Question : Tier 1 or Tier 3 ISP - does it matter?

We are a small business, about 30 employees. It's time to sign a new contract for internet access. We have home-based remote users on VPN and Remote Desktop, no WWW server on site. I'm looking at integrated access (VOIP and data over a bonded T1) proposals from a "Tier 3" provider and a "Tier 1" provider.

My question for you experts is: would our situation entail a practical difference between tier 1 and tier 3 ISPs? Specifically, I'm concerned about uptime, reliability, quality of the data connection (latency, dropped packets, etc.) but if I have missed any important factors, please let me know. Is the difference between tier levels meaningful only to large enterprises?

Thank you for any advice and opinions you can share. If there is any aspect of this decision I have failed to consider, please let me know that as well.

Answer : Tier 1 or Tier 3 ISP - does it matter?

Tier 3 prices will be cheaper.  Tier 3 are usually resellers that typically only cover a certain area.  Tier 1 on the other hand is like sprint which is part od the internet backbone.  Something to consider to if you go with tier 3 and there is a problem it may now be something they can resolve, they may have to work with their tier 1.

As far as service goes that depends more so on the company rather than being tier 1 or 3.