Need Advise on Diginet and ISDN

I have about 8 users who are all connected to a company network in a building. For email an Internet browsing we have a 64k Diginet line. Then there is another separate building in the same yard, which is about 100 metres apart from the main building.

This building has 6 users who share a network. To receive emails and to browse the Internet the network is connected to an ISDN line.

We now want to integrate the two networks and we were told that a UTP Cat 5e Data Point cable would be used to connect the two buildings. My question is, can we use the ISDN line as a backup line for the 64k Diginet line? Or there will no longer be a need for the ISDN line.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Just keep in mind that maximum specification length for Cat5e is 100 meters. Anything longer and you might have signal loss etc.

It is sad but true: only in South Africa do you need a backup ISDN circuit for a leased line, something which should have guaranteed uptime of 99.999% like in most other countries.

Earlier this year a client's 512K diginet circuit from CPT <-> JHB went down, and it took Telkom THREE WORKING DAYS to come and just look at the problem. Luckilly they had a backup ISDN line, otherwise they could have just closed the business for three days.

So depending how mission critical the internet connection is, I would suggest hanging on to that backup ISDN line. Most good routers have a second interface for configuring a backup ISDN connection, which will automatically dial-out when the main circuit falls over.

I am not a huge expert on routers, but know enough to be dangerous!

1) Cisco have routers with ISDN dial up fail over support
2) A cheaper option, is to get an ISDN router, with at least one ethernet port. If diginet goes down, unplug the diginet router's network cable to your hub, plug in the ISDN's network cable, and dial up to the internet. Total cost should be less than R500. Note, that with this option, I am assuming that you only use the 64KB line for receiving email and for browsing other sites. If you host a mail server or web site, it will not work, as your IP address(es) will change. If you do have those services, contact your ISP for advice - I know IS does this type of thing, and can help.

diginet is reliable and you dont really need a isdn backup. i've had about 6 diginet lines for about 5 years, and in total they went down i'd say about 4 hours. thats all 5 years, and 6 lines added together. that 3 working days was a odd case, as telkom has been to my site within 30 minutes on every fault i reported. they take diginet very serious as they make a lot of money on it,

however, how about getting 2 adsl lines? but making sure that each one goes to different exchange, and uses a different ISP. then chances are you'd be more than satisfied as both adsl lines would cost you less than your one diginet line.

At my work we have a 64k Diginet line, and ADSL line. All mails are routed through the Diginet line, while the ADSL line is used for Internet banking and the such.

exactly the same here