help - Need ISDN info

Matt Everett

Member
Oct 16, 1999
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I'm setting up my dads house with ISDN. He loves multiplayer games, but has terrible phone lines at his rural location. He currently has one dedicated computer line, a business line which he uses for business and for his second computer along with 3 ISP accounts all for analog modems. He rents out his guest house and they will also will need a 2nd line to connect to the internet soon. ISDN seems to be a great answer but I want to do it right and save the most money per month.

So I have been looking into everything. Verizon says it will give me a unlimited ISDN account called Virtual Office for $95 a month. I imagine this is an always on and maybe even static IP kind of thing. Along with an ISP charge of 30-40 bucks for unlimited (both channels)128k ISDN the cost do add up. However I'm try to make the most out of it by using the ISDN to its full extent.

I want to get an ISDN router probably by Netgear or Dlink. The cisco are just way too much. If anyway has experience with ISDN routers please suggest a good model. Up to date ISDN reviews are surprisingly hard to find. So here is where it gets complex.

I need to take to most advantage of the Virtual Office as Verizon calls it (and I dont trust verizon .. I dont trust any phone company that doesn't have its own 1-800 number).

I plan to have the current business line upgraded to ISDN so that the number will stay the same and he will save some money by not having to pay for the line fee (although he will have to buy the voice mail and calling plans and whatnot). I researched farther and found this stuff called DOV data over voice. Seems it lets you make telephone calls while still having 112k of data bandwidth to simultaneously surf with or 56k per line. Is this correct?

If so does that mean that with a dual ISDN line run to the house he could actually use it for 2 voice lines and his data lines. Currently he has 3 phone lines + one in the guest bedroom. After looking at DOV (if my local ISP supports it) it seems that I could have the personal voice line and the business voice line both running through the ISDN along with his internet connectivity. Is this right?

I know I'll be able to drop off at least 2 analog phone lines (the dedicated computer line and the business line). However with DOV I could get rid of all 3 analog lines and save line fees ?

Can ISDN be used to provide more phone lines ? Could it support he guest house phone line too or would it have to be under an extension of one of the ISDN line numbers?

The business line is located in the office where the router will be so that convenient. The personal line however runs throughout the house. Would the router be able to feed the analog POTS connection through the rest of the phone jacks in the house using DOV? Or does DOV require special phones ? Would putting all the phone on ISDN mean there any significant chance of losing all phone service? I realize that if the router goes down you'd lose phone service. A UPS would be good to have on it i imagine. Still long periods of power outage would mean no phone service ?

AND Thanks for reading all that... please post any suggestions or ideas you have.



 

randal

Golden Member
Jun 3, 2001
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well, as for routers, I know that Ascend brand ISDN routers, under the name "Ascend Pipeline" are good, as are 3com isdn routers. I have used both extensively recently, and they are both easy to setup and easy to fix if something dies.

Having ISDN will give you two phone lines: ISDN has two "channels", either or both of which can be picked up at any time to make a voice telephone call.

as for DOV, data over voice, I think you mean VoIP, voice over IP. VoIP is a fairly new technology, and, afaik, is only any good when it is done via hardware. I do not know of any isdn hardware that supports VoIP. I am sure there are add-ons that let you do it, though [separate peices of hardware that you put in-line with the isdn]. I am unaware of how much these 3rd party parts would cost -- not cheap I would presume. In addition to having that hardware, your ISP would also have to have VoIP setup on their end, and would probably have to have the same brand that you would purchase for your end; a pricey proposition.

Having ISDN is great -- you get an always on connection that is low latency, is snappier than dial-up, and you get 2 telephone lines at the same time. For rural people, it can't be beat.

$.02
randal
 

Z24

Senior member
Oct 19, 1999
611
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<< For rural people, it can't be beat. >>


I'm so rural I can't even get ISDN!!

I'm glad I live away from home while at school.