ISDN: Operators Standing By

For most people in the United States, ISDN is becoming a fairly easily available option. There are finally people at the local phone company who won't say "What?" when you mention ISDN. Some form of service is available for most locations, especially around cities. And prices are descending into reasonable reach.

ISDN availability and cost do vary widely from place to place. Surprisingly, most addresses already have the four wires required to carry ISDN service: The phone company, in its farsighted wisdom, routinely installs four wires to an address, even though ordinary phone service requires only two. In New York and New England, NYNEX provides "local" access (for those whose local telephone office -- within 3 miles -- is wired for ISDN already), "virtual" access (which routes ISDN through a suitably wired non-local-but-nearby office), and "special assembly" access (for everyone else). In Massachusetts, a local residential conne ction will cost $100 to $150 to install and $25 per month; a commercial connection is $200 to $250 and $36 per month. Non-local access costs much more. The first minute of each local call is as little as 2.6 cents, and each remaining minute is 1.6 cents ($1 per hour). NYNEX representatives say business is "brisk."

In California, Pacific Bell's rates are similar. Local calls outside business hours are free to residential users, and PacBell waives the installation fee if the service continues for more than two years. Representatives say business is booming and equipment prices are falling.

The connection from the ISDN line to your computer is through an ISDN card. These cards are available from vendors including 3Com, Hayes, IBM, ISDN Systems, IS DN*tek, Motorola, Zyxel, and Promptus Communications . Street prices are generally in the $300 to $1000 range. "ISDN is becoming the method of choice for Internet access, given its direct digital connectivity and rapidly increasing availability," says David C. Marble, director of marketing for Promptus. "The availability of the two switched 64-Kbps lines themselves and of ISDN communications devices [PC cards and stand-alone devices] is making this a hot transport technology for the Internet."

With ISDN becoming such a widely available option, we'll have to start saying "It's a Simple Decision Now."

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Multiline BRI ISDN Card

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Promptus Communications offers ISDN cards with a variety of features for servers and standalone computers, including this Multiline BRI ISDN card.