You may be wondering: Is Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) right for my business? The answer is: It depends.
Your Business Needs Matter
Your business is unique. You may be operating with a distributed workforce, have remote operations throughout Alaska, rely on ecommerce, or have small offices in hubs across the state. Other telecommunications companies push their customers toward DIA because they believe it is always the best internet service. However, we take a more thoughtful approach, and work to understand whether DIA is right for your business.
At GCI, we right-size solutions to meet our customers’ needs. Sometimes, the right answer is a DIA circuit coupled with an MPLS network and multiple VPNs. Other times, Business Internet (a cable modem service) will suit a business’ operating needs. Still other times, a custom MPLS solution with carrier diversity and multiple backups is necessary. This is the only way to ensure that your connectivity will be 100% reliable even if one service fails.
Curious about Business Internet?
Something that sets us apart, is that our account managers and solutions engineers understand the complexities of operating a business in Alaska. This is because they have decades of experience engineering custom solutions to meet every business need.
Dedicated Internet Access is best suited for businesses for which reliability of service is critical. However, this varies based on the nature of the business and the speed at which it operates.
What is DIA?
To understand DIA, you need to understand that internet is a solution with two elements: transport and internet access. Often times, we refer to the internet as a singular entity rather than a combination of these elements. But, both are critical to understanding DIA.
For GCI, the internet access is simple enough. We offer Alaska’s most robust set of peering connections into Lower 48 internet providers. Once connected to the GCI network, customers will have access to all the internet resources you’d expect.
The variable when considering your internet service is the transport. How is your business traffic getting from your facility to the internet? With our DIA service, the transport connection is a symmetric, dedicated pathway. There is no conflict caused by your residential neighbors or other businesses in the area. Things don’t slow down when all the business around you are videoconferencing. And, service is guaranteed.
DIA In Alaska
Alaska’s landscape is challenging for telecommunications companies delivering DIA to businesses. Unlike the Lower 48, where reliable DIA services is frequently be delivered over copper telephone wires (as in T1 and DSL services), DIA in Alaska is usually delivered over a dedicated private line. Often, via fiber-optic cable.
Over the past 40 years, GCI has invested millions into building Alaska’s largest and most robust statewide network. This includes 7,700 miles of fiber-optic cable. For DIA customers, this means your service will operate on Alaska’s most advanced network. And, you’ll benefit from the closed loops built into our network for geographic redundancy.
Some organizations may not require low-latency, SLA-backed services like DIA. Others will find that DIA is the best possible solution based on their unique needs, business applications, and locations. No matter your use case or where you operate in Alaska, we will work with you to design the right solution.
We believe delivering exceptional connectivity means more than just selecting a transport technology and a bandwidth level. It means working together to develop a unique solution that meets all your connectivity needs. To do that, we back up our best-in-class transport technology with robust SLAs, 24/7/365 customer support through our Business Technical Support team, and continuous monitoring of the network. Together, these services create a next-level experience for GCI’s DIA customers.
Navigating a remote workforce?
Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
One of the key features of our DIA service is our 99.95% SLA. It allows us to guarantee high availability and performance to our customers, who are assured their business is covered by the most advanced network in Alaska. For customers who need even higher performance guarantees, we engineer custom solutions to meet those needs.
24/7/365 Business Grade Customer Support
Our Business Technical Support technicians provide 24/7/365 support to DIA customers. They are highly trained and experienced technicians who are empowered to solve customer issues. They are responsive, and they own, track, and manage all incidents to resolution. We provide most support from Anchorage facilities. This means we can quickly respond by:
- Shipping replacement equipment
- Deploying technicians and engineers to your site
- Engaging GCI village agents for on-site troubleshooting
Continuous Monitoring
With GCI’s DIA service, we provide a customer premise router. This allows technicians to remotely monitor and manage delivery all the way to the customer premise. In the event of an issue, GCI notifies the customer and Business Technical Support staff take steps to correct the problem. This is following the notification process jointly established between GCI and the customer.
IP Addresses and Routing
As part of our DIA service, GCI can assign a customer a routed block of IPv4 and/or IPv6 addresses, which can scale up or down and switch facilities as needed. If you require additional functionality, these routed IP blocks will help facilitate that scaling up of services.
We believe in helping customers understand what they need based on their applications and business requirements. We can help determine the right solutions for the situation.