Well, it finally happened. Telstra organised the installation of ISDN for me (in a surprisingly short time given normal lead times). I have not as yet been connected to the Telstra Bigpond ISDN plan that I requested - thanks to an administrative error - but through agreement with Telstra representative Lisa Forshaw, I am connecting via my Bigpond Business Internet Premium dialup plan (which fortunately has provision for ISDN connection) and the data charges are being nullified against my account.

So I can't give a full review of the Bigpond ISDN plan, as to do so I would need to be able to look at the "My Account" feature on Bigpond for usage meters and suchlike. Because, believe me - with 1Gb as the maximum usage allowance available, I will need to check my usage frequently.

ISDN meets the consumer

Nonetheless, I can give a review of the connection itself. I'm very familiar with ISDN, as I've dealt with it on any number of occasions in my working career. Nonetheless, this is the first in-depth opportunity I've had for some time to play with it. You see, a large majority of customers have moved on to other, faster (and cheaper) technologies such as DSL.

Before we really start - a warning. In all the time I've played with ISDN, it has been a shock whenever it's worked first go on a new install. There are so many variables involved that the odds really are against it working. Perhaps this is slightly different now, but in my case the technician had difficulties with the RIM - both in establishing the signal and in the programming of the line. And, after he left, I was still unable to use the line because of what turned out to be a hung card in the RIM (resolved the next day).

How to get it

To get Bigpond ISDN, you first need to organise the installation of an ISDN Home service. You really can't get Bigpond ISDN until the service is installed and you've received your bill (as the signup process requires an account number). Perhaps you can get the signup CD sent out to you in the meantime (they don't provide for online signup), but in my case this didn't happen and I had to reach an agreement with Telstra to permit me to use my existing dialup account without incurring additional data charges.

I don't know that the costs associated with the ISDN Home plan make it entirely worthwhile changing your normal phone line over. I can't say I've done a direct price comparison - since my only intent for the service is incoming fax calls and 128kb Internet with no additional data charges. We already had the phone line and fax line - one cable into the building, split into two pairs - and elected to convert just the fax line. This process of conversion ultimately winds up giving you two phone lines - each a 64kb ISDN channel. So via this one cable into the building, we have in effect three phone lines with ISDN Home. Ultimately this could have been two ISDN Home services, giving four phone lines (but only two 128kb ISDN connections, not one 256kb ISDN connection as Telstra's ISDN Home plan does not provide for this).

Signup process ... only 3 days!

So as mentioned, once the install is done, you get the signup CD from Bigpond. An administrative error resulted in my receiving the wrong CD kit, which (because it had the wrong code) did not permit me to choose the 1Gb ISDN plan. Just today, I received the correct kit, and promptly went about the signup process. Enter address details, phone numbers, drivers license, code from the enclosed letter... then enter the ISDN number you will be connecting from. Okay... now choose the plan - great, 1Gb ISDN Home (you can save a small amount by going on 12 month contract). Okay.. verify details.. enter account number.. complete. Great, now connect.

You then get a message in Internet Explorer telling you that the signup process is not complete, and that your details will be verified before you receive full access to the Internet - and that this process will take 72 hours. Not great, so back to using the Business Internet Premium plan for the moment. The signup process needs a LOT of work.

What's in the box?

So what do you get for your money? In terms of your equipment, you get an NT1 plus II unit, which effectively acts as a modem for your PC. The Telstra technician will have connected it to your phone line, and you will connect it to your PC (or router, which we'll talk about later) via either USB or serial. USB naturally is better, but according to the Whirlpool forums, may have problems, especially with Windows XP. I can't say that I saw any such problems, though. Bear in mind that the NT1 plus II remains Telstra's property- with ADSL, you effectively purchase the modem from Telstra (or buy your own).

