Comparison of Reliable Cable Internet and T1

One aspect found in both T1 and reliable cable Internet services is a Service Level Agreement. An SLA is what sets a traditional cable or high-speed Internet connection apart from a reliable cable or T1 services. Service level agreements are documents that outline what an Internet Service Provider promises to offer a client, with penalties involved if the company violates those terms. Many consumer-level Internet service don't come with an SLA or have SLAs that guarantee significantly less than business services. Both reliable cable and T1 services promise approximately 99.9 percent availability or uptime with their networks. This means that the company will have to pay a penalty if the connection is determined to be available less than 99.9% of the time, regardless of the conditions.

Both reliable cable and T1 service also guarantee a certain level of bandwidth with their uptime. This is in contrast to consumer-level Internet service, which may sell a maximum amount of bandwidth but isn't guaranteed to operate at that speed when severe network congestion occurs. These bandwidth agreements vary but typically provide for priority delivery of the T1 or reliable cable subscriber data even when the network is overloaded.

One point where both reliable cable and T1 differ is in the speed available. T1 used to be limited to a 1.5-megabits-per-second full-duplex -- 1.5Mbps upload and 1.5Mbps download -- speed circuits. Bonded T1 now allows companies to use multiple T1 lines to offer service speeds as high as 6Mbps. However, reliable, business-class cable services can provide you with guaranteed service as high as 1 gigabit per second, or 1,000Mbps, service.

While both types of Internet require specialized equipment, the initial cost for a T1 line may be significantly higher. At a bare minimum, T1 lines require a device called a Channel Service Unit/Digital Service Unit to communicate between the telephone company and the digital router in place for the organization. Reliable cable service can generally be achieved through the same cable modem available to regular customers. The cable company may require high-bandwidth connection to get a more expensive modem that supports the latest Digital-Over-Cable System Interface Specifications.