[asterisk-users] USA BRI -- any hope at all?

[Jeff LaCoursiere]

On Wed, 28 Jan 2009, Karl Fife wrote:

> One problem with BRI adoption has no doubt been the need for external power
> to the NT1 or TA.
>
> Obviously analog loops are powered by the CO, so much of the benefit of
> ISDN-BRI as the first voice circuit is eroded away for a large percentage of
> the installed base.
>
> From our experience, if you wanted high availability, you ended up with
> something that looked like a comcast digital voice install -- battery
> backups, transformer blocks, external terminal adapters, wire rat's nest
> etc.  It raises the hurdle.
>
> -Karl
>

Not to mention up front install cost.  It was literally ten years ago that 
I had BRI circuits, but I recall having to BUY the NT-1s at several 
hundred bucks a pop.  And then install fees for the engineer.  It was a 
very expensive proposition back then.  I imagine times have changed, as it 
seems that in some areas it can be actually less expensive than two POTS 
lines.  I suppose in rural areas where the installed copper is starting to 
fail you will get better voice quality, but in the city I don't think you 
get much out of it being digital to the house.

j