Dark DSL ??? Reducing Single Line Costs for Home and Businesses

Residences and businesses are no longer dependant on traditional land lines for their communication needs. More and more people are migrating to mobile phones and using VOIP systems for their daily voice communication. According to the CIA world fact book, Canada had 21.4 million mobile users, compared to 18.2 million land line users, in 2008. Also in that year, for the first time, the number of land line users decreased. Less companies and residential users were activating a hard-line compared to a mobile phone. 2008 marked a fundamental shift in communication usage.

In addition to this change in usage, more and more businesses are migrating from their traditional PBX phones systems to customizable and digital Voice over IP (VoIP) systems. In Canada, the adoption rate is over 14% nationally and increasing annually according to AboutVoiP.org. What do all of these fundamental shifts in the industry mean for you?

#1 Change Your Land Line Usage

If you are a business owner or office manager, you should be aware that land lines are still very useful services to have, if you use them properly. For example, you can eliminate the telephone number on your land line and still use the physical copper cable to carry an Internet signal. Dark DSL service provides the same connectivity options as regular DSL services without the added cost of a telephone number being associated with the telephone line. The cost savings are notable especially if you have multiple locations, all with similar DSL connectivity setups.

#2: Segregate Your Services

If you are a company that is looking at adopting VoIP, don???t put all of your proverbial eggs in one basket. Be smart. Divide your voice and data networks into 2 separate networks. In the event that one connection goes down, you will still have partial communication and recovery will be much faster. Also, this will help you ease into the new VoIP system. If the system is stable, you can eventually migrate all of your services unto one connection and further reduce your costs, administrative overheads and reduce the complexity of your network environment.

#3: Reliability and Business Continuity

If cost savings are not of primary concern, then you may use the additional connectivity lines as auto-failover options in the event that your primary connection fails. Modern businesses have no margin for outage ??? in fact, some industries, certifications and businesses require you to provide a business continuity strategy outline in the event of a major catastrophe. Be prepared. A Dark DSL connection can be a fundamental component of a business continuity strategy.

Your land line is very useful service to retain. Whether it is for cost savings or redundancy, SmarttNet???s Dark DSL can provide benefit to your business.