[SunRescue] ISDN "taking off"...

[Bill Bradford]

On Sat, Feb 12, 2000 at 09:29:52PM -0600, Ido Dubrawsky wrote:
> Earl,
>   What is your IDSL router?  Cisco? Netopia?  I have a Cisco 804 ISDN router
> and I can also now get only IDSL at home.  I'm thinking of selling my Cisco
> 804 ISDN router (as well as my Ascend Pipeline 50) and buying a Cisco 804 IDSL
> (which hilariously enough is ~$200 /cheaper/ than the 804 ISDN router!).  Can
> you tell me what you're using and how you like it please.

Dont bother - you can use your ISDN router for IDSL without any problem
whatsoever, assuming that you've got a fairly recent OS revision.
IDSL is just ISDN over "plain copper pair".  Most likely, the Cisco 804
IDSL router is the same thing as the ISDN router, just with a slightly different
software load, perhaps.

Any normal Pipeline 50/75, Cisco 100x / 7xx series ISDN hardware, etc, can
be used for IDSL as well.  Some might not be able to bond in the "D" channel,
however, giving you 128k versus 144k.

Only real advantage of IDSL over ISDN at this point is that its much
cheaper, as the circuit to your house is much easier to provide.

I've currently got 144k IDSL (from OnRamp, my employer here in Austin), and
its comparable to when I had dedicated 128k ISDN a couple of years ago.  I've
also got a 1.5meg ADSL circuit from jump.net/swbell.  (you DONT want to see
my nasty redneck multihomed setup!)

>   Also, can others on the list please give me their opinions of IDSL as well.

You've got mine. 8-)

> I don't know when Southwestern Bell is going to get ADSL or SDSL (which I 
> heard stand for either Symettric DSL or Single-user DSL -- at least that 
> what Bill Stallings calls it in his Broadband ISDN book) in my area and 
> I'm leaning more towards getting IDSL at the present time.

SDSL is "Symmetric DSL" - e.g., you get the same speed for both send and
receiver.  ADSL is 'Asymetric DSL" = download speed is usually MUCH greater
than upload speed.  For example, on my Jump.Net/SWBELL circuit, I get 
1.5megabit download speed, and 128k upload.  On my OnRamp/Covad IDSL, I've
got 144k upload / 144k download (only slightly faster than dedicated ISDN).

I'm using a Flowpoint 144 currently for my IDSL.  Its nice, but I'd prefer
to have my old Cisco 1003 (or a 1004/1005) back.  I'd be limited to 128k
versus 144k, but I can deal with it; I prefer the Cisco router environment
much more than the Flowpoint stuff.

If you're available tomorrow and want to come over and get those O'Reilly
X books, I can show you my setup with both ADSL and IDSL.

Bill

-- 
+------------------------+----------------------+-----------------------+
| Bill Bradford          | mrbill at pdp11.org     | mrbill at mrbill.net     |
| http://www.sunhelp.org | http://www.pdp11.org | http://www.mrbill.net |
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