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Wired for Speed, Part Two
Business benefits of ISDN translate into better customer service
Last month's column, the first of two on the subject of ISDN, ended with a promise to provide you, the loyal readers, with some helpful information on the availability and costs of Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) technology in the Bluegrass.
To briefly recapitulate: ISDN is an end-to-end digital service that makes use of your twisted pair phone line to deliver two 64 kbps voice and data channels and one 16 kbps signaling channel (commonly abbreviated as 2B+D) right to your desktop or check-out counter. The advantages, of course, over your analog phone line are much greater bandwidth, which results in significantly faster download times, and greater reliability in data transfer, whether youčre at home web-surfing or in the store performing credit card transactions.
The average residential customers for ISDN are probably fairly well off and very interested in the World Wide Web. Although all voice and data communications can be delivered via ISDN, many of these folks contract for the service solely for their home computers. That way, they can be assured of 128 kbps of bandwidth (the two "B" channels) for their web-surfing plus they don't have to worry about buying digital phones and other peripherals. One thing they will have to buy is an ISDN modem, technically known as a terminal adapter. These can be rather pricey, but U.S. Robotics offers an internal 128 kbps ISDN modem for around $300.
Another burgeoning group of potential home users are the telecommuters. These folks stay at home for work, thanks to modern telecommunications and computing capabilities. ISDN enables telecommuters to accomplish voice and video conferencing and computer screen sharing with their distant coworkers, and provides them with access to mainframe databases and communications systems and office printers. Many companies require a certain level of telecommunications and computing capability as a prerequisite to telecommuting -- most will help defray or completely assume the costs.
Small-to-medium businesses, especially retail establishments, are very likely to recognize immediate benefits from installing an ISDN line. Apart from office related uses, such as the benefits to telecommuters listed above, an ISDN line can show tangible results at your check-out counter. In most cases, the processing time for credit card validations is less than five seconds, which is about 85% faster than your standard phone line allows. Additionally, you won't have to retransmit due to data lost to "line hits," or the other forms of noise that are common on analog phone lines.
Everything you need to know about ISDN, its geographic availability, and its costs are to be found within the respective websites of BellSouth and GTE. Both sites tell you that ISDN prices vary widely from state to state for various reasons, but BellSouth and GTE show a surprising variance between them, with BellSouth looking distinctly better than GTE. The most common BellSouth residential plan charges you $200.00 for installation and $56.55 for 200 hours of service per month, with a charge of one cent per minute over 200 hours. The GTE residential plan carries a lower installation charge of $113.45, but the monthly charge is $86.00, though there is an unlimited allowance on hours.
The biggest difference in rates is between the two small business plans. BellSouth offers a plan with a $231.00 installation charge and a monthly rate of $89.90 for 320 hours of service, with an additional charge of one cent per minute over 320 hours. GTE's plan again has a lower installation charge of $114.85, but the monthly rate is $128.50 for a mere 100 hours of service, with an additional charge of five cents per minute over 100 hours. Both companies offer discounts for multi-year contracts.