Endymion_
join:2002-09-28
Walls, MS
| reply to Endymion_
Re: Got ISDN covered--IDSL?
Yeah that guy was surely speaking of generic DSL. I don't know much about IDSL specifics but using an ISDN line it does not have those limitations--nor does it need filters. Another recent thread here someone mentioned they had IDSL through isomedia.com so I may give them a call, but I am still just looking for information on it at this point, if I could hear from someone who actually has experience with it that would be nice for some solid info on who supplies the line, etc. If it were only me involved I might be fine with just ISDN, however using the router to check connections, bring up the line, etc. while simple tasks, are things my mother would rather not do. If IDSL were as inexpensive as ISDN is in my area it might be worth it for the always-on experience to her to just get a POTS landline for phone and IDSL on the other. |
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robbin
Premium,MVM
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX
| said by Endymion_  :If it were only me involved I might be fine with just ISDN, however using the router to check connections, bring up the line, etc. while simple tasks, are things my mother would rather not do. Once you have everything properly configured your mother shouldn't have to do anything she wouldn't normally. If the router is set up properly, it is transparent. The router does the work -- your mother just checks her email, opens explorer, etc. |
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Endymion_
join:2002-09-28
Walls, MS
| robbin: You are right--to use her computer? It all works transparently. It all works transparently to use her telephone also. But, that is when it works--although both the phone jack from the wall as well as the electrical line from the mains to the router are running through a battery backup, storms and such have caused weirdness that scrambled the router before. A time or two I had to plug up another router to get the circuit to "reset" itself somehow, as just restarting the router was not solving the issue. Now, this is not a problem for me to do. I could manage it all day, every day, if I needed to. But as I'm not living there, what I can do is not exactly what is under consideration, it's about eliminating problems for someone who is a lot less technical minded than I. My mother is more of a mind that she could just live without the world wide web or email services til things fix themselves or til I come around to sort out her issues. However, this won't do when she has to rely on the same equipment just to have a working phone in the house, I hope you are starting to understand. 
Just having an always-on for only the computer would be a big no-nonsense help in this instance.
tshcmidt: Thanks for a very enlightening and informative post, this is good to know as IDSL seems to be even more difficult to get concrete information on than ISDN. It may be a bust from the outset but at least now I am armed with some information to ask for.  |
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robbin
Premium,MVM
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX
| My mom is the same way -- but dsl can have just as many problems and reset issues as isdn. When I first got my isdn line I had problems on a regular basis. I haven't had any problems with it in years now. Granted I currently only use it for telephone since I got my T1, but isdn can be trouble-free. It may take the Telco a little while to get the line stable, but once it is I doubt she will have many problems. |
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Endymion_
join:2002-09-28
Walls, MS
| said by robbin :My mom is the same way -- but dsl can have just as many problems and reset issues as isdn. When I first got my isdn line I had problems on a regular basis. I haven't had any problems with it in years now. Granted I currently only use it for telephone since I got my T1, but isdn can be trouble-free. It may take the Telco a little while to get the line stable, but once it is I doubt she will have many problems. I appreciate your confidence, but it's not been our experience, sorry. You're absolutely right that it should be problem free, but is it? Unfortunately, not always, like right now for instance. |
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robbin
Premium,MVM
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX
| I have had ISDN for over ten years. The first couple were not trouble free, but once they got all of the line issues fixed it has been. Sorry to hear you are continuing to have problems, but from experience I can state that it can be just as good as any other type of Internet connection. |
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Endymion_
join:2002-09-28
Walls, MS
| said by robbin :I have had ISDN for over ten years. The first couple were not trouble free, but once they got all of the line issues fixed it has been. Sorry to hear you are continuing to have problems, but from experience I can state that it can be just as good as any other type of Internet connection. And I had ISDN for a few years at the same location, mostly problem free. Another issue is that not only is it not free of problems, but that even when it is problem free? My mother has never quite been able to understand the concept of "logging in" to ISDN, or making "a dialup connection" with her ISDN router. I'm not kidding. Try as I might, she does not seem to grok the process, and I can't blame her. She doesn't really care how it works, only that it does work, and even when it operates properly, she still doesn't understand it. This hampers her ability to just use it effectively.
To give you a for-instance here, when "her internet is down?" She's never understood that the problem just could be that the local ISP isn't answering the modem line. The fix is easy, just select one of the other numbers I've already set up in the OCLM, I've got four for the same ISP all in there, each a distinct number. But it's a router, not a modem, she never hears a dialtone, or a weird analogue noise as it connects. So I guess she's never assocated the fact that it operates just like dialup, no matter how many ways I've attempted to explain this to her.
This isn't entirely a problem, but it's caused other problems that just shouldn't happen. Like what? Well like her calling AT&T to complain that "my ISDN isn't working!" When the real problem is that the local ISP number it's dialing to is just busy that day. This has also worked in the opposite direction--when she has had a real actual problem with the ISDN line to the point of not having a dial tone on her phones, she didn't call AT&T to complain about it when she should have, because I explained to her last time that it was just a busy day at the ISP. Even though that's got nothing to do with her voice calls.
At the end of the day, with no direct user intervention required to use an always-on IDSL in a similar manner to conventional DSL, she would be in a much better no-nonsense situation. This day-to-day management and the problem solving sensibility that comes with it is just not in her area. |
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robbin
Premium,MVM
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX | Sounds like you just need a better ISP. |
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