Survey

ISDN at Home in the U.S.

According to the results of a survey taken on BYTE's Web site ( http://www.byte.com ), U.S. residents are almost twice as likely to use ISDN exclusively at home than in the rest of the world, where use is distributed more evenly across home, work, or both. The reason: When you can get it in the U.S., one-time installation fees and monthly access charges are lower than in the rest of the world, which in this survey consisted primarily of residents in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Spain. For example, 48 percent of respondents in the U.S. can get ISDN installation for less than $100, while only 31 percent of the rest of the world can do so. Hourly ISDN rates are also generally lower in the U.S. ( see the figure ).

So why aren't more U.S. businesses using ISDN? Comments from survey respondents suggest that installation woes or fear thereof may be the cause. In some regions, getting ISDN installed still involve s many phone calls and configuration hassles. U.S. businesses weighing the higher bandwidth and potentially higher support costs of ISDN versus lower bandwidth and support costs of plain old telephone service may opt for the latter solution.

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Where ISDN Is Used

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Hourly Tariff

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