When you connect it to your PC, you effectively gain a modem with which you can setup a dialup connection to the Internet. Be careful though- the driver you select to install governs how your NT1 plus II operates. In my case I selected the "DVO ML-PPP (128k)" driver, which allows 128kb connection to the Internet, but will drop back to 64kb in the event of an incoming call. Since I had the fax line converted to ISDN, I wanted to still receive incoming faxes. The connection to the NT1 plus II was USB, and the driver installation makes this a virtual COM4:. A little bit of smoke and mirrors, but it was only a temporary setup until I could organise something better.

Matt's Tip You can find information, documentation, and drivers for the NT1 plus II at the OPEN Networks website

What about the network?

You can get a quick and dirty service for your network by using Windows' built-in Internet Connection Service. However I find this to be a little slow and unreliable (especially when the machine in question has a firewall such as ZoneAlarm Pro installed). I used this while awaiting the arrival of my new router.

When I say "New", of course, I mean "New from auction". There's some things I just don't care to buy brand-new because of the price, and this was one of them. You see, I wanted a Cisco router because of my previous experience with them for ISDN connections. The cheapest brand-new Cisco router - a Cisco 801 - would cost approximately AU$1100, and this would not suit an ISDN connection with incoming voice/fax calls. I wanted a Cisco 803 router, which comes with two POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) ports that will allow a fax machine, telephone, or other standard telephone device to be plugged into it for the purpose of incoming or outgoing calls.

I was able to pickup a Cisco 803 on eBay for AU$496. This is relatively cheap in comparison to some of the units I have seen, and was actually a great buy since it was ex-lease from a government department, and so was in good condition. Configuration was relatively easy - in spit of being out of practice - and incoming/outgoing fax calls drop the connection back to 64kb without a hitch (resuming to 128kb afterward).

A warning on this however - actually, a couple of warnings. First is that if you don't have experience with Cisco routers, you may find it relatively difficult to configure - especially if (as with my unit), it comes previously configured and you need to do a password recovery in order to reconfigure the unit appropriately. The second is that, as with any online auction, it's quite possible to be "ripped" off. So be very cautious if you're going to go down this road. If enough people are interested, I might make a sample configuration available which will give you an operational Cisco router with minimal modification.

Summing up

I can't possibly say that it's terrific. It works, and it's fast by quite a bit than a modem. But nonetheless, it's not ADSL or cable. There's no way you could mistake this for broadband. I can't really recommend it for anyone who has another choice! For me though.. it will have to do.

Telstra Bigpond ISDN Overall Score

Good: Available on a RIM, so you can get ISDN even if you can't get ADSL. 64kbps - 128kbps over pair gain, as opposed to 31.2kbps Improves connection speeds for a POTS modem Up to 1Gb download limits No additional charges for data calls Flexible NT1 plus II unit allows USB, serial, or S/T device such as an ISDN router to be connected Business level support Two phone numbers provided ISDN falls back to 64kbps if an incoming or outgoing call is detected on one channel

Bad: Nowhere near as fast as broadband Higher cost for phone line rental compared to a standard Telstra phone line 1Gb download is quite a low limit for higher speed connection, and it's 16.9c per Mb thereafter Must call a specific number to not be charged for data calls Problems with the NT1 plus II noted on Whirlpool Card in the RIM hung, requiring a technician to attend onsite to resolve. This is a "rare" occurrence, and therefore expect it to happen at least once :-) Self-install not really feasible ISDN support is strictly 8am - 6pm Monday to Friday Need to buy an ISDN router in order to effectively service a network - and this can be much more expensive than a broadband router of good quality The plan and the ISDN service are separate - you must first install the service, and then connect to the plan No online signup - you must have a CD sent out to you Signup process very poor - 72 hours to complete signup! NT1 plus II remains the property of Telstra

Verdict: I would hate to see people taking up ISDN for any other reason than that, like me, they have no other choice. For what it is - and especially compared to broadband technologies such as ADSL - it is expensive, slow, and potentially unreliable. Nonetheless - considering that a standard phone line on a RIM will give no more than 31.2kbps with a POTS modem - if you have no other alternative, and a business to run (or money to burn), then Telstra Bigpond ISDN is the way to go. Temporarily. Until you get a better choice. Matt's Score : 3 / 10