ISDN

TwoShedsJackson

Ordered isdn today. So what I want to know is, is where a relatively cheap isdn modem can be gotten. Indigo say its 249 quid, i'm sure they can be had for less.

So if anyone knows, then post the details here. Thanks.

shank

Isdn eh, u wanna join DzR we only have 3 lpb's atm <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">
You'll do a lot better then 250 though, gateway2000 r doin one for 70ish

ButcherOfNog

i'll have a wee check, u can def get them for less than 250.

Maximilian

So what is the cost of getting ISDN then?
What monthly charges etc. ?

Myself and the bro are gagging for low pings.
Seriously.
I caught the bro. frothing at the mouth, having some kind of fit and all he could say was, i dunno, sounded like "glag".
"Glag" is not a word i know of. just in case its a foreign language he couldn't possibly know, I've retained an Exorcist, just in case.
In the meantime, I never thought I'd say thank God for an iol account.

TwoShedsJackson

267 quid for the installation (to replace the exsisting phoneline), x amount for the isdn modem as above, 29 p/m for line rental, and 20 p/m for the indigo account.

All that for a lower ping <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">

MindPhuck

I was thinking of getting ISDN for a long time now and the killer part is the flippin installation fee! Mind you, 300 quid aint that bad tho so I might relook into it again.

Does any1 have any ideas what it costs to get 128k instead of just 64k ?

Maximilian

Nog I think a dual ISDN modem works under Win95 if you have the Dial up Networking upgrade patch.

ISDN wouldn't make much of a difference if you're with Indigo. At least, at the moment.
Zoiks, as Shaggy would say.

MindPhuck

No no no ButherofNog! <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">

I know the idea that your thinking off, thats what im trying to prevent, the two phone calls thingy. You can actually get your ISDN line bummbed up to 256k per channel if you wanted it! Know what i mean?

ButcherOfNog

MP : u can? in this backwards hovel of a country? didn't know that. if u find out anything lemmie know. um, maybe its a "corporate option" by one of our wonderfull ISP's.

ButcherOfNog

And MP, what’s a Buther? Definitely not a purveyor of fine meats.

Cloud

I think it's one of those freak commie mutant noggin heads - FreaK_Buther_of_Nog.

J.
--

MindPhuck

Cabridges Dictionary Definition of Buther
is it ?:

A) Your Brother
A man who cuts animal meats and sells it
C) cross between freak bruther and butcher of nog
D) All of the above

heh

Vexorg

ISDN rocks .. Take it Wall .. it has to be one of the most pleasent ways to play quake on the net, surf and for d/ling files.

You will rarly see over an 80 ping on most of the Irish Servers (for quake 1) anyhow and up until recently an average 100-120 on Barryworld - all this on 64k.

Now something to bear in mind, assuming you opt to have your existing line taken out, dont make the mistake of assuming that your phone will work with your isdn line (cos it wont - I repeat it will not work with your isdn line you need a rather expensive isdn phone to work directly with your isdn line, and you will be lucky to find one for sale in this country) however dont fret all is not lost.

If you get a good TA (terminal adapter ie an isnd modem) it will have pots (whick actually stands for plain old telephone system/socket <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">) and you can plug your trusty old telephone into your pots in your TA. Do remember that you will have to leave your TA switched on permanently to use the facility and if you go for a good internal TA with pots, you may have to leave your pc switched on permananently also.

Also be very careful with the TA you buy even tho it may have the Trusty old POTS facility, I know of problems with the very expensive PACE TA which will not answer pots, and still wont after extensive trouble shooting.

Moral of the story is if you one have one phone line dont be 2 quick to give it up, that said my TA and Devores Ta have been problem free in that regard, with the exception of UK phone that always answer and also Spacemans TA after a little persuasion would answer a normal call.

Cost wise £420 incl vat to install the isdn lines, (basic rate isdn is 2 64k channels or lines) I think you can knock £100 of if you give up your existing analogue line.

TA as I said above dont necessarily buy a cheap one unless your pretty handy with a terminal program and fancy programming your Ta directly with AT commands and what ever other commands TA's like to work properly. You u can get them from £70ish upwards but why do people insist on quoting the ex vat price, in the real world most of us pay VAT.

