FreedomFire Communications.....Real Choices For Voice, Data, And Internet Services

At first glance, choosing a telecommunications service may seem like an afterthought to businesses and consumers alike. Typically, this decision is made by simply using the same service of the previous office or home occupants. Does it make sense to risk all channels of communication on what worked for a previous home or office? Michael Lemm and FreedomFire Communications are matching customers with ideal telecommunications packages, all for free!

Personal History

Michael Lemm proudly served in the United States Navy prior to starting his company. His military experience and being able to travel the world exposed him to the global demand for Telecom and IT technology services. This also afforded him the opportunity of professional networking amongst individuals and businesses around the world. One particular relationship led to mutually exploring opportunities for putting the experience and knowledge gained to good use. This resulted in a friendship and partnership that's covered 10 years and is still going strong.

Company History

In 1998, while still on active duty, Michael started FreedomFire Communications. Due to the demands of the military, he was only able to work on his business part-time. The first few years, he described, were a “learning and gradual growth experience.” But today, they are doing business all around the world. For example FreedomFire Communications has done business throughout the United States from coast to coast, Australia, Hong Kong, and even Africa.

Services They Provide

FreedomFire Communications offers diversity, variety, and cost efficiency for voice, data, and internet services.

* From choices of "Best Rate" phone service, cellular phones, calling cards, high speed internet, bundled phone/internet/TV, international (GSM) mobile phones, and SIM cards. Re-direct toll free 800 service, web hosting, website development, audio/video conferencing, broadband phone (VoIP phone), video-surveillance security systems, satellite TV, and computer hardware/software. See FreedomFire Communications

* Business VoIP, IP PBX, and complete dedicated voice/data network support for - T1, bonded T1, fractional/full DS3, OC3, OC12, OC48, OC192, MPLS, GigE, Ethernet from 5mb to multi-GB, point-to-point, and MUCH more. See DS3 Bandwidth

In other words, through their affiliation as agents for about 30 top tier and first tier telecom carriers (voice/data networks), plus their affiliation with over 3000 VAR partners, and their association with 100s of specialty Telecom and IT providers, FreedomFire can offer the customer virtually anything in terms of circuits, products, solutions, hardware and software relating to telecom. There is no other Master Agency on the planet with such diverse offerings. Additionally, they offer a $500 Low Price Guarantee on any of the voice/data circuits (sic T1, DS3, OCx) from any of the carriers they represent.

Bottom line, they can provide telecommunications circuits for anyone, anwhere on the planet.

Their Customers

Everyone, residential and business, is a potential customer for FreedomFire Communications. Michael has worked with consumers, small businesses and large businesses. Residential and small businesses are more likely to benefit from the product/service portfolio on FreedomFire Communications. While medium to large businesses are more likely to benefit from the voice/data network solutions offered through DS3 Bandwidth.

For the business customer, they do not "sell" but offer education and consulting at no charge. They take the time to understand what the business customer wants to accomplish and what problems they are trying to solve in terms of their telecom requirements. Then they EDUCATE the customer via their many years of telecom experience to suggest and recommend products and services that will meet those needs, both today and as the business grows.

Since they represent almost 30 first tier and top tier carriers for telecom, they are totally unbiased in their recommendations and focus on the most cost-effective solution for the customer.

Why is FreedomFire Communications Successful?

Their business success primarily stems from being based on offering choices. In contrast to their competitors who often present just one option, most every service/product type they offer lists a number of potential vendors to choose from for the best match. They also offer a wide variety of products/services tailored to the needs of their customers. For example our cell phone section shows all types (including smart phones), all plans (including family plans), all providers, and even accessories and ringtones.

In addition, they employ cutting edge technology to show comparisons of providers, rates/plans, etc. by specific location on our websites. "Best rate calculators" are available for most every product/service (see landline phone or VoIP phones on as examples). The real time quote capability available thru OC3 Bandwidth is patented too. No other competitor does real time bandwidth quotes.

Through their global networking connections, FreedomFire Communications is able to stay intimately in tune with vendor deals and specials that others do not know about. Their vendor relationships provide this inside knowledge and ability to offer savings others cannot. Often, as in the case of voice/data networks, this means the inside sales staff of the provider themselves. These central relationships ensure they stay abreast of what is new in the Telecom industry and what is most in demand by their potential market. This enables them the opportunity of constant innovation by adding or deleting products/services as the industry advances.

Most importantly, is customer service. For network solutions (e.g. bonded T1, MPLS) they do not stop when the ink is dry but stay on top of it throughout the life of the contract. Based on the volume of business with their carriers, they have a direct line into senior management. Allowing them to make things happen for the customer and ensure things do not fall through the cracks. They keep in contact with their customers to monitor how things are going, to be around when their business is growing, and to keep them updated as they are nearing contract expiration. It’s all about customer service.

Customers Should Know...

Essentially, Michael Lemm operates as a Master Agent with associations and relationships with a number of providers/vendors in the Telecommunication industry. This allows him to function in an unbiased manner and always search for, find, and offer what best suits the client, not what makes him the most commission. This approach creates trust and credibility with customer and provider/vendor alike.

