T1 Phone Lines Explained

How T1 Phone Lines Work

T1 phone lines are very different from traditional phone lines. Instead of using analog, they use digital signals. And they are much more powerful, able to handle many different phones on the same line.

Your ordinary home phone service, if you still use a regular phone company line, delivers sound via an analog signal. Analog signals are continuous, and small fluctuations in the signal carry major significance. Digital signals, on the other hand, are broken up into pieces, with each bit being fixed in form. Digital signals are superior to analog signals in that it is much easier for a computer to tell when something is being interpreted wrong.

Digital signals are also superior in that data communication this way takes up much less room. An ordinary analog-line modem transmits data much slower than a digital modem connection. Cable signals and all high-speed internet signals aside from DSL are based on digital communication. So is your T1 phone line.

With a T1 phone line, instead of your voice being carried as an analog signal it is broken into bits and transmitted as data, making it pass easily over fiberoptic (and sometimes copper) lines. A single T1 phone line can carry up to 24 separate digital voice channels. This means if your T1 line is dedicated to the phone, your office can support up to 24 different phones that are connected outside the office, more than enough for most small offices.

Dedicated T1 phone lines are very reliable, and down time is rare. They are more similar to VoIP phone services than traditional ones, but they are more stable than VoIP without many of the problems these carriers have. In a stable and not overburdened T1 system, you can have every person with a connection downloading or talking at the same time, and still have a reliable internet connection.

You don't have to limit your T1 phone line to just telephone. For offices with less than 20 employees and moderate use of phone and internet, you can split the signal on the T1 line to support both phone and internet. This can realize you significant savings over time.

Most T1 phone line services provide you with free local and long-distance calling, and often with free toll-free calling as well. Before deciding on a T1 phone line, do the math and see how much sense it makes. T1 lines can cost between one and five thousand dollars a month. If this realizes your business some savings between phone, internet, and long distance use, it's worth investigating.

If your company seems too large for a T1 phone line, look into some of the other options available to you, like T3 and OC3 lines. All of these are stable, reliable connections that could help you save a lot of money over time.