Subject: ISDN and the last few hundred feet From: jvncnet!world.std.com!ddern (Daniel P Dern) Date: Thu, 27 Oct 1994 13:52:36 -0400

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Rex Ballard said...
> The telcos have been trying to wire "the last quarter mile" for about 15
> years now.  They are now down to "the last hundred feet".  The biggest
> problem is that you need a $200 "Feature phone" instead of the $20 analog
> phone.  Then you need an ISDN CSU to get to the telco.  The telco has to
> replace your 2 wire link with a 4 wire link.

So I called NYNEX, and asked about ISDN, and they gave me an 800 number,
who took my call, and sent me out literature, and said that my town CO
had ISDN, but they had to know where I lived and see if I was within
3 (wire?) miles of the CO, which is the limit of service due to signal
attenuation.  I got a packet of cheapjack copy literature and no useful
info re what CPE I'd need, cost, or whether I could still use my existing
POTS stuff with it; then we determined they can't provision where I live.

Gosh, it's a tough race between Windows95 and ISDN.  Internet-in-a-box
finally made it out, MecklerWeb's come and gone, IPng is on its way,
OSI is dead... ISDN has come close enough to hoot and hollar at me,
but won't come to dinner.  Fooey.

Daniel Dern (ddern@world.std.com) Internet analyst, writer, pundit & gadfly
 (617) 969-7947 FAX: (617) 969-7949  Snail: PO Box 309 Newton Centre MA 02159
 Author, The Internet Guide For New Users (McGraw-Hill, 1993) 
  See gopher://gopher.dern.com:2200 (a.k.a. "Dern" area on gopher.internet.com)
  for info on book and stuff like my  "We've Grepped a Little List" song, etc.
      "I'm not only a client, I'm also a server..."

From jvncnet!marketplace.com!owner-online-news Tue Nov  8 18:13:55 1994