From owner-freebsd-hardware Fri Jul 5 14:18:16 1996 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id OAA12065 for hardware-outgoing; Fri, 5 Jul 1996 14:18:16 -0700 (PDT) Received: from jparnas.cybercom.net (jparnas.cybercom.net [206.28.135.58]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id OAA12060 for ; Fri, 5 Jul 1996 14:18:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost.cybercom.net (localhost.cybercom.net [127.0.0.1]) by jparnas.cybercom.net (8.6.10/8.6.10) with SMTP id QAA03102; Fri, 5 Jul 1996 16:59:51 -0400 Message-Id: <199607052059.QAA03102@jparnas.cybercom.net> X-Authentication-Warning: jparnas.cybercom.net: Host localhost.cybercom.net didn't use HELO protocol To: Michael Hancock cc: Michael Smith , stesin@elvisti.kiev.ua, Kevin_Swanson@blacksmith.com, hardware@freebsd.org, bsdi-users@bsdi.com X-External-Networks: yes Subject: Re: muliport boards - building a PPP dialup server In-reply-to: Your message of Sun, 30 Jun 1996 08:45:08 +0900. Date: Fri, 05 Jul 1996 16:59:47 -0400 From: "Jacob M. Parnas" Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk In message you write: >On Sat, 29 Jun 1996, Michael Smith wrote: > >> This is just stupid. Look at the huge installed base of 14k and 28k >> modems, and the phenomenal cost of ISDN services in most of the world. > >Japan is one of the places where it's relatively cheap. Of course the >cost of using a regular telephone line is outrageous compared to what >we are used to in the US. > >mike Things will change. Remember how expensive V.34 or V.fast was at first, or CD's or calculators, or digital watches, or P6 processors? When they were announced, the 200 Mhz ones were $1325 in Quant. 1000. I've recently seen the same thing for about $750, just about 9 months later. Yes, today ISDN is expensive. But I heard that in some parts of California ISDN costs the same as regular analog phones. This will spread. Things are not static, and just as I'm sure the designers of UARTs that couldn't go faster than 19200 baud reliably even after problems with earlier ones and the relatively low cost of much faster ones, felt that they were doing the best, but for analog modems, most good connections these days are at 115, 200 baud. So while ISDN isn't mainstream today that doesn't mean it won't be soon. Jacob