I’m considering ISDN as a high speed internet option because DSL and cable aren’t available and satellite is looking like $149/month plus $1000+ to connect.
Anybody use it here? Do you like it?
Used to have an ISDN leased line into my old company.
That company had T1 to internet. Web browsing speed was
much better than dial up, but don’t remember well enough to tell you how it compares to Cable Modem which is my current service.
As I recall, you can do something called “bonding” to get 128K connection speed. (And keep in mind that the 64K you get from ISDN is true speed, not speed after compression). Don’t know if your ISP will do this, probably an extra charge type of connection.
PS - Telco took 3 or 4 visits to get the install correct. The joke is that ISDN stands for “I Still Dont Know”
I had ISDN for about three years until DSL became available in my area a few months ago. It was…adequate. Better than dial-up, both because of the increased bandwidth, and the fast connect time. But frustrating, because one of my SPIDs would stop working every month or so, requiring a restart of the ISDN router. And you’re still subject to busy signals from you ISP, both on the initial connect and for the second B channel connect.
And of course it was more expensive. For me ISDN was more than two POTS lines, and my ISP essentially charged me for two dial-up accounts to get 128K ISDN.
Are you going to completely replace your POTS line and use ISDN for voice as well? That’s what I did, primarily for cost reasons, and it worked OK most of the time, although I was not able to get my service provisioned so that each line rolled over to the other–something to do with the telco switch type. If you do this, and you use caller id, make sure your ISDN router passes the CID on to the analog ports.
I considered it back before cable and DSL and I work with it. It is rather expensive for what you get but does do a fairly good job. Also looking into Verizon Wireless high speed internet access. allows you about the same speed as ISDN access for a flat fee (IIRC $99 but may be less). and will give you unlimineted access for about the same speed as ISDN.
ISDN will allow you to drop your and telephone number and use the ISDN line for that but be warned, if your ISDN modem is not working you will loose all service (provided by the ISDN line).
It still does nothing
I used ISDN for about 4 years. I liked it well enough, as my only alternative was dialup.
If your ISP only allows one 64k channel to be used, I wouldn’t bother. Most let you use both 64k channels bonded together for a total of 128k.
Any digital connection is better than dialup, in my opinion.
If you’re considering ISDN, it might be a much better option for you to do Multilink PPP, aka shotgun modems. This allows you to use two modems and two phone lines to double your speed. Depending on your area, you may get close to ISDN speed at a fraction of ISDN price. If you find an ISP that supports Multilink PPP AND the new v.92 modem standard, you could get quite acceptable performance.
I was seriously considering ISDN, but it turned out that in my area it would cost around $180 per month all told for unlimited internet access, plus equipment and installation. It just wasn’t nearly worth it for 16KB/sec bandwidth and reduced latency. Remember, you need to pay for both your ISP AND your phone company.
That’s what I like about TN, ISDN is dirt cheap here. My ISDN line was around $27 a month.
I found a local ISP that allows bonding and that sounds workable.
We have 3 POTS + 2 cell phones, and I probably make 2 calls a week and receive 2 calls a month. I guess we’ll keep a POTS but it’ll be more than I need. I figure to use ISDN just for the Internet.
Is Verizon Wireless based on cell phone? Verizon tells me they don’t serve any kind of modem use on cell at all. I don’t know how they stop it, but that’s what they said. They also don’t provide leased lines in my area.
The tip about Multilink PPP is a good one - I always wondered why you couldn’t just use more modems, and I have multiple lines. At $16 per month for a line and $10 for an ISP, they’d make great stocking stuffers. In fact I could have 6 of each for what Starband satellite service would cost.
My old ISDN line was 4c/minute per B-channel. You could spend $300/month without even really trying.
Luckily, my work was paying for it.