Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!gatech!purdue!decwrl!labrea!glacier!jbn
From: jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: ISDN
Message-ID: <17953@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: 30 Dec 88 20:20:03 GMT
References: <8812141208.aa12705@note.nsf.gov> <443@ambone.UUCP> <17941@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> <21@nwnexus.WA.COM>
Reply-To: jbn@glacier.UUCP (John B. Nagle)
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 14


      After replacing the CO and the station equipment, all you get is 56Kb.
This was a hot idea when dial-up modems ran at 1200 baud, tops, but with
performance at 14Kb, and modems getting cheaper every month, the pressure
is down for more bandwidth over the dial-up system.  Especially if the
line charges for ISDN connections exceed those for voice connections.

      Check into the GTE fibre-optic test in Covina, CA, where a switched
fibre-optic network is being installed.  Home customers can call up and 
ask for a video feed from any available source, including a farm of VCRs.
Two-way video connections are available - this is full-bandwidth color
TV videophones, at last.  That is the future - not ISDN.  

					John Nagle