[asterisk-users] North American voice BRI - Informal survey

[Joe Greco]

> Thanks for the response, Joe.

n/p.  I figure I'm probably one of a small number of people with such a
taste for suffering at the hands of the telco.

> Yeah -- as I mentioned, it's not like the Canadian telcos are announcing
> it from the rooftops, either.

We had some CLEC's offering it for a while.  McLeod, I believe.  Stopped.
Wait, I think TDS still sells them.  For business, at least.

Competition.  Ain't it grand.

> > We're at something around $50 on M2M, but there was a fairly steep install
> > (maybe $250?).  It ends up being around $115/mo for the 2 BRI lines (4
> > channels total).
> 
> Wow, that's cheap. No wonder you don't get any customer service.

No, everyone else has problems with customer service too.  The regulators
periodically fine Ameritech for poor service, and then everything's "fine"
for a little bit.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

> I couldn't even get analog lines for that price.

Heh.

> > Ick.
> > 
> > Around here, SBC/Ameritech/AT&T prefers you to order by package code.
> > You can order a-la-carte but it is damn expensive.
> > 
> > The package we selected included Caller-ID.  Cheaper packages were also
> > available, but did not include Caller-ID, or only included 1B, or only
> > data service, or whatever.
> 
> Sorry -- I think I was wrong there. I think caller ID is always included

Not here.

> -- but we need forward on busy, which is a "calling feature", so it
> means we need the features package. On the regular analog lines, the
> caller ID is extra (nine bucks! crooks!).

Right, that'd make it substantially more expensive here.  I don't believe
it doubles the cost, but something at least 50% higher, if my recollection
serves.

One of the secondary reasons for the BRI was that the cost of two phone
lines worked out to be about the cost of the one BRI on this plan, until
you noticed that the two phone lines still needed CID added on to them,
making them a fair bit more expensive.

> I suspect it's very difficult to configure this equipment, so they just
> throw the whole thing at you.

That's one of the problems with ISDN.

> >> So, say we take a 1 year contract, with calling features:
> >>
> >> $119.65, before taxes (we'll ignore the installation fees for the sake
> >> of this analysis).
> >>
> >> Now, comparing this with our current arrangement for two lines, forward
> >> on busy on one and caller ID on both, it comes to $114.17 before taxes.
> >> If one were to go head with the 1 year contract, it's hardly worth the
> >> difference to do analog.
> > 
> > Right, but you also have to ask yourself, "do I like to punish myself?"
> > 
> > Do you want to be on the wrong end of the support equation when the line
> > fails?  You can't just call SBC repair.  They'll say that you don't have
> > SBC service.  You then have to make sure you keep track of the ISDN group's
> > number, and call them, and be prepared to wait an hour a shot to talk to
> > someone.
> 
> I know what you mean. This is the kind of headache you get on fibre
> connections with Telus.
> 
> However, the PRI and BRI are handled by the same advanced business
> services group here. I have no personal experience with BRI, but judging
> by the ubiquity of PRI, it shouldn't suck too horribly. Of course, that
> could just be my youthful optimism talking.
> 
> How often have your lines failed?

I think only once in well more than half a decade.  Well, we've had times
when the CO was "unhappy" and we needed to unplug the equipment for 10
minutes to get it back to a usable state.  Three or four times.  But only
had to call once, I think.  I should probably check.  The problem is that
when you need to make any changes, they want those run through the special
services group too.  So you want a PIC line freeze, eh, well, rot in phone
hold hell.  I think they stopped doing that.

> > You *do* get a gorgeous crisp clean signal like nothing you've ever heard
> > before.  But it is a lot of work.
> 
> This is what is so tantalizing about it. I also like the call progress
> information.

Absolutely.  There's no doubt that it has some great aspects.

... JG
-- 
Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net
"We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I
won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN)
With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.