Telecommunications

In the Brainerd Lakes Area, state-of-the-art telecommunications and technology are readily available. From conventional telephone service to cellular, Internet access and teleconferencing, the infrastructure is here to allow your business to network with the global marketplace. All of the local telecommunications companies listed below provide basic phone service. Those noted also offer internet product options. The communities of Brainerd and Baxter are serviced by several different providers. Check with each company to find which as the best product match for your business needs. * Telecommunications Headquarters in red To view the map larger, click on image.

Telecommunications (Phone/Internet) Providers, by Community

*Cable television and telecommuncations provider; NO phone service

Telecommunications Terms
DSL: Digital Subscriber Lines – generic name for phone lines that can carry data at high speeds
ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network – term to describe standards for sending voice, video and data over telephone wires
T1: a dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1.544 Mbits per second.
Fiber Optics: A technology that uses glass (or plastic) threads (fibers) to transmit data. Telephone companies are steadily replacing traditional telephone lines with fiber optic cables because they have a greater bandwidth (can carry more data), are less susceptible to interference, and allows data to be transmitted digitally (rather than analogically). In the future, almost all communications will employ fiber optics.
Broadband: a type of data transmission in which a single wire can carry several channels at once (like cable TV).
VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol – a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls by sending voice data in packets using Internet protocol rather than by traditional circuit transmissions. One advantage of VoIP is that the telephone calls over the Internet do not incur a surcharge beyond what the user is paying for Internet access, much in the same way that the user doesn't pay for sending individual e-mails over the Internet.
Centrex: central office exchange service – a type of PBX service in which switching occurs at a local telephone station instead of at the company premises. Typically, the telephone company owns and manages all the communications equipment necessary to implement the PBX and then sells various services to the company.