Voice T1

Optical carriers are designated as OC1 through OC192. The focus here will be on OC48. In the 1960 T-carrier, lines were introduced and these lines have been continuously advanced and upgraded as the need for data transfer has increased. These lines were originally designed as private connections and then expanded out, as Intranets became Internet.

For large businesses, T1 and T3 lines may not be able to handle the amount of transfer happening through multiple locations. As a result, optical carriers became the standard in large businesses with locations that are spread out because they are having the capacity to handle huge amounts of data transfer over distance.

The OC48 internet lines is what is considered a midrange line. It sits midrange in terms of both speed as well as price when considering optical carriers. To give you an idea of the difference a T1 line can handle 1.54 mbps, a T3 can handle approximately 54 mbps and an OC48 can handle approximately 2.4 gbps. The price range for an OC48 is between 300 and $500,000 as a start up cost. This makes it viable only for larger global business applications. For comparison, most T-carrier lines start at about $10,000.

For most businesses, an OC48 line would not be a cost effective way to build telecommunications service because of the high cost. It also requires an ISP that can handle the amount of data transfer that will be allotted for this type of line.