I've never had much luck getting analog modem connections at rates faster than 21.6Kbps. Repeat calls to PacBell never resulted in any improvemnts either. ISDN seemed to be the way to go.

Since I have a local ethernet network at home with two computers and two more coming soon, an ISDN router was a better option for me than a TA. Several people recommended the Ascend Pipeline series, so I bought a Pipeline 75 from Central Computer Systems. The Pipeline 75 is an ethernet-to-ISDN router with two built-in POTS ports.

Buying a router is only the tip of the iceberg! The next step was ordering my ISDN line from PacBell. Fortunately, PacBell has a Web page that makes the ordering process fairly painless. I filled out a few forms and I was all set. While waiting for installation day, I replaced the interior wiring in my house with new Cat 5 cable. Cat 5 cable is overkill for ISDN, but I'll be prepared for whatever replaces ISDN!

Two weeks later the PacBell tech arrived to install the line. I had been using an existing analog line for modem access, so I asked the tech to convert this line to ISDN.

Unfortunately, I was't home when the tech arrived to install the line, so I wasn't able to test the router with the line while the tech was present. He installed the line and left an information packet, including a sheet with all of the ISDN line information, some PacBell ISDN propaganda, and a PacBell mouse pad (?!?). Since the router wasn't turned on while the tech was on-site, he wasn't able to verify that the switch could see my equipment.

Installing the line was only the first step. PacBell then had to provision the line at the switch, a process they call "translation." This involved programming the ATT5ESS switch with the proper parameters needed to work with my hardware. This was supposed to happen within one day after the line istallation, but I was told the "tester" assigned to me was out of the office that day and this would delay the process. When the tester attempted to provision my line, the switch couldn't detect my router. After running several tests, she determined that the tech would have to come back to my house to correct a wiring problem at my neighborhood's distribution box.

Sure enough, the tech found a wiring problem he hadn't noticed earlier. After fixing the wiring, his test equipment still couldn't see my router! He called me at work and I hurried home to help. After a quick check, I found that the router wasn't plugged into the wall jack! After plugging it in, it was able to detect a live ISDN line and I was off and running! Total elapsed time: 5 days :-(

With the line installation out of the way, my next step was to configure the router. This requires a serial connection between the router and the PC. Once I configured the basic ethernet configuration, I was able to remove the serial cable and access the Pipeline over ethernet using telnet. Besides the basic parameters, there are a whole slew of obscure, poorly documented parameters that have to be set. Ascend really needs to make their documentation clearer. I had to guess at the setting of some of the parameters.

With the router configured correctly (I hope!), my next step was to try a connection with my ISP. I called them several days before the line was installed and had my account converted from personal dialup to personal ISDN. I connected to the Pipeline via telnet and tried to manually dial the ISP. It dialed OK, and connected, but the line dropped after a few seconds. I tried changing various parameters, but nothing worked. The ISP told me when I called to change the account type that I needed to set my router to Data-Over-Voice (DOV) mode. I verified the settings, and all appeared to be correct, but I still couldn't connect.

I tried almost all permutations of the settings, but nothing seemed to work. A call to the ISP's tech support number didn't help--they claimed that Ascend was to blame and that another customer was also having problems connecting using a Pipeline 75. Ascend tech support wasn't any help either, claiming that "ISDN is ISDN" and the problem must be on the ISP side. They suggested I download the latest firmware from their Web site, which I did, but this didn't improve matters. Elapsed time: 2 days.

I wasn't interested in getting in the middle of a finger pointing contest, so I tried switching to another ISP. I chose an ISP that is known for their ISDN prowess and that didn't require DOV. The change of ISP required a few simple changes to the router configuration, and I was ready to try connecting in 5 minutes. This time I was able to connect on the first try!

Although the installation problems I had were annoying, the results are worth it. I have a fast, 64k or 128k connection that doesn't have the problems many are experiencing with 56K analog modems. I have the router programmed to dial on demand, which means it automatically initiates a connection whenever it sees an IP packet not destined for my local subnet. Unlike an analog modem, which can take 30 seconds to a minute or more to establish a connection, an ISDN device only takes 1-2 seconds to connect. Since the connection time is so short, I set the router to disconnect whenever it's idle for 2 minutes. This saves time online without causing unnecessary delays when it needs to reconnect.

Normally the router has a single 64k connection up at any one time, but if I'm uploading or downloading a large file, the router will automatically add a second 64k connection for a total bandwidth of 128Kbps. After the bandwidth demand falls below a programmed level for a few seconds, the router will drop the second channel. Both PacBell and my ISP charge by the B-channel hour, so 1 hour of actual connect time with 2 64k B channels up is billed as 2 hours of use. The bandwidth on demand (DBA) feature keeps connection costs low while allowing additional bandwidth when really needed.

The Pipeline 75 has 2 analog POTS jacks for connection to analog devices such as telephones, FAX machines, and analog modems. I have a phone plugged into one jack and my Courier analog modem plugged into the other. I can make voice calls on the phone and send FAXes using the Courier. In fact, if a voice call comes in while I have both B channels up for data, the router will drop one of the channels and ring the analog port. Slick! You can completely replace your analog phone lines with ISDN, but remember that ISDN doesn't work unless the router or TA has power.