Broadband Trader

Bonded / Multiple T1

Bonding T1s multiplies both the bandwidth and the monthly cost, and the arithmetic stops working sooner than most buyers expect. Somewhere around the third or fourth line, a single larger circuit almost always wins.

Bidsnot one quote

Term & NRCwhere rates move

Directyou sign with the carrier

No feethe channel pays, not you

What moves the price

What actually sets your bonded T1 rate

Per line, plus the bond

Each line carries its own loop and port, and the bonding equipment carries its own cost. Total all of it before comparing against a single circuit.

Find where bonding stops paying

Ask for the price at two, three, and four lines alongside an Ethernet quote. The crossover is usually early, and past it bonding is simply more expensive for less bandwidth.

Resilience is the real argument

Multiple lines can survive one failing, which a single circuit cannot. If that is why you are bonding, price it as resilience rather than as bandwidth.

Running the bid

Putting your bonded T1 out to bid

1Post the requirement once. Address, bandwidth, sites, and the date you need it live. That is enough for carriers to price.
2Carriers that reach you bid against each other. They know they are in a competitive bid, which is the single biggest reason a first number comes in lower.
3Compare the spread, then counter. Line the offers up on rate, term, install, and SLA. The gap between high and low bid is your negotiating room.

Reading the offers

Where the room usually is

✓ Levers worth pushing

Install waived across all lines rather than one, bonding CPE included, and a written upgrade price to a single larger circuit. If resilience is the goal, ask for diverse paths explicitly.

● What a padded quote looks like

Four bonded lines quoted with no single-circuit comparison, and bonding equipment billed monthly indefinitely after its cost is long recovered.

Pricing questions

Bonded / Multiple T1 pricing, straight answers

How much does bonding T1s cost?

Roughly per line, plus the bonding equipment. Because each line carries a full loop charge, cost scales close to linearly while alternatives do not.

When should I stop bonding and buy one circuit?

Usually by the third or fourth line. Get quotes at each count plus an Ethernet number and the crossover becomes obvious.

Is bonding good for redundancy?

It can be, if the lines follow diverse paths. Ask specifically, because lines ordered together often share the same route and the same failure.

Run the numbers →