ISDN Questions

If I have ISDN 2a, can I make a voice call at the same time as having a 128K connection?

Is there any way to call a computer connected to ISDN line from an analog modem - without having analog modems connected?

Unfortunately not. You basically only have two ports available with ISDN2a. You can use both to connect to the internet or only use one and use the other for telephone..I'm afraid you will need to use your cellphone .

What I do is use the MTN 100 weekend minutes package. Since I'm using my ISDN on infinitcall all weekend I then use my cellphone's free minutes. Its about the only other solution I could come up with. You could always get ADSL and then use skype but thats also so limited in what you can do imho.

During the week though its a costly business to use a cellphone and have isdn but hey at least you can get 24 gb unshaped intl a month out of it.

BTech said:

Unfortunately not. You basically only have two ports available with ISDN2a. You can use both to connect to the internet or only use one and use the other for telephone..I'm afraid you will need to use your cellphone .

What I do is use the MTN 100 weekend minutes package. Since I'm using my ISDN on infinitcall all weekend I then use my cellphone's free minutes. Its about the only other solution I could come up with. You could always get ADSL and then use skype but thats also so limited in what you can do imho.

During the week though its a costly business to use a cellphone and have isdn but hey at least you can get 24 gb unshaped intl a month out of it.

Click to expand...

Thanks Btech, confirmed my thinking.

You can upgrade to ISDN30 if you want - it'll cost you more than an arm and a leg though.

BTech said:

Unfortunately not. You basically only have two ports available with ISDN2a.

Click to expand...

There are four ports on the ISDN2a NTUs that Telkom supply that will allow you to plug in 2 analogue and 2 digital devices.
That's before you even do stuff like split the lines up even more.

If you get MSNs (multiple subscriber numbers) you can have one for a fax machine, one for your telephone, one for your new fancy microwave oven ...

You're talking about the channels.
There are two 64 kbps channels (called B channels) and one 16kbps channel (D channel).
The two B channels are what are used for the calls while the D channel is used for signalling.

The D channel is always connected and in some countries you can use it for retrieving e-mail and webbrowsing for free (since you don't have to make a call) but Telkom decided to not allow that functionality for obvious reasons.
It's slow but if it's always connected it works fine for e-mails.

Don't know what u guys feel about the Closer internet hrs, but I'm on ISDN-2a with Closer option 2 + 150 internet hrs.

Not entirely happy with being charged the extra R150 for the net hrs. I would be happier if there were other options for net hrs with the Closer packages. E.g. Some months I may not need all 150hrs... I'd be happy with 75 hrs at R75 actually. Obviously for some users, 150 hrs will not be enough, especially connecting at 128k and therefore only 75 internet hrs for R150!

Nevermind the fact that Telskum is charging u an extra R150 for something that should be free anyways...

Anyways, I find the 'free' off-peak landline calls useful, and prefer keeping my phone bill under a certain amount (i.e. R231 rental + R150 for net hrs).

[Edit]
Of course what I prefer about Closer compared to Infinitcall is being able to disconnect or being disconnected without tears and trauma!

What gets my goat about ISDN vs ADSL now is that Telskum has priced it at the maximum possible, since they are practically on par now in terms of pricing, if one takes the cheapest ISP possible for ADSL (i.e. Cybersmart)

If someone gave me a free ADSL router right now, I would go ADSL in a heartbeat. Having to buy the router and paying some Telkom techie to come and disconnect the ISDN is what is making me think three times about that!

Plus, if I hold out long enough maybe there will be a viable cost-effective alternative to Telkom's medium-band ADSL solution!

I'd rather hang on till April or at least till we see what Neotel has to offer. The ADSL regulations were a MAJOR dissapointment, but hopefully something will happen mid 2007. If it doesn't then yep its another year of ISDN and infinitcall for me. My account on my ISDN line averages about R1000-00 a month but the trauma of cancelling it and then trying to get it back is too much and I'm accustomed to getting my 24 gb's intl...albit very slow. For now its a wait and see situation.

I bought an ADSL router (Billion 7300g) so now it's like there's no turning back...

Does anyone know why Telkom/ISPs don't have a ridiculous data 'cap' on ISDN like they do with their ADSL/fraudband offering?

Is it some sort of reward for going through the effort to only be online off-peak and have your downloads trickle in at 64k per channel?