said by Endymion_ :

Okay I have been googling around for a while now but not found anything in the way of satisfactory information on IDSL.

I've recently set up a new ISDN line at my mother's place and it's working well, but through this I had been wondering if IDSL were the way to go instead. I had already asked AT&T (no longer Bellsouth) about IDSL and the person who took my ISDN order had never heard of it before. So I went ahead and ordered ISDN instead.

I understand that IDSL is a tad faster, and that it uses both B-Channels as well as the D-Channel to accomplish this. That means no telephone use over the same line, however, the always-on, no-dial nature of IDSL is still appealing to me. Now that I actually have an ISDN line to my location, can I now get IDSL? How can I go about doing this if so? As I am guessing, AT&T will be of no help--I was actually speaking to an ISDN worker who mentioned he had never heard of IDSL by the way, just an fyi as I already know that the rest of AT&T does not seem to know that ISDN even exists. What kind of cost difference would I be looking at for ISDN? Would the cost of the line and the ISP access be split, or from the same entity? It is a little confusing and as I can't find anyone to even ask about giving me this service I'm more than clueless. Thanks for any info.

said by Squidii :

One of the little independent phone companies ( cyber.. something ) supposedly offered IDSL out of my CO, so I called and asked. He explained I was to far away for it. To which I said, but, I have ISDN, I'm pretty sure that is the requirement, then he said, "Oh, no, IDSL works differently it uses high frequencies and you have to have filters..".

So, good luck. I've yet to find anyone who knew what I was talking about.

said by wierdo :

It does work differently.

It can't be provisioned through a SLC like regular ISDN,

and IIRC it can't use ISDN repeaters.

It's better than ADSL because it's good out to at least 18kft, often much farther.

said by ATTek :

Not really
Yes it can
Yes it can

Much further...because it can run through the same equipment as ISDN. In the west we (Bell) never installed these for end users. Covad normally leases these from us and resells them. As far as the Telco is concerned, it's an ISDN that doesn't terminate on our office equipment.

said by wierdo :

It does work differently.

It can't be provisioned through a SLC like regular ISDN

and IIRC it can't use ISDN repeaters. It's better than ADSL because it's good out to at least 18kft, often much farther.

said by robbin :

I'm curious about this. Let's say that I am 35,000 feet from the CO but there is no DSL provider there who will provision ISDL. However another 35,000 feet of so to the second or third CO away there is a provider. Can I get ISDL?