> I understand _why_ Livingston has chosen not to implement BRI support
> on the PM-3, unfortunately the tariffs in many areas make PRI prohibitively
> expensive. In the Chicago area, from Ameritech or MFS it's 2-2.5x as much
> as the equivalent number of BRIs.
In Seattle, USWest charges over 5x more for PRI than 12 BRI's (and you
get the extra channel).
> Competition for local business dialtone should eventually drive the price
> down. PRI service is technically simpler than multiple BRIs, the cost
> to the local loop provider is about as low as you can go, the CPE does
> all the hard work.
> Livingston should research whether anybody is or will develop a product
> to aggregrate a number of BRIs and present them to a PM-3 (or Ascend,etc)
> as a 'virtual PRI'. Yes, you can do this now with a micro 5ESS, but
> that's expensive overkill.
> The actual hardware cost for such a beast would actually be pretty
> minimal, perhaps with a street price of $2K or less.
I would be willing to pay as much as 2 months savings or $3500 per PRI
generated in order to save $35000/mo and user the PM3! And $2k would be
even better!
> E.g. it could accept 11 BRI circuits and present them as a 22 PRI
> B channels, or turn 15 into an E1.
> I'd buy one.
I would buy 20! (and enjoy teaching USWorst the folly of 'premium
pricing'; thats their excuse for why they charge more for a service that
costs less.)
Paul M Mockett Jr
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