Even today's moderate Internet user is finding that 56kbps analog modems simply don't possess enough horsepower to satisfy their needs. DSL is not available everywhere, or is just not stable enough. Fiercely competitive and often unrealistic pricing from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) has resulted in an over sold service which often provides poor quality and performance to end-users. Fortunately, consumers now have a number of good choices when it comes to the type of connectivity, hardware, and ISPs available. We at NetIn.com have researched the choices and have determined a solution that we believe will best suit even the most demanding customer's needs.
The core technology behind our recommendations is ISDN. In the following discussion, we'll explain:
Let's start with the reasons we feel ISDN is the smart Internet consumers choice.
ISDN is a technology which fits nicely in today's Internet market. It's a reasonably priced alternative for those who are ready to upgrade from today's 33.6 or 56kbps modems. ISDN's attributes make great sense for today's home-office user, serious Internet users, and users wishing to access network-based audio/video technologies.
The standard ISDN service offering for an individual or small business (known as a BRI) consists of two 64 kbps data channels and a 16 kbps signaling channel. The two data channels can be combined for a total throughput of 128 kbps. When compared with today's 28.8 modem's, this is more than a 400 percent bandwidth increase. Better yet, actual performance increases are typically in the neighborhood of 550 percent.* This increased bandwidth allows you to make better use of your time spent online. And it realistically opens up the world of networked audio and video: teleconferencing and networked multimedia applications become accessible and useable to the ISDN user.
Analog modem connection negotiations are slow. Typically it takes at least 30 seconds to dial up, negotiate, and connect to a server. In contrast, ISDN connections occur in less than two seconds. This allows ISDN equipment to add advanced features such as dial-on-demand and bandwidth-on-demand which allow much more efficient use of both user and ISP equipment. These features are not feasible for analog modems as they would cause unacceptable delays.
As previously mentioned, the two 64 kbps ISDN channels can be bonded together to provide a single 128 kbps link. However, they can also be used as two separate 64 kbps lines. The two channels can be used either for digital data (i.e., connecting to your ISDN provider) or converted to an analog line and used with your POTS telephone, fax machine, etc.
There are some unique advantages to having two phone lines available. For instance, the ability to connect to two separate sources allows working from home on one 64k channel while connected to your Internet Service Provider on the other. Or if you're using both channels and then need to make (or receive) a phone call while downloading files or surfing the Web, your 128k connection can automatically drop to one line (64k) while you make your call or receive a fax, and then renegotiate back up to two lines after you hangup. (This feature of renegotiating back up is not available in all ISDN equipment - see Comparing ISDN Equipment for more info.)
Moving to ISDN is a bit more expensive than upgrading your analog modem - but not much more and the benefits make it worthwhile. There are three basic costs associated with moving to ISDN:
Monthly phone rates for ISDN are typically in the $50-$60 per month range in the D/FW area. (Check with your local phone company for exact prices). It's possible to replace your current phone line or lines with an ISDN-based environment to handle all your voice and data needs. If you already have two lines and are moving to a pure ISDN solution, you can actually reduce your monthly phone bill.
Startup costs for ISDN vary. There's an installation charge from the phone company and the cost to purchase an ISDN "modem", more accurately known as terminal adapter (TA). TAs start at around $200 - but keep reading if you want to find out why we recommend spending a bit more to save money in the long run. Installation charges in the D/FW area start around $50 and go up - often this depends upon the length of your ISDN commitment.
Internet access for ISDN is available at reasonable rates. Rates in the D/FW area, begin as low as $20/mo for a 64 kbps line and go up from there. However, we strongly recommend you check into what you're getting and not choose your provider solely on price.
Unlike other high-speed technologies which are either just coming out or aren't yet available to the general public, ISDN is available now and affordable. It's a proven technology whose time has come.
Recent technological innovations allow networking devices to be much smarter about connectivity. Service such as dial-on-demand and bandwidth-on-demand drastically reduce user connect times while improving performance. A customer who is able to take advantage of these services allows an ISP to provide better services with less equipment. These savings can then be passed on to customers.
Dial-on-demand is the capability to dynamically establish and terminate connections based upon the need to transfer data. This means users with dial-on-demand services don't use an ISP's resources unless they are actively sending or receiving data. If necessary, customers are able to configure timeout lengths to optimize their particular type of usage. With ISDN's immediate connect times, dial-on-demand works seamlessly behind the scenes - the user never realizes when connections and disconnections are occurring.
There are two forms of dial-on-demand. The one-way variety dials and disconnects from the customer-side based upon customer outgoing traffic. Two-way dial-on-demand allows outgoing and incoming traffic to bring up or down a connection. This reduces the need to poll for email or other data and allows customers to connect to their computers from remote sites without requiring a dedicated connection. Equipment supporting two-way dial-on-demand has security features which can be used to restrict incoming calls.
Here is more information on two way dial on demand.
The one-way variety of dial-on-demand is also available via software on some platforms. On Unix, the application diald performs the same basic functionality as the one-way dial-on-demand we have described.
Bandwidth-on-demand is the ability to dynamically adjust the number of ISDN channels in use based upon the current network traffic load. For individuals users, this typically means the ability to switch between one and two channels (64kbps and 128kbps) as the need arises. Large file transfers will use both channels, while only one channel will remain connected during small transfers or interactive sessions where little data is being transferred. Most current equipment is capable of using both data channels and negotiating down to one channel should an incoming call come in. The better equipment on the market is also able to switch back to two channels after the call is completed.
As previously mentioned, an ISDN terminal adapter can be purchased for around $200 nowadays. However, many of the technological benefits available to ISDN customers are not supported by this cheaper equipment.
