Can I get ISDN, and what would it cost?

Dan_G_2

Hi! I know for sure that the lines to my house won't be upgraded to carry true BB for a long while yet, and it has been brought to my attention that I may be able to get ISDN. What should I do to see if I can get it, and how can I start the procedure of getting it?

Most importantly, how much will it cost? At the minute we surf on very slow dial-up for £8.50 a month. How much more will it be, and would it be worth it?

Thanks in advance!

ManAtHome

BT Home Highway is probably the widest ISDN available http://www.bt.com/homehighway/ From memory, you get 2 64kbps lines (these can be bridged to give 128kbps) and an analogue phone line. There was an installation charge, monthly or quarterly line charges, and also call charges - wasn't a bad deal in the early days of t'internet but things may well have changed since then. Note that if you can go broadband in future, there could be an extra cost to revert back to a normal line (although you may get a deal on BT broadband).

Hunnymonster

Regardless of any startup costs (I think it's £99 startup from memory) the ongoing line rental is approx 2.4x a single line - so around £26 a month - and it costs to get it deconverted when ADSL comes along too (another £99 TYVM).

For that £26 a month, you get 2 lines that can be used as a 64k ISDN channel or an analogue line - with 3 phone numbers (1 for each analogue number and 1 for the ISDN). You can use it as 1 analogue line + 1 ISDN, 2 analogue lines, or 2 ISDN lines - but you can't use any more than 2 channels at any one time.

Not all ISPs allow bonding the 2 x 64k channels either - and you'd be paying for your ISP on top of all the above. If DSL isn't coming for 'years' it might be worth it - but if it's closer I'd not bother myself (I had ISDN at home long before Home Highway came along and many many moons before ADSL came along).

If you do go for it - try to find an ISP that supports STAC9 compression go for that as it makes a huge difference (a 128k connection with STAC9 gives a (relatively) lovely browsing experience - compared to dial up at least)

mrJ_5

could always use satelitte broadband instead - so fast download stream - but you still need dialup for the upload stream

gavinp

If ADSL and cable are not an option, perhaps one of the wireless ISPs are an option ?

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/broadband/wire.shtml

I've had Home Highway and Satellite in the past - HH is VERY expensive for what you get and seems to be a license to print money for BT basically.

Satellite is OKish - faster than dialup for web browsing but useless for pretty much anything else. Two-way satellite is expensive and suffers from latency problems - one-way uses dialup or ISDN to send outbound data.

Whereabouts in the country are you ?

Thanks

Gavin

martinpike

Try a few ISP's for broadband. My uncle (who works for BT, ironically) lives on a hill in a village, and his line is a wire from a telepgraph pole. BT surveyed it and said no BB service. He applied to Wanadoo, who said yes, and hey presto, he's now got BB.

Don't ask me the technicals, I don't know.

GeoThermal

I was reading earlier that Home Highway is being discontinued for new customers this week on 5th September, so if you want it you will have to be quick.

Dan_G_2

I spoke to some of my mates who live in the surrounding area tonight and they have BB, so it seems that we may well be able to get it.

Where do I go now?

Hunnymonster

Try Sam Knows - He's probably forgotten more information than most people ever knew on the subject.

mah_jong

Have you tried somehere like this to check

availablity?http://www.bt.com/broadband/

We have known for ages that we would get it this year..... and we did about a month ago!