What is Dedicated Internet Access?

Most people don’t realize that there are two types of internet service; Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) and "best effort" or "shared" internet service. But both types of service will have a noticeable impact on your connection to the Internet. Knowing and understanding the difference can save you a lot of aggravation.

The terms DIA and "best effort" internet access refer to the business terms of the service and not the technology or equipment used to deliver the internet access. Dedicated Access means that the specific amount of bandwidth sold has been dedicated for your use. Regardless of any other internet activity, the bandwidth of a DIA service remains the same.

"Best effort" services are oversubscribed. This means that more bandwidth has been sold to customers than is actually available in the network infrastructure. This can be a satisfactory solution because not every customer is using the full capacity of their connection every minute of every day. Oversubscription may be the only way an internet service provider can provide internet to a small business or residential customer at an affordable price. Residential internet services sold by national cable and phone companies are "best effort" services.

Effects of Oversubscribed Internet Service

As the number of customers using the same oversubscribed service increases, the actual bandwidth available for each individual customer decreases. Individual user bandwidth decreases because the bandwidth capacity of the internet service remains the same while the total bandwidth being used increases. That means that your 20 Mbps internet connection could be reduced 5 Mbps or even slower.

A connection to the internet is much like a highway. If you get onto the highway at 2 AM the road will be mostly clear with the exception of a few other drivers, allowing you to get from point A to point B with very little impedance. However, if you get on the same highway during rush hour at 5 PM it is a different story. The road is congested and you will experience a lot of speeding up and slowing down as you traverse from point A to point B. This is due to more drivers using the same shared road space. The number of drivers increases, but the size of the highway does not.

During times of heavy internet use a "best effort" internet service will look similar to a congested highway at 5 PM. Dedicated internet access is like having your very own private highway that no one else can drive on. The highway is available anytime you need to use it, every lane is open, and you can travel at the speed limit without any interference.

Importance of Dedicated Internet Services for Business

Internet slowdowns are an annoyance when accessing the internet from home. But when it comes to operating a business, internet slowdowns could result in a loss of employee productivity and eat away at profits. Business operations are dependent on having a reliable high speed internet connection. Your business doesn’t want to have to share bandwidth with other customers, especially when facing difficulties such as deadlines.

DIA service performs consistently day in and day out, and has guaranteed minimums and uptime. DIA service is sold as a rated speed, not an up to speed.

SCS Connect can Provide Your DIA Services!

In today’ marketplace fiber optic lines are often the preferred delivery method for the national carriers to deploy DIA. SCS Connect can provide DIA at 99.999% reliability via our high capacity microwave network. Not only are our build-out costs normally a fraction of the cost of fiber. But, due to the local topography, fiber or other landlines may not even be an option in your area. Call us today to discuss how SCS Connect DIA can benefit your business!