rec.autos.simulators

by **David Hensle** » Tue, 22 Feb 2000 04:00:00

Hi all. "Shopping" around for a better/faster internet connection, mostly
for N3. Cable and DSL are unavailable to me where I live, and there are "no
plans at this time" by either local provider to change that. I do however
have access to ISDN through Sprint. My main question is, of course, how is
ISDN for online ***, specifically N3? Is anybody out there using it?
How is your connection, ping times, ect.? Does this mean that the phone is
still useable while online? After being online for over 200 hrs last month
{mostly racing :) } my wife now wants to add a 2cd phone line. Sprint's web
site says ISDN allows for simultaneous voice and data transmission, which
would be a good (and cheaper) alternative.

Thanks in advance,

Dave, Fastdav on WON

by **Dave Henri** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

The big deal about cable or Adsl is hosting. Unless your 56k modem is
really poorly configured and/or your isp is crap, then 56k should be
fine for participating in "most" online races. Keep in mind, the lower
the ping the better not just for you, but the opponents as well.
My cable sometimes is absolutley FABULOUS, but other times it's just
as pokey as a pots modem.
dave henrie

> Hi all. "Shopping" around for a better/faster internet connection, mostly
> for N3. Cable and DSL are unavailable to me where I live, and there are "no
> plans at this time" by either local provider to change that. I do however
> have access to ISDN through Sprint. My main question is, of course, how is
> ISDN for online ***, specifically N3? Is anybody out there using it?
> How is your connection, ping times, ect.? Does this mean that the phone is
> still useable while online? After being online for over 200 hrs last month
> {mostly racing :) } my wife now wants to add a 2cd phone line. Sprint's web
> site says ISDN allows for simultaneous voice and data transmission, which
> would be a good (and cheaper) alternative.

> Thanks in advance,

> Dave, Fastdav on WON

by **Sean Higgin** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

I have ISDN. You have to get special lines run to your house. I have
USWEST and it was 300+ for that plus I bought a $200 ISDN modem, and my line
fees are around $86 a month, plus $40 for the ISP(for ISDN 128k) Now I
know you can sometimes find deals where you get installation breaks like,
free modem or a % off of the setup fee. I do like it, and hardly warp
online, unless it's to a server with more than a 300 ping. Most servers I
see are under 250, but that also depends on your ISP and how they are
connected to the backbone.

--
Sean Higgins

by **Bria** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

The Sprint deal is one of the best you'll find. It's flat rate,
unlimited use, $25 a month more than a regular "POTS" (plain old
telephone service) line. Basically, you get a full 64k on two
channels. If an incoming or outgoing call occurs, the terminal
adapter will drop one channel to handle the call, and you are
reduced to one 64k channel, which is still better than 48k, or
49k, or whatever you're getting with so-called 56k dial-ups. It's
a definite improvement, but it's not a miracle. I think you'll
like it. Don't buy the unit Sprint will try to sell you. Get a
3Com Impact IQ, or, if you have $400 to spare, get the Office
Connect LAN modem.

Dan

intercommunicated:

~Hi all. "Shopping" around for a better/faster internet connection, mostly
~for N3. Cable and DSL are unavailable to me where I live, and there are "no
~plans at this time" by either local provider to change that. I do however
~have access to ISDN through Sprint. My main question is, of course, how is
~ISDN for online ***, specifically N3? Is anybody out there using it?
~How is your connection, ping times, ect.? Does this mean that the phone is
~still useable while online? After being online for over 200 hrs last month
~{mostly racing :) } my wife now wants to add a 2cd phone line. Sprint's web
~site says ISDN allows for simultaneous voice and data transmission, which
~would be a good (and cheaper) alternative.
~
~Thanks in advance,
~
~Dave, Fastdav on WON
~

___

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by **Liutger Franze** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

special lines? you need the normal twisted pair, thats all.

that's pretty expensive! here in germany, you get ISDN (2x64kbps) for
$25 (US) a month (installation about $50). an ISDN card (I recommend AVM
Fritz! PCI) costs about $70 and the connection and ISP costs are the
same as for analog connections.

yep. usually you have about 50-100 ms less ping with ISDN. I am using
ISDN for some years now and played all sorts of games on the internet
and I must say: it's worth it!

Lio

by **Leo Landma** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

> how is ISDN for online ***?

