| Small and medium size businesses are faced with a dilemma today regarding
the cost of efficient access to Internet services. Oddly enough the very same public
service corporations that stand to make the most from small business's desires to get
connected to the Internet, Mother Bell, perpetuate this situation. Businesses want
Internet access that is fast and cost effective. One might think that a 56K modem
connection is the quickest solution to this problem, however that solution doesn't work
well in all cases.
For the average home user, in the Internet audience, a 56K connection to a local
Internet service provider is generally a cost effective way to gain access to the World
Wide Web and the many other Internet services. Local unlimited dialing is what makes this
method cost effective. For the more serious home user a cable modem, ISDN, or DSL service
would be the Cadillac of the model selection.
For the business client this simply is NOT an alternative. Telephone company tariffs
for business use of telephone service do not include unlimited local dialing. Every time a
business connects to the Internet using a telephone line they are charged message units
proportional to the length of the call. This situation is exacerbated if the business
requires Internet services that are not in their local dialing area. Lets examine a few
case studies: |