Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!alberta!ubc-cs!van-bc!sl
From: sl@van-bc.UUCP (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: ISDN
Message-ID: <2072@van-bc.UUCP>
Date: 28 Dec 88 00:42:51 GMT
References: <8812141208.aa12705@note.nsf.gov> <443@ambone.UUCP> <17941@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>
Reply-To: sl@van-bc.UUCP (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne)
Organization: Wimsey Associates, Vancouver, BC.
Lines: 21

In article <17941@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> jbn@glacier.UUCP (John B. Nagle) writes:
>
>      ISDN may be an idea whose time has passed.  Optical networks are
>coming, and it's very possible that delivery of TV signals will be over
>the same medium used for voice and data, especially into homes.  ISDN
>offers only 64Kb data, and with modems at 14Kb, the benefits of rewiring
>the entire phone plant for ISDN are marginal, especially since the cutover
>to optical is already beginning.  

No, ISDN is designed to take advantage of the current wiring. The phone
companies biggest asset is copper, and ISDN allows them to extend the use of
the current installed base significantly, simply by replacing the analog
devices at each end of a connection with digital devices.

There is no way that the phone companies would ever consider replacing all
that copper in the ground except over a very extended period. ISDN allows
them use what they have, to provide many new services without replacing the
wiring.

-- 
Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!sl     Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532