Recommendations for Eureka

According to the description of the case, there are 60 employees working in three shifts meaning 20 employees will be using the recommended system at one time. So the recommendation here are based on the needs of 20 employees at a time who will need a phone line and an internet connection simultaneously. There is a high volume of communication to the client, so the recommended telecommunication alternative will be high speed internet. Following is a summary of the different expenditure on the four alternatives. Please note that these are the costs that are incurred on monthly basis for different services. The fixed cost like the costs of modems and other devices is not included here.

	Voice Line (per month)	Internet Line (per month)	Total(per month)
Option 1	40 X 20= $800	20 X 20= $400	$1200
Option 2	40 X 20= $800 (standard line)	Included in standard line	$800
Option 3	40 X 20= $800	$300	$1100
Option 4	60 X 20= $1200	Included in voice	$1200

Table 1: Cost Comparison

Pros/Cons of different Alternatives

After carefully considering different alternatives, I have come up with the following list of advantages and disadvantages for the different alternatives. At the end, I have made recommendations about which options will best suit the requirements of Eureka keeping in view the financial expenditure.

Option 1

Pros: The wiring in this option is not very expensive. There would not be high expenditure on buying new hardware. The computer that would be connected to the internet have already dial up modems installed in advance. Also these modems are cheap as compared to DSL modems.

Cons: The network speed will be slow as dial up is an outdated technology. The receiving rate of a dialup is 56 kb/s and sending is at approximately 33.6 kb/s (Fitzgerald & Dennis, 2014). There is also the issue of the telephone and internet not functioning simultaneously. So when the phone line is busy, internet cannot be used and vice versa. The IP for a dial up connection is not static and hence there will be issue in static communication needs of the company employees.

Option 2

Pros: This DSL alternative is very fast as compared to the previous alternative. Its receiving speed is up to 1.5 Megabytes/second and the sending speed is 256 Kilobytes/second (Fitzgerald & Dennis, 2014). There will be need for 20 connections as the internet and telephone lines can function simultaneously. Company employees can talk to the clients on the phone and browse internet to reply to their technical question and provide online help.

Cons: It depends on the policy of the Internet Service Provider to decide the rate of the DSL Modem fee. They might ask for monthly installments for the device or a one-time fix price hence exhausting the finances of Eureka. Also the speed of the internet in the case of DSL is dependent on the distance from the ISP (“1. DSL 101 BROADBAND FAQ | DSLReports, ISP Information,”). If the distance is greater than 5 kilometers, DSL speed is really slow. Eureka must therefore be not more than 5 kilometers far from the ISP.

Option 3

Pros: This option suggest a standard analogue voice service and an advanced internet connection with 1.5 Mbps for data on monthly basis or a T1 (“What is T1 (T-1)?). This is much reliable and faster than ordinary DSL. In this case, individual computers would not need a separate modem to connect to the ISP. Local area networking is also easy for a T1.

Cons: If Eureka employees will be utilizing the full capacity of T1, there is a probability that the speed will be adversely affected.

Option 4

Pros: The advantage of this option could be the availability of an additional voice line or a fax. The employees can attend to two calls at once.

Cons: the network speed in this case would be slow. It would be too expensive for the slow speed that comes with it.

Recommendations

After comparing the cost of different alternatives and the internet and voice speed and reliability, I would like to recommend option 3 to Eureka. Eureka needs a fast and reliable internet connection resolve the issues of its customers. The costs of this option looks higher than option 2 on the Table 1 but we have to remember that option 2 has additional DSL Modem charges by the ISP that could add to the variable cost. T1 option will enable Eureka’s employees communicate effectively with their clients.

References

DSL 101 BROADBAND FAQ | DSLReports, ISP Information. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.dslreports.com/faq/faq/1._DSL_101

Fitzgerald, J. and Dennis, A. (2014). Business Data Communication & Networking, 12th Edition. Hoboken, NJ: J Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-1118891681

What is T1 (T-1)? – Definition from WhatIs.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from h ttp://searchenterprisewan.techtarget.com/definition/T1