* Anyone in need of a free ISDN modem?
Apologies to Allan Gurganus, author of “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All,” and admitting a slight – but ever-so-slight – exaggeration. Last time, we mentioned a question from a reader. An abbreviated form of what the reader wrote concerning our January 2006 newsletter titled “ISDN: Still looking for the last user” included:
“I read your articles(s) on the demise(?) of ISDN and the users that were still using ISDN. I have been trying to GIVE AWAY FREE an ISDN modem for quite a while now. I have basically Craigslist’ed it in several large metro markets. I am contacting you to see if any of the individuals that wrote in to describe their present ISDN use would be interested in a FREE ISDN modem.”
The reader’s ad says, “FREE: ISDN Modem located in Pewaukee (suburb of Milwaukee), Wisconsin. YOU PAY SHIPPING. ISDN Modem IS FREE! ISDN Modem is free simply because I don’t need or want it any more and I don’t want to see it end up in a landfill. I tried to give it away locally (Milwaukee WI) but no takers. I am now trying much larger metropolitan areas.” He then continues with details of the modem.
Sorry, but we don’t know of any takers. But we will let the reader know if there are any takers. (By the way, Steve also has two or three ISDN modems with a similar offer.) And Steve also has a really cool ISDN termination device that was manufactured by “JetStream” that added cool voice management features to data termination functions. That one deserves a spot in the “History of Telecommunications” museum that he should clean out his closet and build someday.
But it’s not clear that BRI services are even being sold; they’re clearly not being pushed. Searching for “ISDN” at www.bellsouth.com provided only limited information with instructions to call if interested in ordering, and searching for “BRI” produced only a definition of the term. So we’ll certainly welcome input from any service providers and their take on the future of the service.
