Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!ames!killer!vector!telecom-gateway From: decvax!decwrl!apple!zygot!john@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Three or more phone lines in residence Message-ID: Date: 30 May 89 03:49:54 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: ATI Wares Team Lines: 42 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 179, message 7 of 7 In article , tel@cbnewsh.att.com (thomas.e.lowe) writes: > Does anyone know if the phone companies (New Jersey Bell in my case) > have the ability to multiplex phone lines in a residential service? Trust me, you *don't* want that! It is known as "subscriber carrier" and is General Telephone's answer to undercapitalization. They use a device that multiplexes a second subscriber on a telephone pair by means of a supersonic carrier. If you are the metallic subscriber, there is little problem. If you are the carrier subscriber, your telephone service isn't worth the powder to blow it up. The unit is "phone line powered", which means that it sits there and trickle-charges its nicads during the metallic subscriber's on-hook periods. If he talks a lot, or the carrier subscriber gets a lot of calls (the device has to supply ring voltage), the batteries run down and phone service phades away. The audio is terrible, and there is no loop current signaling for answering machines, etc. I suspect that our various telcos (General being the worst) never anticipated the "information age" and felt that planning for two drops per housing unit would be more than adequate. Although no one at Pac*Bell has said anything, I suspect that my nine lines have put somewhat of a strain on the neighborhood facilities. My friends in southern California (who are served by General Telephone) marvel, not just at being able to get nine lines, but at the fact that they're all metallic. To the best of my knowledge, none of the BOCs have used subscriber carrier. And for good reason. > I would need independant lines for modems, fax machines, etc. > Any ideas of pricing? What's the service officially called? The service you want is "enough pairs to serve your needs". You will (probably) have to do a little trenching yourself, but it's the only real solution. At least until ISDN. -- John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.uucp | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !