Date: Tue, 19 Mar 96 20:40 CST From: mike@madsoft.lonestar.org (Mike) To: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: hackers-digest V1 #986 Message-ID: <m0tzDpX-000CRNC@madsoft.lonestar.org>
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Greg writes: [1]Is ADSL available everywhere? Sure! Everywhere in certain TELCO equipment mfgrs labs and a few TINY test markets. ADSL service is not even up to "limited" areas yet. Contact your PUC and see if there are any tariffs on how to charge for ADSL service. If there aren't any on file, then the service doesn't exist in your area. Why offer it if they haven't figured out how to charge for it? [1]Does every ISP who supports ISDN also support ADSL? Hardly. Many TELCOs still don't support ISDN even though it has been around for nearly 20 years. ISDN in SouthWestern Bell service areas is priced so that no consumers will buy it and keep it ($500 setup+$60/month+ metering in some areas @.02/min), which is good since they use their backup 5ESS switches to handle the ISDN service (the one in the corner on the cart) in many exchanges, including downtown Dallas. If the primary switch goes down, they unplug all the ISDN lines, roll over the backup and use it as the emergency backup switch. ISDN customers are out of service until things return to normal. Bet that level of service quality is not covered by the SWB $25 reliability/satisfaction guarantee! This dual-switch scheme also limits how well ISDN will ever work in these areas. The reason they do this is that they don't want to upgrade the primary switch to support ISDN. As to the ISPs supporting ISDN, it depends on the marketing, the area, sometimes it also depends on where you live vs where they live. Some TELCOs really screw you on using ISDN specifically to access an ISP. Example, if you habitually call the same exchange using ISDN (like you would to call your ISP) and the call is routed via three exchanges, you may find a penalty charge of 3x your normal monthly charge for those other ISDN circuits you "tied-up" to get from your local exchange to the ISP. Again, this is SWB I'm using as an example, not a TELCO that is serious about offering ISDN to non-business users who get alarmed by $240+ monthly ISDN bills for local calls to a ISP eight miles away. [1]Can you use it for telephones and faxes? Nope, not in the analog sense. Certainly not in the "dry-wire" leased line example provided, but ADSL is really meant to be data service. Also, I understood the return channel to only be 500Kbit/sec, not 640. Someone is claiming forward channel of 16Mbit on ADSL which I also think is wrong. I think they are getting token-ring speeds mixed-up. :-) Of course, getting the ISP to let you bring dry wire and your modems into their facility is another matter. You probably will have as much luck getting them to let you use one of those 20mile/10Mbit spread spectrum transmitters that make the connections over the air. Mike
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