ISDN Haters...

steve-o87

It seems everyone these days hates ISDN! WHY??

I like learning about it, it's not that hard. I always found WAN technologies easy to grasp even from when I started the CCNA.

Here's a nice ISDN tutorial
There are some Docs on ISDN zone about isdn products they offer and their take on it

I would also recommend the Broadband Telecommunications Handbook for any aspiring networking god(It covers ISDN too). It is an amazing in depth book that I use as a supplement and it covers everything from satellite to mmds to ATM to whatever - I'll be using this one up to IE level :P

Thoughts?!?

bmauro

I'll just post my little rant.

The reason I dislike ISDN is that its difficult (and expensive) to get equipment to test on (I don't like sims since they don't always work the way you'd think they would.

Also - I'm still pretty young (27) in the IT world and have never seen ISDN before in the work environment, and at my current employment, I never will.

There is a slim chance that I might run into it whenever I would switch jobs in the future, but I'm guessing that a few years down the road the chances of running into ISDN will be even slimmer. So for me the dislike is that it's a dying technology that more than likely, I will never touch - so my interest is very low for something that I will never see.

Kwing

I just think in general it's overly complicated to get it going and tested. Once it's up, sure, it's fine. But I'd rather use a broadband service for my backup interface than use ISDN.

Also this goes into my hate for most Telco vendors. Just a gigantic pain to work with.

That said, I need to get over it, or I'm going to fail again on the 27th .

keenon

interesting book. i think i will check it out

MrD

I love working with ISDN! I've only messed with it in lab, but I have access to several Adtran 550's which simulate PSTN, Frame, T1, BRI...they rock!

thisisalex02

I been in a few noc locations and not once have i seen isdn.. im sure its being used, but i just dont like it.. thank god bcran is done

PCHoldmann

I agree with bmauro, same problem with IS-IS, while both are still used, they are not in common use for most networking professionals, and I think that most of what is there are existing installations that don't get touched too much, making practical experience difficult. The fact that ISDN is on the decline, and will likely be phased out almost entirely (except PRI in a VoIP environment) soon makes the study seem kind of useless, which never helps.

It is also an expensive prospect to get test equipment, unless you have access through other sources.

My 2 cents

TuNeS

I agree with all your points. I live in Australia and it is still used a lot as a backup technology and as a technology where frame is too expensive and it is the last thing left to use. I don't understand what is so hard about configuring it though....never really had a problem. ISDN PRI is still used in a lot of places for voice and for areas that have no other technology and still require an E1.

Paul Boz

I'm 21 years old and I've worked in telecom since I was 18 and in the tens of thousands of customers that we aggregate I think we have two or three ISDN customers, and in my nearly four years of employment I've never had to deal with them. In fact, I think there's maybe one person in my entire company that can configure ISDN, because we simply don't deal with it any more. I think that it's important to have a general understanding of ISDN and other legacy WAN technologies, but I think it's a little unreasonable to expect people to be able to configure ISDN from memory when there's a VERY solid chance they'll never see it in their personal or professional lives. The new CCNA exams barely talk about ISDN and hopefully the revamped CCNP exams will seriously phase out ISDN as well.

wildfire

wow, ISDN in the UK is still used as a backup service, mainly in areas where xDSL isnt available, the provisioning of ISDN bri is very easy, and no SPID's in the UK

Humper

wildfire wrote:

wow, ISDN in the UK is still used as a backup service, mainly in areas where xDSL isnt available, the provisioning of ISDN bri is very easy, and no SPID's in the UK

Where i work ISDN is used as a backup service if the primary fails...This is managed through AT&T.

steve-o87

It's great to see it from everyone point of view, I have only ever used it in a home lab but I do find it interesting.

It seems there is sort of a 50/50 love/hate thing going on with ISDN.
The book mentioned above does explain on more of a nuts and bolts level as opposed to actually configuring it.

You might run in to it one day...

Cheers,
Stephen