August 30, 2005 - In the past, shopping for OC3 lines meant doing the research yourself. Recently, agents who specialize in high speed DS1 (T1) and DS3 (T3) lines have popped up to volunteer to do this research for you, by hand, in less than 7 days. If you are looking to price out bandwidth and routers for your WAN or LAN network in less than a week, you would fine nothing but frustration and eventually high prices. You perform a search in your favorite search engine and you see millions of pages, all of which claim to save you money. In reality what your are seeing are a bunch of internet marketing entrepreneurs who know little about dedicated service at all. They create simple HTML forms that look like they have been programmed by a seventh grade student which captures your information, and either sends it to every vendor in the universe or some in-house former used-car salesman who will sell you whatever will pay him the biggest bonus. The internet is littered with this garbage, confusing customers and leaving a sour taste in their collective mouth. What started out as a search for competitively priced dedicated services has turned into a circus!

In 2002 my partner, Adam Edwards, and I decided to take the road less traveled. We realized early on that in order to create an online experience that was worthy of your time, we needed to provide information you can use - not your typical "enter your information here and we'll get back to you" elementary page. In order to do this, we invested a full year researching all of the different OC3 providers in order to understand their pricing models, many of which were created long before we were born. Based on information we extracted from this research, we invested heavily in complex programming that would allow us to calculate loop prices, or the cost that the local phone companies pass on to the dedicated service providers for access to their network. This cost varies by mile, by market, and by geographic region of the country. Once we rolled up our sleeves and performed extensive testing, we called our product 'GeoQuote' and released it to the public on this very web site in 2003. We are currently in the process of patenting this unique technology.

In this year alone, 243,587 unbiased real-time quotes have been created by online shoppers just like you. Instead of waiting for days to even see pricing, we give it to you in just seconds. Throw in the courtesy phone call that you will receive from one of our certified broadband consultants who can answer your questions, help you design your network, give you the strengths and weaknesses of each of our providers - and you have a winning combination.

Don't be fooled by the imitators! Since we launched our site two years ago, many have attempted to copy our concept, our business model, and even our domain name! It's amazing how in-style real-time shopping has become, especially considering that the reaction we received by our vendors when we divulged our plans to create GeoQuote. Some of the reactions we received include "that can't be done - it's never been done before" and "that is an interesting business model". Now these same vendors have become believers, and our very best partners. In 2004 Telarus was named to the New Edge Networks Most Valuable Partners Council, and in 2005 Telarus was declared a Platinum Partner with ACC Business, a division of AT&T, and a VIP Parnter with Broadwing Communications.

I don't mention these awards to boast, but to demonstrate the industry's recognition of our singular commitment to excellence, our commitment to our agents, and most of all, our commitment to our customers who trust us to find the best T1 products and services on the market. Change has been embraced. Thousands of lines have been sold. The way people shop for broadband services will never be the same again. GeoQuote is the future of broadband shopping.

As we go forward, our goal is to continually improve our product, our site, our knowledge of the industry and products, and most of all, to build a bond with you - our customer - that will last for years to come. Earning your trust is what we do here. Saving you money is how we keep it.

A technical quick note about the CSU/DSU, which is made as a separate product or is sometimes part of a T-1 WAN card. The Channel Service Unit - CSU - converts the data from and to the WAN line into a format the router can understand. The DSU provides an interface to the data terminal equipment (DTE) using a standard (EIA/CCITT) interface. The unit likewise provides testing capabilities.