WWW.ONLINEIT.COM an Irish online computer retailed do a TA for £100ish (that could be ex VAT) but I have no idea if its any good, check reviews at ZDNET. I got a zyxel omni.net, very nice TA they move in price from 180 to 230 depending on the Value of the punt, should be Stable now with the EURO, DAAA said he paid £165 for his, I could be wrong but that was probably EX VAT.

Line Rental is £30 per month (£60 per billy period) again add VAT and indigo is £20 per month and what do ya know u have to Add VAT again.

No

Vexorg

Cloud is there a size limit on posts, board chcuked me out before i finished my novella on isdn.

Anyhow with isdn u get 2 64k isdn channels and if you have a good ta you can surf or play quake on one channel while recieving and making calls on the other channel. The Ta has no problem using giving u both channels to do what u may want with them as long as u have dun 1.2 or higher for win95 and Dun in 98 has the facility built in.

But from the web point of view, you isp has to give u 128k access, u cannot disl into your account with both channels at the same time or ure own and someone elses - let just say Dial up networking was not designed that way. So to get 128k access u need a 128k account with your isp and this costs 3 to 4 times more than a 64k account, because isps see it as only a requirement for business who as we all know have money to burn and so will pay the additional charge for 128k access.

In addition if you do get 128k access, you are making 2 calls using both channels so your phone bill will be more expensive (stating the obvious i know). Isdn calls are charged at the same rate as analogue per channel, all very confusing I know<IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">

Eric if you want 256k on isdn u need to get 2 basic rate isdn lines ie 4 * 64 and ull be making 4 phone calls and as far as i know whould need a router to channel the signal to your pc, if a router can do that, im sure it can sure why not go for premiums rate isdn ( 24 of the 64k suckers in one big cable .... drool ... its commonly refered to as T1)

All i can sat is its worth it, but its not cheap, do think about the pitfalls, dont go for a cheap Ta without researching it first and that said even an expensive one like the pace at about 299 can be a dog at times, but its a rocking Ta for quake and the net just some answering problems if thats a concern. I can happily recommend the zyxel omninet and Im sure Devore, Shiva, Spaceman, Dip and even Daaa to whom I recommend the TA and even got them for some of them will agree its a reliable solid fuss free piece of KIT.

Talk to me in IRc some time if u need more info and g'luck with isdn its just sooo cool 99% of the time.

OSiriS

Wow!!!!!
Ta for all that Vexorg, I'd just e-mailed tinets sales department today, but I think there's more in this than they'll send me out. I'm thinkin of gettin it myself, cos next year after Co-op I might be reduced to a T1less bumlike the rest of yiz *sniff*

/me crys rivers that short circuit his keyboard...doh.

TAAAAAKE IT ping:-/

MindPhuck

WOW Gerry, Im impressed <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">

Thanx for ALLLLL that info. Its really helpfull. As to the isdn, Yah I have an ISDN router you see, so I dont need a TA, so I was going to put in the extra cash id save on the TA and get a bigger account. (at least for the first year <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">

Thanx for the info mate.

TinCool

ISDN ..... pah !!! Hard lads stick with their US Robotics 33.6 ....

ps. btwCastor I'm sure I can purchase your Pace off you when (if) you get your ISDN line at a reasonable price <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">

TwoShedsJackson

Vex, thanks for your posts, hell of a lot more info there than can be gotten from any of the ISP's <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">

I asked the oul one at Tinet whom I ordered the line from would my phone work on it, and I got 'oh yeah, no problem'. I wasn't too confident in what she was telling me but anyways...

So I elected to get me exsisting line out and get the ISDN in. Basically if I buy a decent TA I will be able to use my phone on it anyways yeah? One other q, will people be able to phone me while the line is in use, as I heard something about having two circuits or something. Getting decent info on ISDN is a pain in the ass round here, cept from you it seems <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)"> All I'm sure on is lower ping - mmmmmm, lower ping....

TwoShedsJackson

btw, Vex, where did you get your TA from? cheers.

Kegser

Vexorg I am interested in your proposal and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

I didn't get a chance to read that big post but when I do you can be sure I shall find it very informative and witty.

So thanks, beforehand.

Kegs.

ButcherOfNog

the basic ISDN installation is 2 lines, 64K on each. but i think most ISP's in ireland only give 64K access. not sure. you'll need a duel isdn modem (or 2 modems/TA's) and either win98 or winNT for multilinking them, 1 64k line sends, the other receives me thinks. you'll b making 2 phone calls plus you'll need to b able to log on twice to the ISP. but you'll get around 35ms pings like LAN speed on the net <IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">

Nog

Disclaimer : Please append the sentence "I think" to the end of the above
message.

