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From: grog@lemis.de (Greg Lehey)
Organisation: LEMIS, Schellnhausen 2, 36325 Feldatal, Germany
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Reply-To: grog@lemis.de (Greg Lehey)
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Subject: Re: Status of ISDN drivers
To: jmb@freefall.freebsd.org (Jonathan M. Bresler)
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 1996 13:04:51 +0100 (MET)
Cc: hackers@freebsd.org (FreeBSD Hackers),
        isdn@muc.ditec.de (FreeBSD ISDN Distribution List)
In-Reply-To: <199601132343.PAA26400@freefall.freebsd.org> from "Jonathan M. Bresler" at Jan 13, 96 03:43:13 pm
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Jonathan M. Bresler writes:
>
>>> >WRT getting 128kb/sec. I though the RBOCs in the States only support
>>> >56kb/sec. per channel ? How you going to squeeze 128kb/sec. out of that ?
>>> >The D-Channel is not used for data transfer (that would be an additional
>>> >16kb/sec.).
>>
>>> Of course for $695 you can get RISC-powered "plug and power-up" 128k
>>> sync...but we've been through that one before!
>>
>> Yes, but will it work in Europe, more precisely, Austria?
>
> The board is $440. with V.24/RS-232 output (others available) I was assuming
> about
> $250.-$260.  for a bitsurfer T/A. The card will work with any external T/A.

Yes, but this solution has at least two, maybe more serious drawbacks:

1.  It only runs at 115.2 kb/s, and uses 10 bit bytes, so your
    theoretical maximum throughput is 11.52 kB/s.  A full BRI will
    give you 128 kb/s and 8 bit bytes, or theoretical 16 kB/s.

2.  It uses the serial port, arguably the weakest link in PC
    communications.

3.  It requires you to use PPP or some other crock.  I haven't tried
    PPP lately, but it used to give me untold headaches.  Running pure
    IP beats the hell out of it.

Greg