ISDN Faq's   What exactly is ISDN?     The Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) was designed by the United Nations with the ultimate goal of allowing any communications equipment to plug into any phone jack anywhere in the world.      While this goal is still many years from fulfilment, ISDN service is proving to be an extremely reliable and fast means of transmitting digital voice and data over existing copper wires, fibre optics, and satellite channels.      The difference between the analogue telephone service most of us are still using and ISDN is similar to the difference between LP records and CD-ROMs.       The digital service of ISDN will allow more information to be sent more reliably at higher densities and speeds, and in most cases without changing the telephone wiring in your house or building!    The telephone system is in principle analogue. Even if the phone you are using is connected to a digital telephone exchange, the link from where you make a call to the exchange is analogue and the same applies for the place you are phoning to.      ISDN is completely digital, which makes the connection instantaneous, as no conversions have to be made. ISDN also suffers far less from transmission errors as the lines are less noisy than telephone lines. The result is that an ISDN Dial-up connection compared to a modem Dial-up connection is more reliable and faster. Requirements What is needed for an ISDN connection? a computer. a telephone connection point. a subscription with an Internet Provider with ISDN capabilities at the end of the provider. a line box, provided by telecommunication providers such as BT. This replaces the previous telephone wall connection. A line box has two sockets for RJ-45 connectors, which look different from telephone connectors. on the computer with which you want to view the data, received over the ISDN line you need between the linebox and the computer a TA (Terminal Adaptor, sometimes called an ISDN modem), which is the equivalent of a modem. This can be external like a modem, or an ISDN card inside your computer. For PCs there are ISA bus cards. For Macintoshes there are NuBus cards. the ISDN equipment must support 64K synchronous PPP. This requirement can be checked in the manuals or with the supplier. cables to connect the line box to the TA or to the modem card. software, which must support PAP authentication Internal cards need drivers. The next version of Turnpike will have support for most obscure cards. Good TAs look like modems in a Windows environment, so most Windows communication software will work with the TAs. A router can be used with your ISDN connection providing that you also use NAT (Network Address Translation). By clicking on the next page button below it will take you directly to our troubleshooting guide