[Asterisk-Users] OT: PRI costs in US

[Jon Pounder]

Hey I hear ya, I am in much the same situation.

PRI or channelized T1 is not really a cost effective solution until you are 
over at least 10 lines, and need features like the DID or callerid, hunt, 
etc. that you would pay a few bucks more each per line so the per line 
analog cost would have been driven up over $50/line.

My thoughts were BRI's as well since they work out to about $40/B channel, 
and you can add and delete in fairly inexpensive groups of 2. You get all 
the CLASS features of the PRI, but without having to buy a ton of lines to 
get them.

BRI channel bank is one option I guess, but fairly rare and expensive.

I would love to find a bri to pri T1 multiplexer at a reasonable cost. I 
have seen a few for sale minus the BRI cards so no deal on them.

The ones I have seen do much more than is actually needed here so likely 
the cost is excessive when bought new.

I am still not really clear why the isdn modems that seem so common 
can't/won't work in this situation. Is it simply an issue of software does 
not exist ? Does the modem do something other than simply dump the 
composite digital datastream into the serial port ? I am familar with how a 
channelized T1 can be output/input via a v35 HSSI port - Does this same 
concept not extend to the BRI isdn and a regular speed serial port ? Is the 
issue that a conventional serial port is topped out at 115k and bri would 
be 64+64+16 ? If so, how does the modem work in bonded bearer channel mode 
for data ?

Anyone got answers ?


At 06:40 AM 3/2/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello!
>
>Several of my customers would like to add a backup to their Internet
>connection.  ISDN is a good solution:  decently fast for a dial-up-type
>connection, yet still faily affordable.  While I was at it, I decided to
>look at a couple of more creative telephone service options to possibly
>improve their service or lower costs at the same time.  These customers
>range from having just a couple of POTS lines without a key system up to
>as many as 18 POTS lines into systems such as AT&T Merlin or Nortel
>Norstar systems.
>
>My first thought on the higher end was a PRI line.  However, the cost
>seems *very* prohibitive.  The average cost for a PRI line was $550/month,
>just for "dial tone"!  I've heard others say that PRI becomes cost
>effective in the 8 line range, but the cost for the office with 14 lines
>($25/line * 14 lines) is only $350.  It would take 22 lines before the PRI
>would equal the cost of individual POTS lines!
>
>As an aside, I did a survey of several of my customers with 10-30
>employees.  Most of them have POTS lines only (from between 4 and 10) fed
>into some sort of PBX.  Only one of them has a PRI line, and they wish
>they hadn't gone that way:  they thought they would need more lines than
>they do, and now they feel that they're way over-buying.
>
>Am I missing something?  When is a PRI competitive with POTS?  And if I'm
>not missing something, is there an alternative between POTS and a PRI,
>particularly for 5-15 lines?  None of the telephone companies I called
>offered channelized T1 options for local service (let alone frac-T1), only
>PRI.  Are there other options?
>
>Finally, any alternatives for smaller companies?  I tried to get a simple
>BRI ISDN line for Internet backup for the company with 18 POTS lines.
>#$@%@ Ameritech (excuse me, SBC) charges $10/month more if you don't sign
>a 36-month contract and wouldn't give it to them without a credit check,
>several pieces of company information, the names and telephone numbers of
>at least two officers of the company and a personal guarantee from an
>officer!  This for a customer who has had 18 POTS lines for *15* YEARS!
>
>I hate SBC...
>
>Thank you for reading my rant.  I would greatly appreciate any information
>or suggestions you might be able to give me.
>
>Tim Massey
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