They put themselves in the position of being a partner with the customer so that the most cost-effective options can be suggested, quoted, and even explain why something is most cost effective. Most customers appreciate this perspective instead of just trying to be sold to.

They don’t just “sell” products and services, but feel very strongly about “giving.” So they also publish two blogs sharing resources, tips, insights and news they feel their customers could benefit from. One focused on the Broadband Nation – and the other on Small Business Resources .

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GeoQuote Produces One Millionth Quote

After nearly ten years of quoting, GeoQuote has produced its 1,000,000th quote for dedicated bandwidth and other network services. GeoQuote was originally created and patented in 2003 by Telarus to help you check broadband and telecom service pricing from over 40 suppliers nationwide. Offering real time quotes via email....with follow-up research on special unadvertised pricing....Geoquote is able to find the most cost effective solution to meet any need.

GeoQuote has now become the industry standard for carrier research. GeoQuote has become a great source of intelligence and efficiency for businesses needing solutions for their voice, data, or internet networks. Covering T1 lines, DS3 bandwidth, SONET, fiber, MPLS, business ethernet (fast ethernet, gigabit ethernet, metro ethernet, carrier ethernet Ethernet over Copper), cloud services, SIP trunking, business VoIP, hosted PBX, wireless solutions, co-location options, and more.

Try it out yourself .... simply request a free real time quote HERE

Voice, Data, Internet Network Solutions

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XO Communications Reinventing Themselves

XO Communications recently shared with Channel Partners Magazine their 3-Year Plan for the channel, which will help streamline product offering, eliminating most TDM services, and improving service delivery.

XO continues to make significant strides in the Business Ethernet world. In 2011, XO Communications rose from the seventh position at mid-year to the fifth position at the end of the year.

They truly are getting better everday.

To get more information on what XO Communications can offer for your data and or voice network .... including free rate quotes ... simply ask here:

XO Communications

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What Factors Are Most Critical In Deciding Bandwidth Requirements For A Voice/Data Network Solution?

Generally speaking ... to answer the question you'd likely need to at least consider the business oriented, technology parameters, and application specific components requiring emphasis for the specific location(s) involved.

A good answer to the question requires a detailed understanding of the kinds of traffic the proposed network is intended to handle. For example, streaming video often requires high net bandwidth, but can use packet aggregation and may be able to accept the latency inherent in e.g. an asymmetrical satellite downlink.

In contrast, heavy multi-user VOIP might require symmetrical up and downlinks, in which per-user latency and the ability to handle many packets-per-second are much more important to performance than net bandwidth.

Or, you may have hybrid requirements in which part or all of the network has to handle multiple data types and amounts with varying latency requirements.

Once you understand the various network use scenarios, planning becomes largely a matter of understanding peak vs average use per node, as well as local vs pass-through data flows per node, ..... and designing node capacity, queuing, bandwidth shaping and limiting, and overall system requirements accordingly.

Yes .... every company is different hence every network is unique.

Sometimes, network requirements are driven by the applications, sometimes it is the other way around - applications are engineered to cope with certain network realities.

Here is a good example:

If a company has operations all across the world, round-trip delay will be at the top of my concerns. Since realistically the delay between US and China or India will be in the range of 300ms round-trip (or more), the applications will have to be designed with this in mind. For example interactivity across-the-pond is not going to work very well no matter how much bandwidth you throw at it.

To over simplify ..... some common factors will be number of users, criticality of time sensitive information, geographical spread/locations, types of applications, data only or data and voice. You also have to think about whether you are incorporating hubs or data centres. Last but certainly not least at present is what budget do you have to work with because knowing that might simplify some of your decision making.

The two countervening issues are cost and organizational applications demand/expectations.

Depending on an organizations priorities, start with one of the two issues above (i.e. if they're driven by cost start there since any application driven model will be unappreciated or ignored).

If starting with cost - you'll likely be building a network model that forces application needs through priority based networking filters to ensure applications are treated with the correct priority based on organizational need and priority.

If starting with applications, be sure to include anything needed during the future 12 months (i.e. don't use historical demand for anything but a starting point). Needs beyond the 12 month period should be considered to ensure the equipment and services choosen will allow future growth.

To start the process, meeting and discussing needs and expectation with all key stakeholders is critical. This includes IT, Finance, Sales, Marketing and Operations. Anyone left out of this early discovery will likely create gaps in the analysis that will come back to bite you later.

Bandwidth should also be segmented on need across the WAN, internal backbone, distribution network and access network. Also method of delivery is important (i.e. DSL, T1, DS3, OCx, Optical, copper, Wi-Fi). Breaking things out this way will also ensure you have the right technology, enough redundancy, and user flexibility to have a tight fit with the end user and organizational needs and expectations.