Vexorg

Castor

You get 2 channels with your isdn, so if you get a basic account with indigo or tinet, it will be a 64k dial up account £25 incl vat indigo and i think £30 with Tinet, may have changes recently but tinet were more expensive.

I have a single network UTP cable (45 feet of it) coming from upsstairs (ugly creamy colored isdn box that really does not match with any furniture in the room) to the TA downstairs, so if im surfing or quaking or d/ling what ever happens to be on the net I can either make or recieve calls on the unused 64k channel.

If im not on the net and if i had two phones I could dial out on both, using both channels or accept a fax on one ( if i had a fax maxhine) and a call on the other ( so many permutations so little time) but you get my drift.

I got my Ta from a crowd called IT Direct in Dublin, they always had prices on a par with the best in the UK even after Vat postage etc. Catch me in IRC and ill give u the name of the guy there and the phone number. As usual no harm in shopping around.

One final thing on ISDN, one which i think is a pain in the butt for anyone living outside the pale, is that it does not guarentee a "good" ping in quake. Beacuse of the frame relay system used in regional pops ( ie your local call access number ) the latency on the line can make quake play a slightly less than satisfactory experience. The only way to guarentee a good ping is to dial Dublin Direct. Im not sure about all location but CastleBlaney, Waterford, Navan, Ennis and I think Cork also certainly up to recently had very poor quake performace ( and i mean for isdn)like a 150+ ping, and thus probalay all local access numbers that connect to a pop other than Dublin will deliver poor quake performance.

Dialing Dublin Direct, an expensive business I know, will or should result in maximum reduction in ping times and and exceptionally enjoyable game of quake, ( assuming inex etc is working properly etc.)

However Telecom who are responsible for the frame relay set up as far as I know wont be too pushed when u ring up and say i get crap pings in Quake when I use my isdn line throught the local pop but when i ring dublin I can frag like Ive never believed possible, will u please fix my local pop asap.Because your data transfer (file upload and download) will be unaffected in the main by the latency, ya it may arrive a little late but so do all the rest of the packets so ull get your 7k+ d/ls.

And for kegser, This is the last free Edition of THE "my experience of ISDN" (by Vexorg) TIMES, all furure editions will be available on receipt of and validation of your credit card details, Note (Diners Club, American Express and Visa Gold and Platinum are perferred. Exact cost to be determined and may Fluctuate in line with my phone bill.


A suggestion I would make is to ask each of the isps for a weeks trial, i sure they will oblige. See which give you the best performace to your favourite servers. Isdn costs from £10 odd a month with Clubi to £35 with Tinet afaik. Been a While since i last checked the prices peformance etc. If its quake u want to play ( and why else would anyone want isdn) , then I would skip Clubi, no link to inex so disasterous ping on irish quake servers!

GL and enjoy it.

OSiriS

That e-mail that I sent off to tinet, this is the reply I got...

"INTERNET CHARGES FOR AN ISDN LINE
Subscription Charge per month is £20.00 (+VAT) and per year is £200.00 (+VAT)
This includes 3 e-mail Ids and 10 MegaBytes Web Space.
Please note: There are no traffic charges.
Prices of software and registration remains same at £12.50 inclusive VAT
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call us on 1850-203-204, between
8.30am - 10.00pm, Mon to Fri.
Regards,
Telecom Internet"

I sent off for specific information about ISDN snd they sent me back less than was on their website. So thanks again Vexorg.

Vexorg

I was wondering when they (TINET) would drop the cost of 64k ISDN access.

They used to have a statement in their subscriber ISDN agreement, that they could charge x£ per megabyte of 100 megs d/led a month.

Watch out for more of Vex's personal opinions on Hardware soon<IMG SRC="http://lacerta.ucg.ie/boards/smile.gif&quot; WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT=":)">

Venom

I enquired about getting an isdn line last year and got f*uck all info back from tinet and indigo.What I did learn was that tinet's isdn charges are based on a 50mb d/l ratio(the more u d/l the higher the cost) and that indigo just have a basic charge(no matter how much u d/l the price is the same).I also found out from a telecom monkey that isdn prices will drop in the second part of the year(june) and more telecom monkeys(the dorks that install the line)will be employed to speed up the demand and supply for isdn lines.Does anyone know if esat install isdn lines and if so how much?