> What about using ISDN BRI? I know that ISDN-BRI has fallen out of > favor for data, and that the LEC's provide the service (2B + 1D), but > do they really support it? > This would seem to bridge the gap between POTS and a T1 (23 or 24 B + > 1D) or ISDN-BRI (23B + 1D). > Who on this list has real-world experience with a small set (say 4-6) > of ISDN-BRI's into the KX-TD1232?
Been there and done that. ISDN BRI is an especially good idea in Texas due to the consumer-friendly "ISDN Anywhere" policy of the major ILECs. I have only run into 1 location, in Hockley, Texas, where ISDN BRI could not be provided due to loop length. SBC/SWB has been known to use mid-span repeaters, TotalReach(tm) hardware or delivery via BRITE cards in an SLC, if needed. The upside is much-improved transmission quality, high connect speeds for attached analog modems and almost instantaneous call completion when calling stored System or Station Speed Dial numbers since call setup info is sent as D-Channel packets and not as DTMF. The downside is the occasional annoying talker echo experienced by users of the BRI-connected system, due to the 28ms or so latency inherent in U-Loop delivered BRIs. Though annoying or confusing to some, the echo does not affect intelligibility as it is not heard by the distant party and does not affect the distant party's speech. It is only the local user's own speech that is heard, slightly delayed (approx. 28ms), on calls to distant parties on 2-wire circuits with less than ideal hybrid balance. On calls to distant parties who are digitally connected to the network, the echo is not heard. PRI ISDN does not have this problem, however. I also recall that there was an issue with assigned telephone numbers not being "hard mapped" to line buttons but instead, each pair of line buttons would float between the 2 telephone numbers assigned to the associated BRI. Also, hunting had to be accomplished by means of Call-Forward Busy from each number to the next in the desired sequence. Still worked out to be slightly less costly than doing the same thing with conventional hunting analog POTS lines. Tariffs vary considerably from LEC to LEC and from state to state so, of course, YMMV. -- Jay Thomas jaytr@hal(dash)pc.org _________________________________________________________________ KX-T Mailing list --- http://kxthelp.com/ Subscription changes: http://kxthelp.com/mailman/listinfo/kxt
