Should I get ISDN?

rymus

ello folks,

I've been pondering the prospect of getting my relatively new POTS line upgraded to "Hi-Speed" and coin flipping is getting me nowhere. Reasons are I could do with a bit of a speed boost (I get about 3/4k downloading) and DSL wont be anywhere near me for the next 7/8 months at least. I'm getting awfully pissed off with my slow old 56k modem and with developments at UTV I suppose I could use the extra phone number for phone/fax while I'm online.

So now you get to make up my mind for me... I'm using UTV and will be for the foreseeable future. Should I get isdn?

SouperComputer

arse to ISDN man, wait for broadband (any flavour) to xome your way.

rymus

balls to it, I'm ordering it. I just did a speed test and got a return of 26.2k from whats supposed to be a 56k modem so eircom have obviously got me on a dacs box. I also had a rather extended conversation with both istream people and marketing drones and my exchange isnt due to be upgraded until at least spring 2004. 64k is better than what I'm on now anyway..

As regards TA's, I've been hearing good things about the eicon diva ta. Anyone have any experience of the USB variant of this? (I'm going for USB as I need to use it with both my desktop and laptop). Ohh one more thing... anyone know where I can get one in Ireland without breaking the bank?

Dempsey

How do you do that speed test?

Creamy Goodness

if your going for isdn do not get the modem eircom give you i got the Draytek128TA USB and it's terrible but i can;t afford €50 to buy a eircon diva

Moriarty

For anyone stuck on exchanges that wont be upgraded in the next few years (eg, any that arent already known to have a date) and with little hope of wireless, ISDN is the best of a bad situation. There is a noticeable increase in quality going from any analog modem to isdn, it really is worth it if theres no hope of anything better.

Wrt TAs, i have the Asus TA that youll see on sale for €20-30. Its an all-round quality ta. Imo theres no point getting the eicon diva unless you like throwing your cash around, you wont notice a difference between the two.

rymus

Originally posted by Dempsey
How do you do that speed test?

There are a few out there... The ones I tried are

http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
http://promos.mcafee.com/speedometer/
and
http://tech.msn.com/internet/speedtest.asp

btw, google is your friend

http://www.google.ie/search?q=internet+speed+test&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&meta=

ando

i have the asus internal pci modem, very cheap and excellent quality

Anima

Well you can get a pci eicon diva ta for 12 sterling here:

Eicon Diva Ta PCI

rymus

well ive ordered it anyway... the dozy beyotch on the phone said "no, sorry you cant carry over your CPS, all your traffic will be diverted back to Eircom". *deep breath and releaaaaase*

I after making her check with a fellow eircom dozy beyotch she came back to me with a speedy apology. Just thought this was a tad topical...

My site survey is due sometime before Monday (Tuesday/Wednesday knowing these gits) so hopefully everything will go smoothly. I mean it would be the final insult if I couldn't even get ISDN!

As for TA's, I've been looking around a bit and as I'm looking for a USB model I found an Asus on Komplett and a diva on.... I cant remember where it was. Bit pricey but I might as well try to get the most out of the line. Updates on my ISDN installation saga will follow... stay tuned

flamegrill

Originally posted by rymus
well ive ordered it anyway... the dozy beyotch on the phone said "no, sorry you cant carry over your CPS, all your traffic will be diverted back to Eircom". *deep breath and releaaaaase*

I after making her check with a fellow eircom dozy beyotch she came back to me with a speedy apology. Just thought this was a tad topical...

You'll have to re-apply to UTV to get the CPS put back on your ISDN line or at least make them aware of the change so they can monitor it. A few people got nasty frights when they switched over to ISDN last year that were on UTV, 300-400 euro phone bills etc. I know the biddy said it could carry over, that doesn't mean it will. In fact it won't I think, but im not 100% sure as to what will happen. :-)

But just beware/carefull about it :-),

Paul

p.s. Just inform UTV

rymus

Originally posted by flamegrill
You'll have to re-apply to UTV to get the CPS put back on your ISDN line or at least make them aware of the change so they can monitor it.

So will it be 9/10 working days to get the CPS back in working order again or is this a quicker operation? I don't really want to be without the internet for that long *gets the shakes just thinking about it* I was talking to UTV support a few days ago to get their advice and as you said, they just told me to make sure I ring them after the line is in. If eircom screw me on this one and say it's going to take up to 10 days again I will not be a happy chappy

Ba$tard

Rymus, i am in the same boat as you..no DSl for another 18 months.. I am thinking going for ISDN as long as someone can support a dual-channel under a flat rate a/c

Btw.
Some shiny salesboy called round to my front door and said 'suuure, Netsmart allows for dual-channel connection under the one a/c'

Is this true? I thought you could only connect with a single 64k line per netsmart a/c ?

