Broadband Trader

Frame Relay

Frame relay is a sunsetting service, and that fact is your leverage. Carriers want these circuits off their books, which makes migration credits unusually available if you ask for them explicitly.

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 frame relay rate

CIR against port

Frame relay priced a committed information rate inside a larger port. If you are still billed this way, the committed rate is worth auditing against what you actually move.

Sunset is the leverage

Providers are retiring these platforms. That means both a real deadline and a real willingness to fund your move, and only one of those gets mentioned unprompted.

What replaces it

Ethernet, MPLS, and SD-WAN all cover the original use case at better cost per megabit. Which fits depends on how many sites you run and how much routing control you need.

Running the bid

Putting your frame relay 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

Migration credits, install waived on the replacement, term credit for time already served, and parallel running while you cut over. Ask for all four, because a retirement program usually has budget behind it.

● What a padded quote looks like

A like-for-like renewal on a platform scheduled for retirement, and a migration quote that charges full install as though you were a new customer.

Pricing questions

Frame Relay pricing, straight answers

Is frame relay still available?

Rarely, and it is actively being retired where it survives. If you are still on it, you are on a clock, which is worth using while it is still your choice.

What should I migrate to?

Ethernet for point to point, MPLS where you need class-of-service routing, SD-WAN where you have many sites and mixed access. Price at least two.

Will my carrier pay to migrate me?

Often, in part. Retirement programs frequently carry credits for install and overlap. It is a standard ask and it is rarely volunteered.

Run the numbers →