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Thanks for the info, Andy.
<p>That answered it all.
<br>Now I have to talk myself into swallowing about $110 per month
in fees.
<br>Plus a lot in up front costs.
<p>Paul
<br>
<p>andy@theasis.com wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>> While looking for a new ISP, I discovered that
cost of ISDN is quite a
<br>> bit lower.
<p>Lower than what?
<p>> I live far from town. There is no DSL, no cable. This
is my cheapest
<br>> alternative to 56K.
<p>I have a similar problem. I'm in Ham Lake. Even tho DSL and cable are
<br>nearby, there are infrastructure problems. I've been using ISDN for
about
<br>4 years. This year I got a second line, and so actually am
<br>multihomed. This allows for some fun with the firewall/router.
<p>> A couple of questions if anyone else has an ISDN hookup.
<br>>
<br>> 1) What exactly do I have to get from Qworst?
<p>Think of all Internet service as comprised of 2 pieces: the circuit
and
<br>the IP bandwidth.
<p>You must get the ISDN circuit from Qwest (probably no
<br>alternatives). That's the part that costs $69/month, plus fees, which
<br>comes to about $82. They also charge you $110 for installation.
<p>Once you have that, you could connect through any ISP who has ISDN
<br>service. The bad news is that this is more expensive for the ISP than
DSL,
<br>since they pretty much have to dedicate a line to each customer.
<p>Qwest is about the cheapest option, but it's worth looking around in
your
<br>area. They charge about $30/month for unlimited usage at 128k. If you
want
<br>static IP, they make you pay $14.95/month for a /29. Maybe also a $25
<br>hookup fee.
<p>> Do they string a new line?
<p>Yes
<p>> Can I use my current phone line?
<p>No
<p>But ISDN is 2 64k channels, so if you get a router with a POTS port,
you
<br>can plug a regular phone into that, maybe making it possible to get
rid of
<br>your current phone line. Just about any modern router will allow incoming
<br>phone calls to bring down a data channel automatically.
<p>> Do I have to pay them a monthly fee in addition to the ISP?
<p>See above.
<p>> 2) Is it really faster.
<p>Yeah, I really do get 128k/s on many things on the qwest link. Other
<br>advantages are 24/7 uptime without getting an extra phone line.
<p>> I don't mind paynig extra if I get 128K, but
<br>> I don't see any mention of that on the
<br>> Qworst site. Just 64K. Can only certain locations
get 128K and the
<br>> rest get 64K?
<p>That sounds odd to me. There's no reason to limit it based on the circuit,
<br>since it is inherently 2-channel. Many ISPs charge you per channel
for
<br>bandwidth, though, because it uses more of their resources. I haven't
<br>found qwest to do this.
<p>> The ISP web pages quote 64/128K prices but is it as simple as paying
<br>> more to get the 128K?
<p>Now which ISP are you talking about? If qwest is doing that, then it
<br>is a different policy than they use elsewhere.
<p>> Or does my phone line need to checked?
<p>There are distance and line quality considerations. Relevance depends
on
<br>where you live.
<p>> 3) Is any old ISDN modem adeqaute for dial-up service?
<p>Get an ISDN Router, an external box, and make sure it has POTS ports.
<p>> Some are $200, some are $300. What is $300 buying me?
<p>Something brand new and shiny, I guess.
<p>> There is a $195 USR ISDN modem at mwave.com. Says its the replacement
<br>> for the
<br>> 3COM Impact IQ modem, which seemed to be quite populare on google.
<br>> That would seem to be enough, no?
<p>That would probably be enough, tho I'm not familiar with that model.
<p>If you go to Ebay, you can find
<br> Lucent (Ascend) Pipeline
P75 or P80
<br> Cisco 804
<br> NetGear RT328/348
<br> Zyxel P100
<p>All of which will go for ~$100, perhaps well under, except the Cisco.
They
<br>are easy to configure. The cisco is more involved, but has the benefit
of
<br>using IOS, in case you want to talk to real routers.
<p>> 4) Any other costs I'm overlooking?a
<p> Hardware
<br> Circuit (installation &
monthly)
<br> Bandwith (monthly)
<br> Your Time
<p>That's pretty much it.
<br>Good luck
<p>Andy
<br>
<br><a href="https://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list"></a> </blockquote>
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