Also, i see in the UTVIP site, it still only allows for a single channel...i was under the impression Martin was going to try something with this?

TIA

Creamy Goodness

don't get a usb modem tbh they ain't as good as internal

Creamy Goodness

Pretty positive netsmart is one line only!

not 100% sure i'd say about 70% certain

Funky

if your planning on gaming alot i wouldnt bother its absolute toss

BArra

cmon bern its way better than 56k, but in the OVERALL picture it is indeed toss

rymus

Originally posted by BArra
cmon bern its way better than 56k, but in the OVERALL picture it is indeed toss

see my overall picture is.. I get
1. 56k
2. ISDN
3. a kick in the head

I could get a leased line but I think my wallet would have a heart attack

Anima

Netsmart is fine for me. Steady 60-80 ping to most servers. Never get disconnected either.

rymus

Ohh all the emotion is getting a bit overwhelming now, this will be my last post from my crappy, pair gained piece of crap POTS phone line. The eircom fella is coming tomorrow to 'upgrade' me to isdn. I also managed to get (at the last minute I'll add) an Eicon Diva USB TA from sharptext in Dublin, nice one sharptext

So it's goodbye 26k, hello 64k... One more post tomorrow with my pings & download speeds and that should wrap up nicely. Just so I can remember what my connection used to be like...

Pinging clarity.jolt.co.uk [195.149.21.11] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=214ms TTL=246
Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=218ms TTL=246
Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=219ms TTL=246
Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=203ms TTL=246

Ping statistics for 195.149.21.11:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 203ms, Maximum = 219ms, Average = 213ms

Downloads : 3 - 3.5kb/sec from download.divx.com


C'mon ISDN

rymus

guilty as charged for dragging up an old thread, but to put this story to bed - I'm now finally on my ISDN connection. It's all a bit here and there, I'm getting pings of approx 113ms to clarity.jolt.co.uk and a download rate of about 5.5k. "hmmmmm" I hear myself saying a lot.

According to http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest I'm now at 53.6k, so just a tad over twice as fast as my old 56k. Im not going to say I'm completely delighted but it's an upgrade all the same.

Dcully

You should be getting better pings IMO.
Im pinging Jolt ,blueyonder servers etc at between 40-90 constant on Battlefield 1942,CS etc.
Download speed is between 7.k-9.k on single channel 64k isdn.

rymus

funny u should say that.. after I'd been on for a while I started getting downloads of 7-9k. pings are still the same tho - approx 113ms

Moriarty

You really should have a better connection than that..

C:\>ping clarity.jolt.co.uk

Pinging clarity.jolt.co.uk [195.149.21.11] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=248
Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=248
Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=248
Reply from 195.149.21.11: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=248

Ping statistics for 195.149.21.11:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 30ms, Maximum =  30ms, Average =  30ms

C:\>

I get a steady 7.3 - 7.5 /ksec download rate.


What terminal adapter are you using?

rymus

an Eicon Diva USB. I was gonna go for an internal but I need the USB for portability and use with my laptop.

Gavin

Originally posted by rymus
an Eicon Diva USB. I was gonna go for an internal but I need the USB for portability and use with my laptop.

Maybe I missed this, but what ISP are you dialing into ?

Gav

rymus

should have included that with the ta post... I'm using UTV 150hours package. I got my laptop back today and after doing a speed test (www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest) I noticed that I'm getting 60/61k on the laptop whereas I was only getting 58/59 on my desktop. pings are still up around the 110ms mark tho

Moriarty

External adapters really murder connnection quality. Invest €30 in an Asus PCI TA, available from komplett. Its recognised as one of the best cards on the market, giving great pings and download rates.

Canaboid

Originally posted by rymus
... I'm using UTV 150hours package.

........and there's your problem. I know UTV have a good rep, but they've known about the ping issue from day one and done nothing about it. Something to do with routing through the UK.

I've given my notice on their service as it doesn't do what I need it to.

Gavin

Yeah, utv don't have good pings. I'm not certain but I don't think they have a connection to Inex. Open to correction on this.

Dial into eircom and see what sort of ping you get.

Gav