Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: 20 May 91 16:20:34 GMT From: oberman@ptavv.llnl.gov Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: A Very Simple ISDN Question Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 381, Message 5 of 10 Lines: 58 In article , ivgate!Kim.Fosbe@uunet.uu. net (Kim Fosbe) writes: > I already know about what ISDN is and about all those wonderful things > that it will do which we will wonder how we got along without. > What I don't know is just how it will effect those of us who use regular > plug-in modems. Nobody seems to know this. > Will ISDN make our modems obsolete? Is it true that all we will have > to do is plug in an RS232 cable from the PC port to the phone and dial > up any system like we do now? Is there a way to use your plug-in > modems when you have ISDN at home? Has anybody ever thought of that? > Also, is there a way to use your answering machine when you get ISDN? > Another question while I am on the subject. Are these black AT&T > digital phones that are replacing the hold-button phones in offices > actually ISDN phones? One guy tells me they are and another guy tells > me no. Both of them are electronic people. Full of questions, aren't I? Plug in modems are analog devices and simply won't work with ISDN. ISDN does provide RS-232 connectivity at the TE (ISDN for Termial Eqipment) in the form of separate boxes, modules for telephones (my office phone has a DB25 in the back), BRI boards for computers and, no doubt many others yet to be invented. See my previous post for possible ways to get from ISDN to analog modems. Once everyone has ISDN modems will be obsolete. But for the next couple of centuries they will still be around. I suspect that either LECs or private companies will provide ISDN to modem service to get from analog to ISDN and back. Our site has its own modem pool on the analog side of our switch, but most folk can't afford their own ISDN switch. (We have a 5ESS.) Bottom line -- ISDN is a pure digital medium. Analog equipment will NOT work with it. Period. Answering systems included. I expect two products to appear to take care of this. ISDN answering machines and a limited ISDN to analog converter. The latter would work well with things like answering machines. I don't know about modems. In theory they would work, but I suspect that there might be interoperability problems. If the black AT&T phone says ISDN on the corner, it's ISDN. Otherwise it is not. Merlins look almost identical to ISDN phones. They are digital and share components with ISDN sets, so the confusion is reasonable. But they are very different from "real" ISDN phones. My desk set looks "just like" mu old Merlin phone except for a few more buttons and a two line LCD alpha-numeric display. R. Kevin Oberman Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Internet: oberman@icdc.llnl.gov (415) 422-6955 Disclaimer: Don't take this too seriously. I just like to improve my typing and probably don't really know anything useful about anything. Especially anything gnu.