WHY ISDN

WHY ISDN
INSTEAD
OF ANALOG

KINDS OF ISDN
EQUIPTMENT

FEATURES

TO CONNECT
2 THE NET

BUFFER DELIVERS
THE MAIL

SETTING UP
YOUR OWN INTRANET

The first section is the LT side or Line Termination side. This belongs to the phone company, and is best forgotten. The second is called the NT side or Network Termination. This is where the phone company's wires meet your wires. The NT connection has two wires that connect to your equipment, Buffer will explain in more detail shortly. The last section is the S/T (I can't remember what it stands for) connection. Sometimes this is only a "logical" connection. That means you can't touch it, or see it.

1. Network Terminating Equipment
   1. What is an NT1 An NT1 is a box that has a physical connection for both the NT and the S/T connection. Several devices like an ISDN adapter, ISDN phone, etc. can be connected to it. These *must* have an S/T connector on them.

   2. What is an NT2 An NT2 is a box that has an NT connection only. The S/T connection is a logical connection, and is inside the NT2. The devices that can connect to an NT2 are usually just regular phones, FAX machines, modems, computers, ethernets, etc. Most ISDN equipment used inside North America is NT2. This is cheaper because you don't have to purchase an NT1 separately.

2. Bridging/Routing vs. Terminal Adaptors.
   There are three classes of ISDN adapters out there:
   1. Plug in Cards These "plug into" the buss on your PC and can either look like a Serial Interface (modem) or a Network Interface Adapter (NIC) to your computer. They're practically the most inexpensive kinds of ISDN adapters.

   2. Serial Interface Terminal Adapters These are similar to modems, and if you are using a modem now, you should be able to upgrade to a Serial Interface Terminal Adapter without much trouble. The equipment will be mostly familiar but you may have a few problems configuring your ISDN line correctly, and dealing with a new modem, different command line strings, etc.

   3. ISDN Bridge/Router Equipment Description Buffer likes this kind of equipment the most. Because it connects to an ethernet interface it is both faster and more economical since you can connect multiple hosts through a single ISDN line. You need to know something about I/P networking to successfully hook one up. It's more complicated but well worth the effort.

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