Received: by eff.org id AA14385 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for pub-infra-exploder@eff.org); Thu, 12 Dec 1991 19:47:06 -0500 Reply-To: pub-infra Precedence: bulk To: pub-infra Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1991 19:46:57 -0500 Message-Id: <199112130046.AA14379@eff.org> From: peterm@halcyon.com (Peter Marshall) (by way of mkapor@eff.org (Mitch Kapor)) Subject: Article on "The Argument Against ISDN" ...Let's set the mirrors aside and see what we really have with ISDN: ISDN provides 64 kilobit digital, full-duplex data. It does so to any other ISDN line when using a carrier that is fully digital, compatible and offers the service. ISDN provides point-to-point connections, similar to a telephone. Connections can be established in a few seconds. ISDN provides several enhanced features, such as calling line identification and data privacy.... Telephone companies invariably fear new technology.... New technology upsets rate structures. And new technology upsets *the natural order of things.* ISDN is a new technology.... ISDN represents competition to local dialtone loops.... There are many questions. The traditional telco response is simple: Charge a high enough price that these concerns simply go away because of the profits generated.... implementation of ISDN has involved changing out central office lines. Designing $1000 boxes for the customer end. It has meant converting the *entire* public nationwide network to an all-digital one. In short, ISDN was designed to take more than a decade to implement.... ISDN has some serious "reality checks" to go through to succeed. And unless it can pass that reality check, it will be increasingly a fantasy. Back when it was just a dream, it might have made sense to charge twice as much for an ISDN call.... But today, modems are equally fast, and thus ISDN *cannot* cost more per minute if it is to succeed in the mainstream marketplace. Because not everybody has ISDN lines to every desktop, ISDN has less effective connectivity than a modem. And this, too, reduces the value of ISDN. Because telephone companies are in no position to prevent independent competitive technology from being introduced, they will have to compete. The cost of installing an ISDN line must be low.... The cost of ISDN terminal equipment must be lowered.... What can be done to preserve the potential benefits of ISDN's ubiquitous digital service...? ISDN is better suited for some types of data than modems will be for perhaps another five years.... ISDN achieves its 64,000 bits per second speed *without* compression. This could be a tellingly significant point.... ISDN can combine a voice line with a data line for simultaneous use. This can eliminate the need for a second line.... ISDN, being a network service, may combine to offer X.25-like capability. This means that a single ISDN termination could maintain many simultaneous "virtual" connections through a packet-switched network.... To widely succeed, ISDN needs an aggressive posture. Terminal equipment costs must be affordable(or lower), per minute rate charges must be comparable(or lower), and efforts need to be made to achieve compatability with existing software. Otherwise, ISDN will merely service your Group IV FAX machine and your desktop video system. Maybe this is enough for your telephone company. But is it really enough for you?... -- The 23:00 News and Mail Service - +1 206 292 9048 - Seattle, WA USA PEP, V.32, V.42bis +++ A Waffle Iron, Model 1.64 +++