Alternative Connections

[Jonathan Hutchins]

On Tuesday 09 December 2003 02:49 pm, Leo J Mauler wrote:

> However, the guy in Costa Rica who has no access to cable modem broadband
> nor to DSL service is unlikely to have access to ISDN either.  Which is
> why I was talking in terms of the POTS, not ISDN.

> Now the primary ISP for Costa Rica (VPM) does list ISDN as a service...

Generally you'll find that ISDN had a lot better market penetration outside 
the U.S. than it did here.  Lots of the FIDO BBSs in Europe used it, because 
the European Telco's priced it reasonably, while U.S. companies tried to make 
a killing off of it as a new technology.

One of the problems with getting an ISDN link around here was that you not 
only had to pay for your own ISDN line, modem, and service, but you usually 
had to pay your ISP a similar amount, as he had to pretty much dedicate an 
ISDN line to you.  There were far fewer ISDN users to spread the load on, and 
they generally wanted a much higher percentage of connect time.

> doesn't ISDN have the same "your house must be located close enough to X
> connection office" requirement that cable/DSL have?

It may have some distance limits, but I've never run into them.  I think all 
you need is two free, non-multiplexed pair of lines.

At ~128K bidirectional, it's actually a better service than Greg's Cable 
Modem, so he might want to look into it as an alternative, either at his new 
"remote" location or at the "base" location where he may eventually connect 
his wireless link.