🚀 go-pugleaf

Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> wrote:
>Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>dye <dye11@adsl-64-108-194-61.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net> wrote:
>>>Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> wrote:
>>>>Bruce Esquibel <bje@ripco.com> wrote:
>>>>>dye <dye@adsl-64-108-194-61.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net> wrote:

>>>>>>At the time, chicagonet.net didn't detect two 64k connections,
>>>>>>so I got all the computers in the network 128K access for
>>>>>>$15/month....a bit of an improvement over 40k "dialout"

>>>>>Hmm, that doesn't sound right.

>>>>>Maybe they didn't detect it but must of permitted it, the channel bonding
>>>>>for ISDN was mostly an option to support, I don't think it was "on" by
>>>>>default with most hardware.

>>>>>Besides the profile to support the bonding, the stuff we used
>>>>>(livingston and 3com) I think used a stock profile setting
>>>>>"Line-Limit=1" so if someone borrowed someone elses login and tried
>>>>>to use it, both connections were dropped.

>>>>>I'm just saying, was probably more intentional than accidental.

>>>>>Maybe they outsourced.

>>>>I think I used chicagonet if it was the NT (really) based ISP that just 
>>>>rented dialup pool connections from level3 or something like that.

>>>>lots of those places really didn't know if you had both channels up. It 
>>>>took RCN years to notice I (and everybody) was doing that.

>>>They had two different price plans, so not intentional.  I seem to 
>>>remember my one data line being "dialed out" most of the time.
>>>Since it was a "Band A" call, it was 5 cents, untimed.

>>Timed data call is the stupidity that prevented ISDN from being more
>>widely deployed and kept numerous people on modems who would have
>>bought digital service instead.

>Was this strictly because it was data or a "business" type service?

Timed service was their one size fits all business model. There are still
a handful of voice call rates today with a higher charge for the first
minute, you know, 'cuz it pays the wages of the operator who sets up
the call.

>I'm sure this changed at some point, but as I recall businesses always 
>payed per minute for their calls and didn't get the flat rate or callpack 
>stuff consumers got. With the ISDN stuff, unless you said it was home 
>service, you'd pay the always higher business rates even if you never 
>placed a call.

At an office I use in the Loop, there is a single line business phone. We
pay per minute. The only other choice is an untimed nationwide calling
plan, but the price is excessive versus our calling needs, with nothing
in between. Our per minute rates for local calls are significantly higher
than wat we pay for long distance. Unfortunately, as the long distance
company is a reseller and our calls could be routed via one of several
carriers, if we used the dial around code to complete local calls, we
wouldn't be billed at the same rates.

>At least in 1997 or 1998 they had the untimed rates for under x distance 
>for businesses. Even then and for years after your first ISDN bill was 
>anxiously waited to see if you were lied to about how much a call would 
>really cost. Around that time I was at a place that had multiple ISDN 
>lines tied between chicago and addison until we could have the badass T1 
>moved over. As you might guess, that first phone bill was quite amusing. 
>It still wasn't cool enough to come in a box though.

I've seen bills like that, sure.

>The other deregulation era complete joke was "reciprocal compensation"- 
>where in theory, ameritech would pay you to terminal a phone call if you 
>did it digitally or though your own switch or something like that. Of 
>course they never payed unles you sued for so many years that everybody 
>forogt what the suit was even about.

Interesting. I didn't know that was supposed to be done.