2 - Sunday, December 15, 1996 - North Shore News The Information Highway comes to your doorstep. The number of everyday users crusing the Information Highway either from home or from a small office is rising at a small office is rising at a dramatic pace. Consumers are discovering its power to bring the world right to their desktops. Like larger businesses, smaller users need speed and efficiency. But smaller customers usually can't afford to pay the bucks for the big engines that larger businesses use to cruise ~ and that can make traveling on the information Highway feel less like whizzing down an autobahn and more like a bumpy ride down a slow, winding road. Well, just because you're not big business doesn't mean you should compramise. And you won't have to anymore, thanks to the new iSDN@HOME (integrated Services Digital Network) service from BC TEL Advanced Communications that’s rapidly merging the worlds of business and heme. WELCOME TO ISDN@home ISDN@HOME takes the ISDN Microlink™ service available to businesses and offers it to residential customers at a reasonable price. Customers running home offices or working at home after regular work hours can also take advantage of this new service. ISDON@HOME offers the same ability as Microlink to turbocharge your telephone line, transforming it into two channels that carry information at 64 Kbps each. The two channels can be used independently to carry any type of communication involving voice, data, graphics or video images. Or, they can be combined to give you the power of 128 Kbps. Either way, ISDN puts even the fastest modems on the market to shame - it's five times the speed of a 28.8 Kbps modem. And, unlike a modem, you get ail the kilobits you pay for. So long as the line is working, you will get absolutely no line degradation. Having two high-speed, high-volume channels coming through your special ISDN phone line expands your communications options. If, for example, you love surfing the Net but you have only one phone line and don’t want to constantly tie it up, SDN@HOME gives you the ability to surf and still take your incoming calls at the same time. One channel can be devoted to Internet access while the other can be used for voice. Or, if you want to hamess the power of both channels for surfing, you can download large files and call up complex graphics with the speed and ease of 128 Kbps. Not just fos the “little guys” Large businesses can take advantage of SON@HOME as well. The new service is ideal for the employee who . is a part-time telecommuter, or one who takes advantage of after office hours to do extra assignments or work that can’t be finished during the day. The ISDN fines can allow them to directly access company databases, for example, as though they've never left the office. Rita Brown, BC TEL Advanced Communications’ Assistant Vice-President ot Marketing, says SDN@HOME offers a larger company a reasonably priced solution to meet these needs. "Having the flexibility to work from outside the office is becoming increasingly important to many companies and their employees. This is especially true in a global economy, when more and more of us are working on other peopie’s hours from other parts of the world. SON@HOME is about expanding choice and expanding options to not only consumers, but to businesses as well." An expanding world of choice Customers can take advantage of ISDN@HOME's speed and convenience for $55 a month per line, and ~ beginning in early 1997 - $1 for each aduitional hour after 100 hours (this is calculated by adding the number of hours used on each channel). Subscribers will also need to buy a terminal adaptor unit with an NT-1 (a network termination unit that translates ISDN signals originating from the network switch) in order to adapt equipment such as a computer, fax or phone to the ISDN-modified phone fine. Prices for an adaptor will vary, depending on the type of equipment that will s.cet the customer's specific appiication needs Although the residential ISDN service 1s not available in all areas of thee Lower Muumland, it is offered to customers in Victoria, Duncan, Priace George, Kelowna and Vancouver. The service will expand to include other communities over the next two years. By 1998, about 95 per cent of British Columbia's popuation will have access to this high-suced service. In the end, says Brown, 11 all bods down te providing choice and broadenitig our options. “What I'm really excited abour :s the fact that by expanding our iSDN availability through ISON@HOME, more people in BC. will have more choices. Choices in speed, in price - all the things we believe will encourage universal access to the Information Highway and improve the quality of fife for British Columbians.” All about ISDN * ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) is a communications technology that provides full digital,end-to-end communications. It transforms a tegular copper telephone line into two independant,64 Kbps channels that can be used for any type of voice, data,graphic or video communication. . ¢ Alternatively, ISON users can combine the two channels for a full 128 Kbps to power high-volume data transmission and internet access. ¢ Asingle ISDN line can be used for two puposes simultaneously, For example, a user can be surfing the tnternet and taking an incorning call. Or, phone calls can be made while running a fax transmission. « A standard modem is not required to use ISDN service. However a terminal adapter - also known as a digital modem is needed. A variety of terminal adapters priced from about $293 are available through retail outlets and other telecommunications equipment suppliers. The type of adapter required depends upon a user's application needs. Customers should also ensure they purchase an adapter that is compatible with their Internet service. © ISDN service for business customers was first introduced by BC Tel in 1993. Microlink™ is the Stentor Alliance's trademark for the ISON Basic Rate (nterface-also known as 2B+D ISDN- and provides 2 x 64 Kbps or 1 x 128 Kbps speeds. Megalink™ is the trade name for Primary Rate Interface, or 23B+D ISDN. Megalink service is a high-speed access connection for PBXs, host computers and bandwidth managing inverse multiplexers. Megalink provides 23 channels at 64 Kbps eech.