Calling all ISDNers

[~Lazarus~]

Guys,

Just found out that, if I do change to ISDN, the ISP I am with just now (NTLWORLD) does not allow ISDN access for residential uses.

Anyone else know of a GOOD ISP which allows ISDN acess and has a good level of service?

This applies to the UK (the best bit - up the top called Scotland)

 

[throdgrain]

M8 I ve had isdn for a couple of years and have always used to std bt 15.99 jobbie. It works fine for 80% of the time, then I have a per per minute dial up for them nasty times
If you cant get dsl or whatever ISDN is a good alternative, and so much better then 56K its just not true.
Dunno if it'l help ya cs play tho

 

[cosmos]

I have had ISDN for +2yrs and um, for pings BT sucks ;> Infact I had lots of problems with it. I think performance for BT's ISP depends on your area because I have seen other people on the same isp with half my ping (im in glasgow)

I use Freeserve, infact my brother and I are both using the same anytime package and have 2 pc's connected at the same time even though Freeserve requires CLID. The duel 64k lines have the same phone number ;> nice scam that they havent picked up on yet

56 more pre-reg's and my exchange will be ADSL enabled. No point in ISDN unless you are a hardcore gamer and will NEVER get ADSL/Cable.

 

[dysfunction]

I think poor old Laz is in an area that doesnt support ADSL/Cable at this time...

 

[~Lazarus~]

Originally posted by dysfunction
I think poor old Laz is in an area that doesnt support ADSL/Cable at this time...

ADSL ?

you have 4 choices where I stay :

1. 2 cans and string
2. Carrier Pigeon
3. 56K
4. ISDN

We are not even close with the numbers to upgrade to ADSL

 

[kanonfodda]

I use Claranet for ISDN, £14.99 a Month, gives you free call 24/7 and 120hrs a month (4hrs a day). they have a 10:1 contention ratio on the Modems.

I have only ever had two problems, which were solved within 30mins with a call to their support people.

All in all, a very good service

 

[Will]

4 hours a day online?

I'd get withdrawl.

 

[~Lazarus~]

Originally posted by kanonfodda
I use Claranet for ISDN, £14.99 a Month, gives you free call 24/7 and 120hrs a month (4hrs a day). they have a 10:1 contention ratio on the Modems.

I have only ever had two problems, which were solved within 30mins with a call to their support people.

All in all, a very good service

Looks attractive kannon. However, they do limit ISDN to 64k - and with the 120 hours limit per month, it might be a bit "tight"

Thanks for the info tho.

 

[Gumbo]

I'm with Claranet too, but i went for their business user 25 quid a month. There is no usage limit, beyond saying this is not meant to be an always on service.

I was with BT, and pings and service were great, but when they limited usage I had to change.

 

[~Lazarus~]

Originally posted by Gumbo
I'm with Claranet too, but i went for their business user 25 quid a month. There is no usage limit, beyond saying this is not meant to be an always on service.

I was with BT, and pings and service were great, but when they limited usage I had to change.

Does the £25 only include internet charges or does it include any phone charges?

 

[Wilier]

Originally posted by ~Lazarus~


ADSL ?

you have 4 choices where I stay :

1. 2 cans and string
2. Carrier Pigeon
3. 56K
4. ISDN

We are not even close with the numbers to upgrade to ADSL

you think you have problems.

I can get option 1 to 3, but not 4.

If I shout real loud, does that help at all?

 

[Gumbo]

No Phone charges, but BT do charge you a whacking subscription to have ISDN.

I'm probably connected for 10-15 hours a day, and so far (2 months or so), Clara seem quite happy with that usage.

 

[xane]

Check out Plus.Net, they have some good FRIACO based products, the Connect Standard service is £15/month for 40 hours/week.

For a "no frills" service go for V21

 

[NaveT]

BT Anytime for my ISDN, although I can only access it at 64k. I am yet to find an ISP that allows me to connect at 128k with no call charges.

 

[kanonfodda]

Originally posted by ~Lazarus~


Does the £25 only include internet charges or does it include any phone charges?

as far as I know, the business account is the same as the home user account (the package I have) but without the online time limit. Although there is a 5:1 contention ratio on this service, and they do state that if you exceed this, they may request you opt for a higher package or change to ADSL

From Claranet Website
The Freetime Anytime Business service is not intended to be a permanent connection and each modem is shared between 5 customers. If your usage is significantly higher than your one fifth allocation, over a period of at least a month, and it is affecting the service of other customers you will be contacted and asked to reduce your online time or to consider an Adsl service. Freetime Anytime Business has a fair usage policy of a total of 360 hours a month, based on an average daily usage of 12 hours.

They also do a business connection for £99 per annun, but this is at local call rates.

Although the limit of 120 hrs per month seems quite low, I still have not reached it, and that is with a LAN party hosted at my place for 4 days, with the connection on all the time

Hope this is helpful laz

 

[xane]

Originally posted by NaveT
BT Anytime for my ISDN, although I can only access it at 64k. I am yet to find an ISP that allows me to connect at 128k with no call charges.

Why do you need 128k ?

AFAIK the unmetered 128k (dual-bonded 64k) is not supported by BT FRIACO schemes, so no matter what the ISP you can't get it. I believe this restriction can be bypassed on certain ISPs by having two seperate accounts, and there is certainly software that will allow some similar to dual-bonding using any two dial-up lines.

 

[~Lazarus~]

Originally posted by xane


Why do you need 128k ?

cos Im a greedy bastid?

Seriously, One of the things Im trying to get my boss to agree to is working from home.

In doing so, i will need all of the capacity I can get

 

[Wilier]

Originally posted by ~Lazarus~


cos Im a bastid?

Seriously......

Nuff said.

 

[xane]

One thing to note about 128k is that it is not "faster", it is simply more bandwidth. The result is your ping is unlikely to improve under 128k, although download speeds will effectively double, from around 7-7.5K/sec to 14-15K/sec, but this is only really applicable to large downloads, normal browsing is an insigificant improvement.

A good analogy is a motorway, to improve the number of cars passing a certain point you can either make them go faster or add more lanes, 128k ISDN is the latter solution.

128k often falls short on expectations, unless you have a very good download site you wont get 15K/sec anyway, in my experience (just over 3 years on Home Highway), there was no real advantage in 128k, especially when unmetered connections came out.

I would forgoe 128k in favour of a reliable ISP any day.

 

[NaveT]

Why do you need 128k ?

because, i wish quicker downloads.