Equipment decisions flow from the earlier points and should be defined towards the end of the process. Adjustments to the plan can be made at this stage dependant on equipement capability - assumptions about equipment capability early on are a sure way to have your plan driven by the equipement vendors (not a good thing). For instance, a vendor I know of has some very powerful systems for using wireless at the primary access network ..... but many customer's made assumptions early on that this was not possible - the results being they over spend on wired technology.

Once a draft plan is created, this should be presented back to the same set of stakeholders you met early on to ensure you've captured everything and have one last chance to integrate any changes required since the 1st discussion. Also, this gives you a chance to explain options to the plan and gain buy in to the prefered options.

A common practice is to "find the bottleneck". In designing a bandwidth solution, you can only be as fast as the slowest component.

In practice it is best to map out two things:

1. Current data rate and maximum capacity
2. Desired data rate

From there you can look at the whole chain and make decisions around what you will do.

Do I need to change network service providers? How much throughput do I need to design in? There is no sense building a ferrari if you only have local driving at low speeds.

But to the other extreme, there is no use designing a small 4 cylinder engine to drive local streets if changing over to the expressway could get you there faster.

The bottom line is that you need to look at your resources from end to end in order to determine the best solution. If you need help you can get it at no cost via ..... Bandwidth Solution.

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How To Determine The Best Solution For A New Voice/Data Network

Follow this process when designing on a new, upgraded, or replacement voice/data network. Gather information addressing each of the points listed and go from there ....

First .... start with what you have, what it does well (and what it doesnt).

What does the current system cost?

Is there something coming that will change your requirements? Any network change is much easier to justify if your current network will not do the job.

Any "weird" requirements (OK - wrong phrase) - non IP protocols, attached devices which are not natively IP such as ATM machines, tills, IBM controllers and the like.

External comms - extranet links, external CC authorisation are sometimes an issue in a bank network.

Reliability, availability, worst case down time, need for backup link, disaster recovery......

That helps set the parameters for what you might want from a new network.

The following assumes you are planning to rent a carrier type MPLS IP type service rather than L2 or build your own...

Find a good provider or two with the right footprint to provide roughly what you want and ask for some budgetary numbers - they will do a much better job with the info you have collected.

It is also worth asking your current T1 provider if they can supply an MPLS network if you are still happy with them - migration is often easier when the same people support old and new networks.

When it comes to tradeoffs then a lot depends on where you operate (e.g. North America).

For example these are the basic positives when selecting MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching).....

MPLS has lots of access link choices - conventional T1 / DS3 etc type circuits also including DSL and Ethernet.

More flexibility - MPLS by default gives you an "any to any" topology, but it can be set up to force traffic thru one or a few hub sites if you need that.

The service could include managed routers at your sites, or you can provide and look after those. You might want to run these yourself - e.g. to encrypt traffic so the provider cannot snoop on your financial info.

Cost effective international links (relative to international T1 at least).

Service "break out" in the MPLS cloud - typically data centre access, IP Telephony external access, Internet access.

Multiple logical networks on one set of physical links - partition different department traffic, or an internal network from an extranet and so on.

One flip side that hasnt been mentioned is that your provider will need to co-operate in managing the IP addressing of your WAN. That may be an advantage or the opposite depending on how you run the current network.

Migration of a big network can be complicated and operational changes like this are always an issue - I prefer to start with planning (as above), as sometimes how you get there defines the best compromise for the final design.

If you'd like free assistance with the entire process ... including finding the provider offering the best fit solution for your applications and specific locations .... simply request help here:

Dedicated Bandwidth Solutions

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When Does T1 Bandwidth Make Sense For Your Business Voice / Data Network?

When would you choose T1 Bandwidth for your network solution over say DSL or DS3 Bandwidth .... and why/why not? What are the pros and cons for and against?

T1 is dedicated bandwidth speed. DSL is not dedicated and can fluctuate .... and also speed varies based on your distance to the Central Office. T1's for data or voice are expensive. If you have the option, I'd go cable for data. Although cable isn't dedicated either, you could get about 10megs with cable for the same price you'd pay for a 1.5meg data T1. I guarantee that even if cable fluctuates, you'll still have more that 1.5megs of bandwidth.

One of the issues with fluctuating bandwidth is that users get spoiled when speed is quick, and when it gets slower your IT department starts getting help desk calls from users complaining about speed.

Cable isn't necessarily an enterprise solution and therefore isn't quite as reliable as a T1. If reliability is your #1 concern... then go T1. If you're willing to take speed and price over reliability, then cable is great.

As a large enterprise, I'd even look at MetroE (Metro Ethernet) which is a new delivery method for data and provides lightning speeds. I have a client with MetroE, they pay less than a DS3 and get 100megs of data speed. A MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) MetroE can transmit data and voice. If you have this same type of circuit from the same carrier delivered to another location, you'll have yourself a WAN (Wide Area Network).

A DS3 is nothing more than 28 T1's. A lot of capability if you need it.

I personally dislike DSL because it's not a reliable business product for most companies over 10 users. So choose carefully.

For help in finding the best voice/data network solution .... with consideration for T1 Bandwidth .... take advantage of the free help from here: T1 Bandwidth

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