A definite improvement over modems. Since I have ISDN, my pings are
typically between 100 and 220 in GPL. Disconnects are very rare for me.
Ofcourse this depends heavily on the ISP and the quality of the host.
However, for hosting ISDN is no substitute for ADSL. Even a 128K ISDN
line will still allow only 10 cars on most systems. As a client, 64K is
all you need.

Yes, when connected at 64K.
This lowers the domestic drag factor considerably <g>

--
Bye,
Leo

by **Scott B. Huste** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

I am getting my ISDN installed next Tuesday. I paid Bell Atlantic $125 for
installation. No special lines, they just need to connect to the house.

I bought a 3Com TA on Ebay for $170.00

The Bell Atlantic phone package I got is $82 ($84 maybe?) and Earthlink is
$29.95 for unlimited use.
The thing about the $82 bill is I get rid of my 'normal' phone line which is $35
and you also get a second phone line with ISDN so subtract our the cost of my
primary phone line and a secondary phone line and the cost is minimal for ISDN.

The unlimited monthy usage with Bell Atlantic is way too expensive so you have
to be careful because routine local phone calls count towards your monthly
usage. However, long distance and incoming calls do not.

I have DSL and cable available form a few sources, but I am moving in the not
too distant future and I don't want to get locked into a contract, pay for
installatin, etc and then move and find I can't get service there and get
screwed with the contract. So ISDN is my short term fix for a digital
connection <G>

Scott
PA-Scott
PowerSims.com

--
Scott B. Husted
ICQ# 4395450

by **Bill Met** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

Hey Dave,
Everyone else is giving you pretty good advice. The one thing I'd like
to throw in is not to be tempted into giving up your regular phone service
if you get ISDN. ISDN requires "active" termination. Meaning that the
terminal adapter requires its own source of power. If your power goes
out, you have no phone. Not exactly a safe situation in my opinion.

-Bill

>Hi all. "Shopping" around for a better/faster internet connection, mostly
>for N3. Cable and DSL are unavailable to me where I live, and there are "no
>plans at this time" by either local provider to change that. I do however
>have access to ISDN through Sprint. My main question is, of course, how is
>ISDN for online ***, specifically N3? Is anybody out there using it?
>How is your connection, ping times, ect.? Does this mean that the phone is
>still useable while online? After being online for over 200 hrs last month
>{mostly racing :) } my wife now wants to add a 2cd phone line. Sprint's web
>site says ISDN allows for simultaneous voice and data transmission, which
>would be a good (and cheaper) alternative.

--
| "Instead of letting the moon be the
Bill Mette | gateway to our future, we have let
Enteract, Chicago | it become a brief chapter in our

by **Liutger Franze** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

AFAIK ISDN can normally handle one passive device. and: how often does
this happen? I haven't had a single power loss for some years now ...
ok, this is different in the USA, I know ;-)

Lio

by **Matthew B.Knutse** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

Hmm, since I do customer support on ISDN here in Norway among other things,
I'll have to put in a comment here :-)

One of your B-channels will be up even if you have a power failure. For you
to be able to phone without normal power, you'll need an ISDN phone that
does not require a socket to operate, and it can not be an analogue phone
through an adapter.

That means, err...if you have a diesel running up power for your PC, you can
still hang out at Monza:-D

Matt,
GPLEA

>>Hi all. "Shopping" around for a better/faster internet connection, mostly
>>for N3. Cable and DSL are unavailable to me where I live, and there are
"no
>>plans at this time" by either local provider to change that. I do however
>>have access to ISDN through Sprint. My main question is, of course, how
is
>>ISDN for online ***, specifically N3? Is anybody out there using it?
>>How is your connection, ping times, ect.? Does this mean that the phone
is
>>still useable while online? After being online for over 200 hrs last
month
>>{mostly racing :) } my wife now wants to add a 2cd phone line. Sprint's
web
>>site says ISDN allows for simultaneous voice and data transmission, which
>>would be a good (and cheaper) alternative.

>--
> | "Instead of letting the moon be the
>Bill Mette | gateway to our future, we have let
>Enteract, Chicago | it become a brief chapter in our

by **Bill Met** » Wed, 23 Feb 2000 04:00:00

>>Hey Dave,
>> Everyone else is giving you pretty good advice. The one thing I'd like
>>to throw in is not to be tempted into giving up your regular phone service
>>if you get ISDN. ISDN requires "active" termination. Meaning that the
>>terminal adapter requires its own source of power. If your power goes
>>out, you have no phone. Not exactly a safe situation in my opinion.

