is most effective for businesses that have between 8 and 24 connections. Keep in mind that T1 lines only handle 1.5 mbps if you are doing more voice and data transfers than that you may want to consider an upgrade to a T3 line in order to save on exceeding bandwidth costs.

In addition, if you have more than 50 employees or have huge levels of call volume you may want to consider multiple T1 lines or a T3 line. Larger sized offices make use of T3 lines. T3 and T1 lines are not cheap this is because you are paying for multiple channels, reliability and the ability to switch between these channels as necessary. In order to defray some of the cost consider line rental with a monthly ISP and phone service.

This is a viable and cost effective option for daily high volume. For variable volumes consider a partial T1 option which gives access to a certain number of channels rather than the entire 24 channel spread that is offered by a full line. This can reduce the rental fee for the line and gives the added benefit of data access.

These are just some of the benefits that come with using a T1 or T3 line. Because of an increase in the number of centralized offices that have capabilities for these higher volume lines the price has dropped considerably. For smaller businesses that want the added reliability and speed, using the option of renting a T1 line or making use of a partial line can be a good opportunity to increase productivity without significantly increasing the overhead of your business.

While home based and small businesses may not see a real benefit in using a T1 line since there are the options for DSL and VOIP to handle most of the needs of a small business. For businesses with multiple employees and internet connections having a T1 can significantly reduce the amount of load a given connection places on the resources available to the company as a whole. It is important to consider all the available options before choosing the connection that is right for you and consider the needs of your business and its potential growth factors.