What it costs PRI pricing varies depending on which carrier you choose and the configuration of your service. As you might expect, the RBOCs are generally the most expensive and the CLECs tend to offer more competitive prices to win your business. See the graphic on page 48 for sample pricing for PRI deployment in various cities. Thanks to approved tariffs and lack of competition, RBOCs haven't had to lower their prices much. However, some carriers negotiate discounts based on high volume orders or a combination of long-term contracts and volume commitment.
Carriers are also likely to waive installation charges in competitive markets.
As competition intensifies, you can expect carriers to reduce their monthly charges as well. No matter what you hear about ISDN, it's not going away. PRI's are the foundation of today's worldwide switched digital network, and deployment is taking off. Every time another million people get on the Internet, ISPs have to order another 3,000 PRI's. Some ISPs order circuits in quantities of 100 at a time to keep up with customer demand for dial-up services.