And you set the standard of service? AT&T has to meet service-level agreements that we set, so they put in the equipment and switches to meet those SLAs.

Had you gotten many complaints about the satellite network from your users? We have an anonymous electronic suggestion box, and our financial advisors and branch-office administrators gave us constant feedback. It was dramatic stuff, yes. There was recognition across the firm that a change was needed. And now they're giving us great feedback on the new network, and we also look at the bandwidth numbers and other measures through out own independent measuring tools.

So how did the satellite network come about in the first place? It was the right decision going to satellite back in 1988, and it's the right decision coming off satellite in 2006 and 2007. It was very reliable, with two uplinks in Tempe, Ariz., and St. Louis -- uplinks came from Tempe about 80 percent of the time, where there is usually beautiful weather. But with bad weather in a given region, you'd have interference. But the main thing now is that satellite is not great for the scale of the Internet.

AT&T said it's creating a global VPN based on MPLS technology. Was that partly why you picked it over rival vendors? We looked at multiple vendors, but AT&T could deliver and do so at a good price point. We felt they had Edward Jones's priorities in mind and could meet our aggressive time schedules.

Will this result in any savings over the satellite network? Moving from satellite to terrestrial will be more expensive. But new, more sophisticated tools will be delivered, and the new network plays a critical role in their delivery. The cost is well worth it.