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Cheap ISDN Access for California

Pacific Bell Offers ISDN line, Internet service, and hardware setup for $473.95.

By Yardena Arar, PCWorld   

The Internet Integrated Services Digital Network Pack announced in Las Vegas this week extends to small- and medium-size businesses the same type of ISDN starter kit already available to home users as the ISDN Home Pack. It includes installation of an ISDN line (a $125 value), a Pacific Bell ISDN Internet account (a $49.95 value), and a 3Com Impact IQ external ISDN modem (a $349 value).

Tom Bayless, director of switched digital services for Pacific Bell, explained Wednesday that businesses must pay $523.05 for the kit, but can get a $50 rebate by mailing in an included coupon to the company that operates the nearest local central office, either Lucent or NorTel.

The price assumes conversion of an existing line; for a new line, there%squots an additional setup fee of $70.75. Monthly charges are $32.32 plus up to 62 cents an hour for the ISDN line, and a flat rate of $49.95 for the ISDN Internet account.

%dquotThe box comes preconfigured to work with the Internet account, which comes preconfigured with the line,%dquot Bayless said. %dquotIt takes a lot of the headache out for the customer.%dquot

The kit also comes with the necessary software, multimedia installation assistance on both CD-ROM and videocassette, and a book on using the Internet for business.

Pacific Bell has also announced an Office Pack starter kit for businesses requiring more than ten ISDN lines. The Office Pack starts at about $600 per user and can go up to $1200 if more sophisticated routing equipment is required, Bayless said.

The 3Com ISDN modem can accommodate two analog devices in addition to its digital connection to your PC via serial port. It allows Internet connection at up to 128 kilobits per second, the full ISDN bandwidth; but if an analog call comes through on the line while a user is accessing the Internet, the Internet connection speed drops to accommodate the analog connection. Once the analog call is complete, the ISDN modem automatically reverts to the higher data connection speed.

Except for the book on how to use the Internet for your business, the new kit is identical to the Home Pack kit that Pacific Bell began offering late last year. Monthly charges for PacBell%squots ISDN Internet account are also the same. However home users get a break on monthly ISDN line charges: the base rate is $29.50, and while usage rates are the same as for businesses during the peak hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays, home users get 200 free hours on nights and weekends.

PacBell ISDN services are available to roughly 97 percent of the company%squots service area, which covers most of California. Bayless said the plans may be extended to customers of PacBell parent SBC.