There are three basic choices of ISDN equipment available:
Each has it's own set of advantages and disadvantages which we've summarized below:
These devices are similar in size and functionality to an external analog modem. They connect via a serial port using the RS-232 protocol to talk to the computer.
Advantages:
Disadvantages include:
These are internal cards which are installed in a slot in your PC. They avoid the overhead of going through a serial port by connecting directly to the system bus.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Ethernet-based external adapters which connect to an ethernet card. These often add features such as bridging and routing.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Currently we recommend the external ethernet-based equipment from Ascend Communications or Netopia . These two terminal adapters are by far the most feature rich ISDN TAs for the money. Both TAs support a full range of ISDN capabilities at a very competitive prices (as of Sep, 1997, the "street price" for a Pipeline-75 is about $600). We recommend either the Netopia ISDN routers or the Ascend Pipeline family of equipment for our business and individual customers.
Both of these terminal adapters support all protocols to use Two-Way-Dial-On-Demand. The Two-Way-Dial-On-Demand service provides a virtually dedicated circuit, yet is very efficient with network resources. This allows the ISP to offer substantial discounts to customers who use this type of service, which means that the equipment pays for itself - with the current NetIn.com pricing, this time is about 7 months!.
At NetIn.com we want to save our users money! Because of this we will continue to monitor the ISDN equipment market and make recommendations which allows to get the most for their money. We have no affiliation with any equipment vendors and will remain that way. We feel this allows us to make an unbiased recommendation as to the equipment which will best suit our customers.
Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) currently sell their services with a single monthly charge. This is often marketed as "unlimited access" for users. But what does "unlimited access" really mean? This level of service does not allow you to remain connected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Of course, most users don't need that level of connectivity anyway. Still if it's not really unlimited what is it?
Generally speaking, "unlimited access" means that you can try to connect to the ISPs system at anytime and remain logged in as long as you are not inactive and you don't exceed some maximum amount of time above their average usage. These constraints are necessary because an ISP must estimate the resources that an average user will consume and then determine the cost of the supporting equipment necessary to provide a satisfactory level of service for their customer base. From this, an average cost per month per user can be determined. Add in some markup to allow the ISP to be profitable and this flat rate is what can be offered to users.
There are several problems with this approach. First, users who consume more resources are rewarded under this plan. Since everyone is paying the same amount without regard to usage, these users are getting a better value for their dollar. More importantly, users have no incentive to reduce the amount of ISP resources they are using. Without this incentive, the ISP may overestimate customer needs and purchase too much equipment - leading to price increases. More commonly, the level of service delivered to the customer is reduced. To the customer, this means increased busy signals and poor network performance.
Most flat rate-based ISPs try to reduce connection time by automatically logging users off after a certain amount of idle time, possibly sending them email at the same time reminding them to help conserve resources. However, this often results in disconnecting users as they spend time to read email or a Web page. In fact, this often causes a response from the user to automate methods which regularly sends data across their connection in an attempt to keep themselves from being disconnected. Obviously, this only exacerbates the problem the ISP was originally trying to solve.
A good example of how flat rate pricing causes increased resource usage can be seen from the recent America OnLine (AOL) fiasco. AOL went from a tiered/metered pricing scheme to a flat rate. Almost immediately customers begin complaining about poor performance and busy signals. This caused users to remain online longer, fearing they wouldn't be able to connect on their next attempt.
Tiered or metered pricing corrects the unfairness caused by "unlimited access" flat-rate solutions. Users pay for the services they use. However, until recently, there have been severe disadvantages to this form of pricing. Tiered/metered pricing punishes users who remain connected but inactive - and actually it should! Active or not, that resource is taking away the ISPs ability to offer it to another user. However, the right solution is to allow the networking equipment to negotiate and only create a connection when it's needed. Using this method, users are only charged for the time they are using the Internet - not punished for forgetting to bring their connection down.
Prior to the advent of equipment which supports dial-on-demand and bandwidth-on-demand, tiered/metered pricing was fair but more expensive for high-demand users. Analog modems simply don't have the capability to connect and disconnect based upon demand, so high-demand users were being smart consumers when moving to flat-rate pricing.
So does tiered pricing make sense for ISDN users? For users who are willing to spend a little more for their ISDN equipment, the answer is a resounding yes! On-demand ISDN equipment is available which allows users to connect and remain connected while transferring information and automatically disconnect when the bandwidth isn't needed. These on-demand capabilities can dramatically reduce user connect times. Typical Internet sessions include substantial inactive periods where the network is not in use. During this time, dial-on-demand services bring the connection down, thus saving resources. The reconnection is quick and seamless - the user never realizes it happened. Also, accidentally leaving a connection up is no longer a concern.
Two-way dial-on-demand further reduces connect times as users no longer need to poll their provider to check for email. Polling hourly with an average connect time of one minute, uses 12 hours of resources per month. This overhead is eliminated with two-way dial-on-demand. Users also don't need to keep connections up for long periods if they wish to log into their system from a remote system.
Once again, this technology is not feasible for analog modem users because of the up-front connection negotiation time required. In the AOL scenario previously mentioned, the reason for the move away from a tiered structure was that the vast majority of customers were analog modem users. ISDN's seamless connections allow tiered pricing to be a cost saving for both users and ISPs alike.
For more information on our services or the equipment we recommend that you visit our DialUp Services page or our Dedicated Connectivity page.
* Freed, Les, "Digital Dragsters", PC Magazine Vol 16 No 3, Feb 4, 1997.
Dan Kegel's ISDN page, http://alumni.caltech.edu/~dank/isdn/
ISDN Vendors on the Net, http://www.primenet.com/~towens/ISDN/isdn.htm