[ale] ISDN???

[Unix Guru Dude]

}
}Hello,
}
}At the ALE meeting last night, someone mentioned that BellSouth is having
}somekind of sale on ISDN.  I have a few questions that I'm sure others
}must have too.

Funnny you should mention this.  I've been looking into ISDN lately and
just talked to BellSouth yesterday.  Right now Bell South is waving the
installation fee on ISDN (~$200) with a couple of packages.  One thing
I learned yesterday is that ISDN automagically comes with caller ID.

If I would replace both of my phone lines right now with ISDN, my local
service cost would go from about $40 to about $65.  Not bad??

Bell south has a bunch of stuff on there home page about this.   Check out
http://www.bellsouth.com/

One thing you will need to do is check and see if you have ISDN access.
First go to the ISDN homepage and there is a place to check out your area
code and number prefix.  If you get real serious, you then must call Bell
South and the will actually have a technician verify that you have the
access.  Apparently the Tech actually does some physical checking, because
they don't get back to you for a few days.  No charge when I did this.
You want to do this.  I have access to ISDN and I'm up in Woodstock, I work
with a guy who lives in town and does not have ISDN access.  Go figure....

The only reason I haven't jumped on the ISDN is because my District at work
is considering doing it for some employees that work from home a lot. (ME)
So why should I spend the bucks, if they will??

One other thing.  You must realize that you will more than likely have to
rewire some portion of your house, because phone lines are generally daisy
chained together in your house.  If you get ISDN, you will have to have
your main line go directly to where ever your TA (terminal adaptor) is.
Then any other phone connected in your house would have to come from either
the terminal adaptor or another line that is connected to the terminal
adaptor.

You need to decide whether you want an internal or external AT.  If you get
an internal, you have no phone service if you computer is down or off.  If
you get an external, your serial port must have the latest greatest UART chip
that will give you the best throughput.  The guy I talked to at Bell South
says that there is some software that you can get that will enhance your
throughput even more.  He also said that Bell South has done 1000s of ISDN
configurations via Motorola Bitserfers...  

}
}  1. If I have only ISDN into my house, do I have to replace all of my
}     existing telephones and answering machine?  I have four telephones now
}     and wonder what the cost will be for four new "digital" phones.  Are
}     we talking $1000+?

You can get something like the Bitserfer from Motorola which has a POT (plain
old Telephone) port on the back and connect your Plain old Telephone to it.
The TA (Terminal Adaptor) does the analog to digital conversion.  You can
get the Bitserfer pro from Motorola which has two POTs and have two 
anolog lines.  The nice thing about this is that you can even connect an
analog modem to the bitserfer so that if you need to connect to, say a BBS
that doesn't have ISDN you can still do it.  The only problem with using
your analog phones over the bitserfer is the amount of current your ringers
pull.  The bitserfer POTS have a limit and you can't exceed it.  If you do,
your phone won't ring.  The good side to this is that if you have electronic
ringers (who doesn't anymore) then you're probably okay.  I did the math and
I would still be able to keep my three phones on each line.  Now if you have
any of the old timey REAL bell ringers, you may have a problem.


}
}  2. After I'm hooked up and I've bought my ISDN terminal adapter or ISDN
}     modem, my four ISDN phones, and my ISDN answering machine, can I
}     still dial into my office, which only has analog modems connected to a
}     tradational phone line?  Will this connection likely be better, worse,
}     or about the same as what I'm used to?

See above...  You don't have to buy ISDN phones.


}
}  3. If I want to dial-up my PC at home from work (which again does not have
}     ISDN), will I be able to do that if I only have ISDN at home?

See 1. above..

}
}  4. Does MindSpring's ISDN use data compression, or am I limited to just
}     64 kbps?  (I could probably check their web page...)

What the hell you want compression for at 64K!?!?!?!  Man some people want
everything!!! :)



}
}-- David
}   dsnyder at mindspring.com
}
}

If I can come up with anything else, I'll post it...

-- 
Until later:
Geoffrey Myers   geof at denali.is.net   eiger at ichange.com   gamyers at attmail.com
	http://www.ticllc.net/~geof

	Opinions expressed by me are mine, all mine, only mine.....