>>-Bill

>Hmm, since I do customer support on ISDN here in Norway among other things,
>I'll have to put in a comment here :-)

>One of your B-channels will be up even if you have a power failure. For you
>to be able to phone without normal power, you'll need an ISDN phone that
>does not require a socket to operate, and it can not be an analogue phone
>through an adapter.

>That means, err...if you have a diesel running up power for your PC, you can
>still hang out at Monza:-D

What Matt says is correct (of course). Problem is, true ISDN phones are
very very rare in the States. Was I correct in my original thinking? If
you have a regular phone plugged into the "analog" port on your TA, you're
out of luck should the power fail.
I've always liked ISDN as a technology. Lots of people bash it but I
think the only problem is that (in the U.S. at least) carriers tend to
substantially overprice it.
--
| "Instead of letting the moon be the
Bill Mette | gateway to our future, we have let
Enteract, Chicago | it become a brief chapter in our

by **Matthew B.Knutse** » Thu, 24 Feb 2000 04:00:00

>>>Hey Dave,
>>> Everyone else is giving you pretty good advice. The one thing I'd like
>>>to throw in is not to be tempted into giving up your regular phone
service
>>>if you get ISDN. ISDN requires "active" termination. Meaning that the
>>>terminal adapter requires its own source of power. If your power goes
>>>out, you have no phone. Not exactly a safe situation in my opinion.

>>>-Bill

>>Hmm, since I do customer support on ISDN here in Norway among other
things,
>>I'll have to put in a comment here :-)

>>One of your B-channels will be up even if you have a power failure. For
you
>>to be able to phone without normal power, you'll need an ISDN phone that
>>does not require a socket to operate, and it can not be an analogue phone
>>through an adapter.

>>That means, err...if you have a diesel running up power for your PC, you
can
>>still hang out at Monza:-D

> What Matt says is correct (of course). Problem is, true ISDN phones are
>very very rare in the States. Was I correct in my original thinking? If
>you have a regular phone plugged into the "analog" port on your TA, you're
>out of luck should the power fail.
> I've always liked ISDN as a technology. Lots of people bash it but I
>think the only problem is that (in the U.S. at least) carriers tend to
>substantially overprice it.
>--

Yup, originally, you're correct, I'm also beginning to think that you are
using a different Make of TA/NT1 than us (since you have analogue ports).
What happened in Norway was that in the beginning you had a box with two
analogue outlets and one digital (The NT1+ we called it). This setup was
very unstable (some thunder/heavy weather fried it) so the current setup
only has two digital outlets. If you get your line converted to ISDN here
now, you get the new box plus ISDN phone bundled with the subscription (45
for a conversion).
As for quaility etc, I find ISDN very stable, but paying-per-minute is
ancient.....:-)

Norway has the largest rate of ISDN lines compared to subscribers in the
world, simply because it has been dumped out cheaply, and anything else is
hard to get (cable etc).

Now, I'm just waiting for ADSL to become available everywhere...and at a
normal price!
(cost: 500 to set up, starting at 120 per month (!!!))

Wow, look at all the sentences in parenthesis!

:-D

Matt

by **Sean Higgin** » Thu, 24 Feb 2000 04:00:00

It's probably because the house I bought was built around 1956, so they had
to run a new line from pole to the house, and everytime a big truck goes
down the street it rips it off my house. The Dumbasses have it the lowest
line going across the street! lol

--
Sean Higgins

by Da » Thu, 24 Feb 2000 04:00:00

~ I've always liked ISDN as a technology. Lots of people bash it but I
~think the only problem is that (in the U.S. at least) carriers tend to
~substantially overprice it.

That's because of the enormous expense in providing ISDN. The
equipment is v-e-r-y expensive. I had a phone co guy over here the
other day talking about just that.

D
___

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by **Michael Youn** » Thu, 24 Feb 2000 04:00:00

Almost all office phones in the US are ISDN these days. Yes, you're still
out of luck with the analog phone; the TA needs power to convert the digital
line to analog. Even an ISDN phone needs power to work. You're outa luck
without backup power. For me, it's not a real issue, as I have cellular for
backup.

ISDN suffices for now, but I'll be overjoyed to replace it with DSL. Cable
modems in my area still use the phone line for outbound traffic.

Michael.

rec.autos.simulators

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