Crippling ISDN costs!

[bcorkery]

I don't know how many of you are using ISDN but I just got my bill from AT$T and they decided to add yet another rate increase at the tune of $133 more than last month! Now thy want me to pay $610/month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm seriously considering dropping it completely and do the Source Connect thing exclusively. Even my ADR clients like USA and Warner Brothers are opting for SC over ISDN.

Is that the trend or are a lot of folks just jacking up the price to their clients? I may try that but if clients aren't willing to pay through the nose for ISDN, I can't justify paying what that evil monopoly is asking!

What say you?

[MMP]

I am using Impact Telecom for long distance ISDN and their rates are reasonable.
800-800-8400 is the number on my bill, not sure what number to call for signup.

[Microstudio]

I don't know how many of you are using ISDN but I just got my bill from AT$T and they decided to add yet another rate increase at the tune of $133 more than last month! Now thy want me to pay $610/month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm seriously considering dropping it completely and do the Source Connect thing exclusively. Even my ADR clients like USA and Warner Brothers are opting for SC over ISDN.

Is that the trend or are a lot of folks just jacking up the price to their clients? I may try that but if clients aren't willing to pay through the nose for ISDN, I can't justify paying what that evil monopoly is asking!

What say you?

What are you getting with that $610 payment?

[Dave Labrecque]

I don't know how many of you are using ISDN but I just got my bill from AT$T and they decided to add yet another rate increase at the tune of $133 more than last month! Now thy want me to pay $610/month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm seriously considering dropping it completely and do the Source Connect thing exclusively. Even my ADR clients like USA and Warner Brothers are opting for SC over ISDN.

Is that the trend or are a lot of folks just jacking up the price to their clients? I may try that but if clients aren't willing to pay through the nose for ISDN, I can't justify paying what that evil monopoly is asking!

What say you?

That's nuts, Bill. Is AT&T your local phone service provider or your long distance provider (or both)?

ISDN is going away. It's just taking forever. I say jump ship, if your clients will let you.

[cgrafx]

I see from your profile your located in San Diego.

You should be able to get a business class fiber or Ethernet over Copper connection for half-that. Both of those would provide you with a low-latency Internet connection with an SLA for uptime and signal quality.

You'll have to make some calls to see who is offering service, but you definitely should move to something other than ISDN.

Do a search for "San Diego Fiber" or "San Diego Ethernet over Copper". You want the business class services not consumer. The business class services come with an SLA (Service Level Agreement).

After doing some more digging here are a couple possible replacements for your ISDN services

ipDTL: https://ipdtl.com
bodolgocal: https://www.bodalgo.com/en/call

[bcorkery]

Thanks for the replies. The only thing AT$T is providing is the lines. I use another company for long distance. I'll be looking into those other services.

[bcorkery]

I am using Impact Telecom for long distance ISDN and their rates are reasonable.
800-800-8400 is the number on my bill, not sure what number to call for signup.

Michael, who is your carrier? Long distance isn't the issue, it's just keeping the dial tone alive that AT$T is charging me that insane amount.

[MMP]

It was Verizon, but they left the area and a company called Fairpoint took over. My local bill is about $90.00 a month and my long distance starts around $30.00. I have done a few Source Connect sessions, but they haven’t been solid. A lot of restarts as the quality of the connection deteriorated. I am hoping that will go away after today, as I am having some work done by my ISP. We’ll see.

[Dave Labrecque]

It was Verizon, but they left the area and a company called Fairpoint took over. My local bill is about $90.00 a month and my long distance starts around $30.00. I have done a few Source Connect sessions, but they haven***8217;t been solid. A lot of restarts as the quality of the connection deteriorated. I am hoping that will go away after today, as I am having some work done by my ISP. We***8217;ll see.

That's just about what I was paying in Tucson six years ago. Nice to know at least some folks can still get these rates. Where I am now, in western Massachusetts, Verizon (our local copper phone company) doesn't even offer ISDN anymore so far as I know. I think they stopped offering new service a couple years back for much, if not all, of New England. I assume the trend continues elsewhere in the country, too.

I remember reading Dave Immer's (Digifon) comments a couple years back, though, that there was still some back-handed way to get it, I think. Wasn't cheap, though, IIRC.

[bcorkery]

Source Elements is offering a box that will connect to your Zephyr, or whatever you're using, called V-ISDN. It'll use 2 IP lines and, although it's still over IP, it'll have some redundancy between the 2 IP lines. I'm considering a fiber line and a cable as the redundant line. It'll reduce my cost by two thirds after buying the box! I'm thinking of jumping into SC at the same time since it's being requested with more frequency.