just getting a landline at my new place, i want an internet connection at home, we have adsl at work which is great but i dont want to shell out so much everymonth for home access, as it will be mainly for downloading the odd driver and checking emails(i have never played multi player online, would an isdn alow me to?).
now i can either get a isdn modem and connection or the 56k analogue one with a minimal differance in mothly costs. i have an internal modem in my pc, can this be used only for 56k or do i need to get an external isdn one?
well depending on where you live, you should be able to get dsl cheap, isdn these days isn't even worth bothering with since it can be costly as well...
ISDN is USUALLY more expensive than dialup. I assume they quoted you a price for single channel only which is 64K. Frankly single channel ISDN is no better than a good dialup. I wouldn't bother with ISDN unless you can get dual channel 128Mbit, but I'll bet that it's almost the same price as DSL.
You also USUALLY have to buy the modem yourself. An ISDN modem is a special modem and NOT the same as your existing modem. You usually want an external (which means you need a serial port) and they aren't cheap (couple of hundred last I checked, but it's been a while).
I think you'll find there's a LOT of hidden costs with ISDN. For ISDN you need a seperate digital phone line installed. That's usually an extra fee on your phone bill, and then on top of that you pay for ISDN internet access (which is usually more than dialup). Usually there's also a big installation fee.
With ISDN (as with cable or DSL) there's usually also a minimum 1 year contract. If it turns out you don't like the service, you may be stuck paying a penalty to cancel the contract (usually a couple of hundred dollars, or the cost of the modem if they lease it to you).
The only way you save anything at all with ISDN is if you eliminate your regular phone line and replace it with the digital line, but then you need a special ISDN modem (more expensive than a regular one) that you can connect your phone to that allows you to use the 2nd channel as a phone line. While you use this line for the phone it is unavailable for ISDN so you're down to a 64K conenction whenever you pickup the phone (it automatically bumps up to 128K when you get off the phone).
There's also a lot of complexity to setting up ISDN (or there used to be - again it's been a while since I set one up). There are different standards and you need to confirm that the hardware you buy is compatible with your provider's network and is configured properly.
Frankly I wouldn't waste my time on ISDN.
I'd shop around for the best DSL price. There's a lot of competition. If you're in a metropolitan area you probably have more than one DSL provider. You don't have to deal with the phone company.
DSL and cable is generally about twice as much as dialup in most areas (usually the same cost as buying a dialup and a 2nd phone line).
You should also call your cable TV company if you already have cable TV, you may get a better rate.
Is there someone nearby you can share the broadband with (are you in an apartment for instance or a townhouse or are your neighbor's homes closely space to yours)? You could split the cost of DSL or cable with a neighbor and share it with a wireless router. Secure it with encryption though, so no one else can mooch it.
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“The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.” - Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez
you are right after investigating its only around 25$ p/m more for adsl (i live in south africa)but the full adsl is quite a bit more. i do stay in a townhouse complex but dont know anyone yet.
i just got a normal line yesterday to get me on while waiting to decide, hmm after inputting everything into the settings, it trys to dial but ont connect, after an hour with there "technical" support team and after he told me to uninstall my internal modem, then told me they would call back(which they didnt) i now sit with no modem,i cant find the software for it?
are external modems better than internal? i would rather pop out to the shops and get myself one and install than wait or fight with these guys to get my internal up and running?
thanks for the replies, i think adsl is the way to go or i burst which is roughly the same money
best way to figure out the modem is to see if there are any markings on it - if so you can google for the drivers - a lot of modern modems are software and do not five as much throughput as a hardware modem which may be external
if you got a driver sidk with your computer, you should be able to install your modem by doing the add/remove hardware sequence in control panel and telling it to look for drivers on the disk
if you can't find a driver on the disk you can try selecting "generic 56k modem" from the install menu and see if it will work with the generic windows drivers
i remember having issues setting various modems up at times - basically trying to get it to install to the right com port - but it has been several years since I had to fool with it and don't remember all the steps
if you do go with dial-up, us robotics used to make very solid external modems which were hardware bases - they can be found in the us for about $30 used ....
If this was an OEM computer, you should have a disc with modem drivers on it. If it was custom built it'll be a seperate disc that has the modem's manufacturer on it. If it was a brand name computer like Dell or HP then ALL the drivers will be on one disc together usually.
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“The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.” - Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez
