Ethernet over copper or EOC is essentially a form of Ethernet. It is characterized by:

• Being an Ethernet in the first mile connection
• Using twisted copper telephone wires
• Requiring special adapters since an Ethernet over copper connection cannot be used with the traditional Ethernet port and
• Being a pretty cost-effective technology.

Choosing the right service provider

When it comes to Ethernet over copper or EOC, you need to ensure that you find the right kind of service provider. Look for aspects such as:

• Size of their EOC network in the country
• Guarantees on performance and installation
• Market share
• Reputation and longevity in the business
• Scalability of the connection and
• Business class service level agreements.

Symmetrical speeds

This is one more important advantage afforded to you when you use EOC. This simply means that you can enjoy the same upload and download speeds. When compared to other technologies such as cable, this becomes a huge advantage indeed. Symmetrical speeds ensure that your business can enjoy consistent performance from the network.  

Flexibility of speeds

Apart from the fact that EOC offers symmetrical speeds, your service provider can also offer flexibility of speed. This simply means that as a business owner you can choose data transmission speeds that start as low as 3 megabits per second and go up to 45 megabits per second and maybe more. It does depend on the capacity of your service provider.  

Redundancy

Another huge aspect of this technology is the fact that Ethernet over copper is pretty redundant. Since it operates on multiple pairs of twisted telephone wire, even if one of these pairs fails, the business organization can still enjoy network availability. Of course, backed by a robust service level agreement, such failure will be addressed in a short timeframe as well.  

Other advantages

Ethernet over copper is also very affordable since it uses traditional twisted telephone wires. It also goes a very long way in simplifying the network and delivering consistent performance to the user. Such consistency can be important when a business organization relies heavily on its communications landscape.  

Big telecom companies

It is indeed a mark of the maturity and reliability of this technology that there are some big telecom companies offering the same to their clients. This means competitive prices, top quality customer and technical support, additional features such as scalability and so on. For a business organization, going for an EOC connection can therefore make a lot of sense because it will enjoy the best of support from the best of the telecom companies.  

One limitation

Even though EOC has some massive advantages to offer, the one limitation, if you can call it that, of this technology is distance. If your office is close to the Central Telecom office, then you can enjoy higher speeds. The farther away your office is from the Telecom office, the lower will be the speed. Also, not all telecom offices may have all the necessary Ethernet over copper equipment.

Undeniably, Ethernet over copper is here to stay. Almost every day there are advancements being made to this technology and this is good news for businesses.