Re: SEUL: re: Linux ISDN

[Robert Hopcroft <hopcroft@uswest.net>]

"Pete St. Onge" wrote:

>      On one hand, ISDN appears (at least in the West) not to be terribly
> economical. That said, there may be some merit to fostering (not
> necessarily coordinating) the development of drivers for these
> peripherals. On the other hand, as technology in other areas develops,
> what is the likelihood that DSL infrastructure will be more easily set
> up than ISDN (I don't know; I'd appreciate being set straight here).
>

Pete,
Here is a try at answering your question. First a little background. The
phone companies have a hugh base of installed wire that they have long ago
paid for and want to continue using as long as possible. For example the
wire that comes to our place has been there for at least 50 years. The
wires spread out from the Central Office (CO) in cables containing 50 wires
(25 pairs). If any one of these pairs is used for ISDN, none of the
remaining pairs in the cable can be used for DSL. Thus the phone company
discourages the installation of ISDN. Why is DSL more important to the
phone company than ISDN? The phone companies are now entering a struggle
for survival with the cable companies as the cable companies upgrade their
equipment for bidirectional information flow. The cable companies will be
able to offer digital TV, high speed internet, and phone service. To
compete the phone companies are offering high speed internet access
utilizing DSL with digital TV to follow. For example, our local phone
company is currently testing VDSL to provide 120 channel digital TV and
data over the existing phone wires. Thus no easy ISDN. I hope this helps
and feel free to ask more questions. I have been following this for a
number of years and have amassed a pile of information.

Bob