Fiber Communications And The Shrinking World

By Author: Jennifer Quigley
Total Articles: 4762
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Time was, you needed to be in a major metropolitan center to reap the benefits of modern, and ever-evolving, communications technology. With the advent of the Internet, expanded satellite communications and the development of high-speed fiber networks, the world is continuing to shrink. No longer must you relocate to get the benefits of modern technology. There are a few companies out there, in fact, whose reason for existing is to spread the speed and power of the modern era to every spot on Earth that wants it. Across the Northern U.S. and in Canada, as a matter of fact, some of the best work of this kind is being done.

Companies in this region already support millions of customers with high-speed, commercial-grade services and high-performance IP backbones. With well-designed, extensive networks featuring the latest technology, these firms are providing even rural customers with the same fast, reliable and flexible service as carriers in major population centers. With more and more fiber miles coming online every day, we are fast approaching the day when geography and location-specific infrastructure ceases to be a ...
... decisive factor in companies' expansion plans. Fiber communications and the shrinking world equate with freedom of movement and association, and that is all to the good.

Farsighted fiber firms
If you are in Canada and the Northern U.S., you were once considered an outlier, a pariah and a resident of the sticks, and were unlikely to see the latest technology being rolled out in your region. Now, however, the farsighted builders of fiber networks are delivering premium connectivity to many of the region's largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs). However, the more prescient also positioned themselves to make flexible, scalable, affordable and reliable services available to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in both cities and towns across Canada and parts of the U.S.

Everyone talks about business solutions, but none of the customer service systems of business process tools means a thing if you don't have fast, reliable communications. The first solution, therefore, is teaming up with the best Tier 1 high-speed fiber optic network you can find, in Canada or wherever you happen to be, and checking to see that it has a fully diverse and redundant backbone. Don't forget, either, that the company you choose should have direct control, ownership and management responsibilities for its network assets and traffic. This ensures high service levels as well as the highest standards.

How fast is fast?
Your service provider should be able to offer scalable, symmetrical Internet connections at all speeds, from 1.5 Mbps, 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps all the way 10 Gbps and more, for all types and sizes of business. In addition, there are other features that will tell you if potential providers are in the world-shrinking, business-building class of Internet leaders that you need for your business:

Can they connect you to all strategically important North American, European and Asian Network Access Points (NAPs)?

Are their carrier-grade Internet solutions backed by solid, clearly defined Service Level Agreements (SLAs)?

Do they have a Network Operations Centre that provides live, expert technical support on a 24/7/365 basis?

Are they committed to a responsive, cordial, accountable and proactive way of doing business?

When you choose the right commercial gateway provider, you will be done with inconsistent service quality, downtime, outages and foreign-based call centers. SMBs will get the same treatment as a Fortune 5 firm, and enjoy the same fast and dependable symmetrical bandwidth options, too. If they cannot give you the same speed on upload and download, between 1.5 and 12 Mbps, then you need to keep looking. A leading firm will be able to design you a symmetrical bandwidth solution for your particular budget and bandwidth needs.

The bottom line
It does not matter where you are in Canada or the Northern U.S., you are no longer in flyover country, you are able to plug into the same quality and speed of a network as anyone, anywhere. This is the benefit of fiber communications and the result of some forward-thinking people who decided to make the region an example of what can be done with modern technology. The experimental phase is long over and Canadian fiber communications companies, the best of them, are on the job now and continuing to evolve and perfect their services.

As you look for a provider in this particular marker, make sure that you hold any potential firm to the high standards discussed in this article, and accept no excuses. The fact is, there are no good excuses anymore for not having the best fiber communications service in the world, no matter where you are. Hopefully, you feel well-enough informed to make a good decision, but if you do not, keep reading until you do!
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No matter your size, we've got you covered. For over a decade, our High-Performance Network has met the solutions for business coast-to-coast. Because we own and operate a continent-wide fiber optic network, wherever you are, we're there too!