ISDN (Integrated Digital Services Network) is a different kind of telephone line that uses digital instead of analog signalling. This results in extremely higher data rates over existing wiring. With conventional analog modems, you can expect to get 28.8Kbps (Kilo-bits per second) with the V.34 signalling standard. With ISDN you can get up to 128Kbps over the exact same pair of wires. ISDN divides your phone line into 3 distinct 'channels'. There are two 'B' channels which carry either voice or 64Kbps data. A third 'D' channel provides dialing information (caller id, signalling protocol information, etc.). Depending on the phone company's switch type and the ISDN device you have, you may be able to combine both B channels into a 128Kbps data stream, or you could talk on the phone and use the other B channel for 64Kbps data. In order to actually use an ISDN line, you must have an NT-1 terminal adapter. Most ISDN devices have a built-in NT-1 and even one or two POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) jacks for your old analog equipment.

ISDN costs a lot less than I expected. Pacific Bell (a regional phone company primarily in California, U.S.A.) has set VERY aggressive pricing for home ISDN lines: $24.50 per month, with a usage surcharge (above normal long-distance or toll call fees) from 8:00AM - 5:00PM Monday-Friday. Since most people are at work from 8-5, this means an ISDN line costs only slightly more than a normal phone line when used during "normal" leisure hours.

ISDN data devices come in three basic varieties: external devices, internal cards, and network routers. The external devices look and act exactly like a regular modem, right down to the Hayes standard AT commands. Internal cards are treated like LAN adapters, and I could not easily find any with OS/2 drivers. The ISDN to Ethernet Router would have been the ideal option, except for being at least twice as expensive as either of the others. After weighing the costs and compatibility issues, I decided to get an external ISDN device made by Motorola, the BitSurfR Pro because it was one of the most cost-effective solutions at only US$ 399.

Most places you buy equipment from will offer to do some of the setup for you. I purchased my unit from Fry's Electronics (a large California electronics 'grocery store'), and they advertise that they will send your ISDN setup information to Pacific Bell and contact Internex (an ISP) to set up your Internet account.

I made my purchase on Friday the 13th, so things went less than smoothly. Fry's never ended up sending the information (after wasting too much time arguing with them, I did it myself), and Internex couldn't get my account set up correctly for a couple of weeks. (Anybody know a good ISP with a local POP for the Hayward, California area?) Anyway, the moral of that story is to always keep all your receipts, and don't judge by price alone. All SNAFU's aside, it took about 7 days from the time Pacific Bell received my order until my ISDN line was set up. Setup time for Internex was around 7 days before I had something I could call into, and another 10 or so days before my e-mail accounts worked. Normally, I would expect this to be only a couple of days total.

Out of the box, the first thing I noticed is that it looks very 'sexy'--sleek black plastic, rounded edges, lightweight, very small footprint. It connects with a standard DB25 cable to the computer's serial port, has an RJ-45 ISDN jack, 2 RJ-11 POTS jacks, and comes with an RJ-45 to RJ-11 cable so you can use an existing wall jack. Having been unable to locate the Windows based configuration software (it was hiding under some of the cardboard) I ended up configuring it by hand. Using the information Pacific Bell left me when they set up the line, I easily configured it for NI-1 switch (National ISDN Type 1) and entered my directory numbers (telephone numbers) and SPIDs (ISDN identification numbers). I then proceeded to configure my defaults (PPP protocol, no auto-answer, etc.) and save the configuration. After plugging it into the wall, I attached the power cable (there is no power switch--it's meant to be left on all the time) and said a quick prayer to the network god. After around a minute, the red LED switched to green, and I could dial out of either phone line!

To test your setup, Motorola has an ISDN BBS in Georgia. I called there, sent an e-mail with my modem registration information, and downloaded the client software for their BBS. The download ran at over 5000 cps using Zmodem! Of course, I also noticed my CPU utilization sky-rocketing! I had already figured on having to invest some more money in a speedy serial port, so I went out and purchased a Hayes ESP Serial Accelerator board. This board is AMAZING! Ray Gwinn's SIO drivers (available on ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/os2/comm as SIO153.ZIP) support the card under OS/2, so I had no problem getting it to work. Make sure you have the latest version of the IAK TCP/IP stack though, or it may not work with SIO installed. Installation of the drivers was easy; there are plenty of good examples in the documentation.

Next was the 'hard' part: getting Warp's IAK to work properly with the "modem". Figuring on walking before running, I decided to set it up for 64Kbps first. I started the 'Dial Other Internet Provider' program, and clicked on the Add button. The first mistake I made was giving the program too much information. It only wants the required fields, filling in data in the other fields may cause it to not work. For the response file field, I just entered 'NONE' since Internex uses PAP authentication. All of the necessary information was provided by Internex in a fax they sent me (and was included with the Windows based TCP/IP software suite they sent): PAP username and password, TCP/IP address, protocol (which was PPP), Domain Name Server, News Server, e-mail server, e-mail POP accounts and passwords (I have an account for both my wife and I), and detailed setup instructions for some Windows based software setup. After saving the configuration, all that was needed was a click on the Dial button and POOF instant Warp Speed! For an objective observer, I called my wife into the room to show her how fast Web pages were. She let out a gratifying, "WOW!" as the graphics sprang onto the screen.

Getting 128Kbps working proved more difficult. The BitSurfR requires you to put an '&' in the dial string, which the IAK will not allow. Eventually, after a frustrating amount of time fiddling, I ended up making a response file to do the dialing for me. Putting the file in \tcpip\bin and putting the name in the response file section yielded good results.

Most Internet sites are still pretty slow, so speed increases aren't always dramatic but I suppose it would be radically different if I were surfing at 3:00 in the morning. Since my current ISP charges by each '64Kbps hour' I am only using it at 64Kbps to conserve on-line time.

And the best part is, all of the bundled OS/2 IAK software works beautifully (with the exception of Ultimail/2 Lite--I bought Post Road Mailer a month ago and stopped using Ultimail because it was too slow), and is included free with OS/2! This makes OS/2 the ideal one-stop Internet solution. With the power of OS/2 and the speed of an ISDN line, I am now routinely getting the most out of my online time--simultaneous FTPing, Web Browsing, News Reading and e-mail checking--all at Warp Speed!

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