ISDN, Portmaster 2e and "ISDN modems"

Robert Mah (rmah@angel.net)
Thu, 21 Sep 1995 00:25:32 -0400

A few of our clients are demanding ISDN yesterday. So, we're taking
the plunge. We'll be experimenting with ISDN very soon, but until
Livingston's own 5 BRI card for the Portmaster comes out, I'm thinking
of using a few of those "ISDN modem" jobbers with our existing
Portmaster 2e.

So, I have a few questions:

Which TA should we use? I've heard both good and bad things about
boxes from Motorola, 3Com, and Adtran.

- I understand the Moto Bitsurfer doesn't do MP, so that's out.
But the newer Bitsurfer Pro will. Do Adtran ISU Express or
3Com Impact do MP?

- Does anyone have any hellish interoperability stories they
want to share?

- Anyone have any preferences for either of these (or other)
units?

Second, how is setup on the customer's side? We're thinking of
recomending Compatible Systems MicroRouter 900i routers + whichever
ISDN TA we decide on. Anyone have any experience with the 900i they
feel like sharing? Should we recomend an integrated ISDN->Ethernet
router like the Ascend Pipeline 50 instead?

Finally, we'll be using the sub-netting feature on the Portmaster to
route specific subnets to our customer LAN's. Any gotcha's I should
be aware of here?

Cheers,
Rob
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Robert S. Mah Angel Networks rmah@angel.net http://www.angel.net/