Jim,
> I think you just simply show to all again that VISONS are fun to have but that
> you have no idea on what it takes to realize such "visions"
I am sure you are right that I still have a lot to learn about what is required
to realize a vision, especially one as ambitious as the Oudeis one. Let me
share some things I think I *do* know.
People who set up bands in clubs and festivals are used to dealing with a thing
called 'the snake.' Do you know what I am talking about here? Big, fat,
multi-strand cable, like a bus. When they come to the jargon of
telecommunication companies, they envision that a 'dedicated line' is their own
personal snake, that fractional T1 is a bigger snake, T1 an even bigger snake,
and so on. This is an understandable delusion, but a delusion nonetheless.
These terms, including ISDN, are best understood as the names of packages in
which telcoms market specific combinations of services. There is no big snake,
little snake. A dedicated line requires a minor wiring change in the box where
the phone line comes into your house.. As BC Tel customer support workers say,
"If you are *at all* handy, you can do this yourself." ISDN is a little more
complex. I have a copy of the wiring guide and specifications I can send you if
you like. Maybe you already know it all. I can't tell from anything I have seen
you do.
Possibly the wiring modifications for ISDN are different in Europe from those in
the US and Canada. If anyone on the list can provide some inforamation on this
*before* our people arrive in Freiburg and find they can't plug in their
equipment, that would be a *real* help.
All in all, it may do you some good to know what we are getting when we get
access to ISDN service. I was getting papers from 1st year students on ISDN in
1982, so it is not new. In fact, some pundits will tell you that its 'time is
past.' 'But not in Europe,' they say. In Europe ISDN is experiencing a revival
because it provides fairly high bandwidth at low cost--and it can be carried
over a POTS with *copper* wires. That makes it a fairly democratic system. Not
everyone has a sugar daddy who is going to buy them T1 service to play with. And
some parts of the world have yet to protect themselves against the nuclear
magnetic blast effect by converting to fibre optical cable. Someone up there may
like the idea that the service they are giving Oudeis is relatively cheap and
accessible. If so, we should make the most of it. They may hope to see their
logos farther away from Vienna than Linz.
Ciao!
-- Jim Terral South Slocan, BC http://www.netidea.com/~jterral/ http://moo.hawaii.edu/athemoo/WebMOO.html