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RE: HELP: possible to have answering machine over ISDN?



You wrote:
yep... but i wanted to get rid of the modems.... isn't it possible to use
the
ISDN card?

Reply:
Not sure you want to.

You Wrote:
Or is it possible to deflect the incoming call from the ISDNcard to the
modem
when voice is detected?

Reply:
Yes it is, provided you have an analog port on you ISDN card.  If it is a
plugin card you are after, make sure it is supported by Linux.  Most of
these only support one analog line.  Here is another way of looking at it.
You have one copper pair for ISDN.  That copper pair (through magic) is
divided up into three "channels".  2B channels and one D channel.  The two B
channels are 64Kb for voice or data and the D is 16Kb (I think) for
configuration.  You can't use the D channel, the equipment uses it.

You ISDN modem will have at least three connectors.
1. ISDN phone line connector (connects you to phone company)
2. 1 or 2 standard analog phone line connector (also called POTS)
3. One data connector (ISA, if internal card;Serial port if external,
ethernet if router)

Very few ISDN products ever included an analog modem.  The ISDN modem can
only place a digital data call when asked to call out.  You need another
ISDN modem at the other end to answer it.

When you place voice call via the analog POTS port(s), the ISDN modem
digitizes you voice and transmits it digitally to the phone company.  The
phone company converts it to analog and sends it out as if it were any other
voice phone call.  The reverse happens when you receive a call.

If you hook a modem or a fax up to either of the analog ports, it will work
as if it is connected to any other phone line and the fax will never know
the difference.

One caveat.  You only have two channels or lines.  When you place a
"digital" call to you ISP to connect to the internet, the equipment will
first call out on the "primary data" channel.  While this call is in
progress, people will receive a busy signal when they try to call the
primary data number.  The other number will work fine and you will have 64Kb
connection to the internet.

So far, no problem.  To increase bandwidth you can "bond" the two B channels
to form one connection to the internet.  The speed increases to 128Kb, but
you may not be able to use either phone line during the digital call to your
ISP if you bond the channels.

With my phone company, I have ISDN set up for circuit switched voice/data.
This works exceptionally well.  An incoming voice call will cause the
secondary channel to convert to voice and the phone rings.  The bandwidth is
reduced for the duration of the call.

You might consider a serial card and external ISDN TA like the bitsurfer
pro.  My personal favorite is a router.  You just connect to it via
Ethernet.  In Linux, give the IP of you router as the gateway address and
your all set.  Most routers automatically dial when you load your browser
and start sending traffic.  I use the ascend pipeline 75.  Not bad, I guess.
It works.  You can get one on EBay for $200-$250 with internal firewall.
Once you set the router up, forget about it.

I would call you phone company about configuration options and recommended
equipment.  Also contact you ISP for recommendations.  I personally was not
pleased with Webramp or netgear's router.  Both were *very* poor.  I would
go with ascend or cisco.  I've heard cicso doesn't have menus.  Ascend
offers serial port menus or telnet menus.  Personal preference.

Anything else I can help with ?

paul


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruno Boettcher [mailto:bboett@erm1.u-strasbg.fr]
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 1999 4:59 PM
To: Paul McHale
Cc: bboett@erm1.u-strasbg.fr; debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: HELP: possible to have answering machine over ISDN?


> I assume your current method uses the analog phone line...  If it does,
ISDN
exact!

> has two B channels which can be used for voice or data.  Each is 64Kb.  I
> use one for dedicated access.  The other stays data until a voice call
comes
> in and then converts to voice.  On the back of the ISDN device there are
> usually two analog phone ports.  These are used when one of the B channels
> is carrying voice.  I would connect this analog port to you vgetty port.
yep... but i wanted to get rid of the modems.... isn't it possible to use
the
ISDN card?

Or is it possible to deflect the incoming call from the ISDNcard to the
modem
when voice is detected? i would prefer not to have one number for answering
machine and an other for incoming data... (only 3 numbers...)
BTW how is fax handled over ISDN?

--
ciao bboett
==============================================================
bboett@earthling.net
http://inforezo.u-strasbg.fr/~bboett http://erm1.u-strasbg.fr/~bboett
===============================================================
the total amount of intelligence on earth is constant.
human population is growing....


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