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To Anyone Interested in ISDN solution to 56k Analog Problem
I received a private email today from someone who could not post here and asked if I would post some info on his behalf. The message is very informative and concerns issues I believe to be of interest to many of us, so I am taking the liberty of posting here and also on the CyberTrader Thread for those of us who may find the info to be useful or helpful.
"William -
I've been reading your posts on the SI MB Trading board, and while I
can't post a response since I'm not yet a member, I thought I'd share
some insight and experience with ISDN and ask that you consider posting this for all if you feel it's worthwhile.
I work for a non-Bell phone company, am very familiar with telephony and ISDN, and have established a trading setup at home with MB Trading. My situation seems similar to others who have posted who could not get any greater throughput on POTS than 28K, even with a 56K modem. This is actually quite common since the telephone network was initially designed to handle voice traffic and lacks higher speed data capability in many areas. I had the same challenge since I live in a rural area quite a distance from the telephone company's switch, and typically averaged 24K-28K speeds on a 56K analog modem.
Little known to the non-telephony world is an ISDN trick that has worked wonders for me. In those areas where ISDN is available but POTS (analog) throughput is limited, you can purchase ISDN and run your analog modem over one 64K B channel. In 99% of the cases, you will receive 50K+ analog throughput. All you need is an ISDN terminal
adapter (modem) that has analog ports for connecting a phone, fax, or
modem. Once I converted to ISDN, my ISP analog connection speed has
been a consistent 52K.
Now you may be wondering why purchase ISDN just to run analog over it?
Well, in my case, my phone company charges per-minute fees for digital
traffic run through ISDN ... but not analog. So first, I bypass the
usage fees. Second, I avoid having to purchase a ISDN ISP account,
typically more expensive than analog dial-up ($35-$50 vs. $10-$15).
Third, I've found that 56K is more than enough for MB Trading graphics
and order placement, and believe the only potential benefit from a
higher speed is if you're displaying a large number of graphs. Lastly, 2 ISDN B channels gives you the capability of 2 lines for the cost (at least in my case) of about two POTS lines. This is great if, like me, you prefer the flexibility of having two 56K circuits over one 128K circuit, e.g. running two PC's and ISP connections at once, or running one ISP connection and one leaving one free for voice, fax, or whatever.
In a nutshell, ISDN basically provides me with two high-powered 52K
analog "circuits" for a cost no greater than 2 POTS lines that would
have only provided 28K! Of course, you can still use ISDN the way it
was intended ... as one or two 64K digital channels, or one bonded 128K circuit, but in my case I consider the solution to be optimal. I don't intend to step over dollars to pick up pennies, but I'm nevertheless very conscious of my overhead costs.
(By the way, if you think 128K ISDN will speed up your web browsing, you may be in for a surprise. While the speed of file and graphic down loads will increase once you access the page, simply browsing will not since there is still a "queue" that you're in to access the page that won't change whether you have 28K, 56K, 128K, or a T-1. I've run 56K analog vs. 128K ISDN browsers side-by-side and found this to be the case. I also noticed little difference downloading pages with moderate graphics.
As a result, I canceled my ISDN internet ISP account after a few days
of experimenting and am quite pleased with 56K.)
I am personally running two 56K analog modems (I have two PCs, one
dedicated to MB Trading and one for chat rooms, web browser, etc.) over two separate ISDN B channels and receive 52K throughput on both. I use an Adtran ISDN terminal adapter that has two analog POTS ports on the back where I plug in my modem lines. Plus, I still have my other home analog line if I need to make a voice call in a pinch.
Thought this insight and little known trick might help those who suffer from poor analog service, and who prefer a setup similar to mine.
Don
("badger" in Ken Wolff's chatroom) |
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