From: malassQRMimilation@gmail.com   
      
   On Sun, May 22, 2022 at 12:11:50PM -0400, Fred Goldstein wrote:   
   >> On 5/19/2022 9:05, Bill Horne wrote:   
   >>>> I was talking to an old friend yesterday, and he told me that   
   >>>> he's been working from home for a while now, and the conversation   
   >>>> turned to > >>>ISDN phone service, which I recommend to anyone   
   >>>> who can still obtain it.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> 1. Which states still have tariffs for ISDN BRI lines?   
   >   
   > ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI) is generally no longer available in the US.   
   > Verizon and I think ATT long ago gave formal notice of discontinuance or   
   > grandfathering. Maybe Qwest, pre-Century, didn't bother, so it may still be   
   > on the books there. But few know how to provision it. Many of the switches   
   > that provided it (mainly 5ESS and DMS-100 in the US) no longer are in   
   > service. It was useful, especially for broadcasters doing remote feeds. It   
   > was better than a modem for Internet access, and that's what killed it as it   
   > was coming out in the early 1990s -- the Bells hated the Internet, which   
   > broke their locality-based business model, and while they couldn't attack   
   > modem users per se, they could at least attack the most obvious Internet   
   > user group, non-Centrex ISDN BRI users.   
      
   This is twice in one day that I've had to take a step downward from my   
   place on Mount Olympus, and I fear I might turn into Sisyphus if I   
   don't - pun intended - watch my step. ;-)   
      
   Why would the bells hate the Internet? To be sure, their business   
   model was built around central offices which each served a rate   
   center, but how could they have predicted and/or anticipated the   
   development of VoIP? Did Mother Bell see /any/ data transmission   
   method as a threat? Why?   
      
   The Baby Bells knew that Cellular was coming, and I'd bet they knew it   
   would displace copper-served POTS within time we've had to see it   
   happen. Still, I just don't remember the leaders of the Baby Bells as   
   being such long-term thinkers. The Internet hasn't replaced their   
   locality-based feeding trough: we still have and use phone numbers,   
   and even if a cell call has to be routed using VoIP and/or SIP trunks,   
   the savings in billing offered by "Free" long-distance would have more   
   than offset the cost of adapting to new trunking paradigms.   
      
   > Bell Atlantic l/k/a Verizon was also fanatical in those days about   
   > selling Centrex, and saw ISDN BRI as a tool for Centrex feature   
   > phones, but that was about it. That business has faded out too.   
      
   I wonder why? What was so different between the business models of the   
   1990's and those of the 2020's that Centrex would no longer be a   
   cost-saver for firms which chose to use it? Granted, the Coronavirus   
   has caused a reexamination of work-at-home as a viable real-estate   
   strategy, but I think the /time/ spent on dialing, connecting, and   
   suffering with the shortcomings of cellular calls, like picket-fencing,   
   fading, disconnecting, and - last but far from least - being easily   
   tapped by anyone with an antenna ana a few items of listening   
   equipment.   
      
   > ISDN Primary Rate Interface (PRI), which runs over a DS-1 ("T1") channel, is   
   > still out there, though again its number are in decline. It is a very good   
   > trunk interface for PBX systems, and many different 1995-2010 vintage   
   > switching systems support it, as it handled the dial-up era's modem pools.   
   > But most newer systems use SIP trunks instead. PRI has higher quality of   
   > service than SIP/RTP/IP, but the industry has moved away from it, as the   
   > higher-volume IP services usually have a lower price tag.   
      
   I'm afraid comparing IP-based telephony to ISDN PRI links is the   
   ultimate race-to-the-bottom in voice communicaiton. As far as I can   
   tell, the only thing that makes SIP or VoIP or /any/ Internet-based   
   real-time service - don't forget streaming video - viable is a surplus   
   of bandwidth which will, inevitably, decline as paid-prioritization   
   methods and equpment take hold.   
      
   Bill, who is feeling old and out-of-step.   
      
   --   
   Bill Horne   
   (Please remove QRM from my email address in order to write to me directly)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)