Re: ISDN current events (fwd)

["Andrew C. Esh" <andrewes@cnt.com>]

  David Lesher wrote:
  > 
  > Climbing onto a nearby soapbox, James Love proudly proclaimed:
  > >
  > > a few persons thought I made a mistake here, and that I meant a single
  > > "B" channel, but I did mean the D channel  (the 16k data channel), even
  > > though my grammar left a little to be desired.  That is, I was told that
  > > a residential ISDN connection, being used for data, can dynamically close
  > > or open the B channels depending upon whether or not data is being
  > > transfered, while keeping the D channel open (or something to this effect).
  > > ...   if true, this would pretty much eliminate the need for the usage
  > > based charges....., it would seem to me. jamie
  > 
  > This is not a big deal technically. It *is* bureaucratically.
  > The RBOC's sell packet service now. But they've little incentive
  > to allow free D channel to set up B channel.
  
  Uh, maybe what little I've read about ISDN has given me a misconception, but isn't
  a D channel (Signalling Channel) *required*, in order to signal between the local
  user and the switching equipment? Effectively, I thought the D channel was the
  dialtone/touchtone portion of the connection, while a B channel would be the
  talking/modem-data portion. Residential ISDN was supposed to be two 64K B
  channels, and one 16K D channel. The D Channel doesn't talk to anything
  but the phone company's switch, in order to request services. It can't be used
  to transport customer data/voice to another remote customer. 
  
  It doesn't seem reasonable to me for the phone company to have "bureaucratic" problems
  about providing the D channel. If it isn't provided, doesn't that leave the customer
  with no way to dial the phone? Why would the phone company want to try to charge
  extra for something that is not optional? I say, build the cost of the D channel into
  the regular monthly rate, and don't present it as a line item.
  
  Or do I misunderstand the need for the D channel? 
    
  ---
  Andrew C. Esh			mailto:andrew_esh@cnt.com
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