All ISDN People.....

[jay in london]

Please be kind enough to spare 20 seconds ......

I'm just about to have Home Highway installed (after failing adsl line tests) I need to get an internal or external TA .... Can anyone suggest which is the BEST one to get - BRAND and MODEL. Price is not (too within reason) much of an issue.

I understand some of them allow features like adding a normal modem for faxes etc. Any advanced useful features would be nice. I dont need a rolls royce, but i would at least like to have the BMW of TA's.

Any comments on internal/external? Please give a specific model if possible ... and not just 'Asus' in case i end up getting the worst they have ... knowing me!

THANK YOU, VERY MUCH, IN ADVANCE.


Jay-uk

[kalimera]

20 Seconds!, with my typing more like ten minutes. Anyway him8, ok ive got isdn recently and as you put above tried the asus internal 128k terminal adapter; and I ran into an impossible situation which as far as I know was unique to me, in that the card would not let me play any games on any servers due to windows giving me a fatal error at 'ntkern1' which I tracked down and found it to either be a windows driver required for the card or a portion of the asus drivers itself. So i had to find a new ta and have plumped for the eicon diva 2.01 internal pci isdn card. Now this card went straight in 1st time and works perfectly on any game, so for me this card as far as im aware is the best at the moment. I MUST stress this major problem with the asus card was unique to me and will probably work for you, and as its the cheaper of the 2 adapters it will be the one you will probably go for; but just be aware of the problems i faced and more importantly also know there was someone else who had this fault should you get the same, very unlikely result. Ok finally the costs of the 2 cards? The asus is available from http://www.scan.com and costs 28 quid including delivery, while the eicon diva, usually costing 100-120 quid is unusally available at of all places pc world! at a bargainous 49.99 including vat. I believe the eicon is the faster of the two cards giving slightly lower pings, but hey, there are a million variables so dont read too much into these claims. Well m8 I hope this was the sort of answer you were looking for, hope i helped, Kalimera.....

[jay in london]

Very kind Kilimera ... thank u for your input.

Anyone else give any Additional or Alternative info - on my query ?

Thank you in advance, kind sirs,

jay-uk.

[JoelG]

I got an Eicon and its a very nice card, I ping between 35-55 on Btfreem, which is nice!

[Ignot]

I have both the ASUS and DIVA cards at the mo, as I've just replaced the ASUS. It comes with two sets of drivers, VXD and WDM, the first time i installed the ASUS i used the VXD drivers, and this gave me an unfathomably steady ping. which was nice. Now my comp after formatting wont let me use the VXD and I was forced onto WDM, which was ok for d/l's but ****e for games, after several weeks of getting very annoyed whilst trying to get the damn thing to work, I plumped for the DIVA (I have more money than technical knowledge) And i't seems promising, I'm just trying to figure out which is the best mode to connect with.
So I think either/or on the card choice, the ASUS is very cheap, and as I said, is blinding with the VXD drivers, If you can be arsed to get it to work....

[Muttman]

Lo,

I started of with a BTSpeedway (didn't know any better then.) which was to be honest crap, d/ls okay, but pings were pants.

Went out and got me self an ASUS 128k adapter, and never looked back, I've used both the WDM and VXD drivers at different times (basically to see the difference), not had a problem installing the card with either. I think I'm using the VXD ones now, I'll have to check l8a on that one (stuck at work you see). Got mine from SCAN as said above, 28 quid, d/l speeds are good (though this does depend alot on isp/loaction just as much as the card), and pings are sweet and steady, anything from 50-80 range (mainly using BTfree or RHA playing UT).

Not tried the Eicon Diva, but have heard good things.

[jay in london]

Thank guys .... let me confuse things:

I see that the Elcon Diva also comes in USB flavour ... any comments on that?

Looking around there seem to be so many models from some companies ... only one usb though - what do u learned colleages say about 'usb' diva?

OR, ANY OTHER INPUT GLADLY ACCEPTED.

Thank you.


Jay-uk

[Cara]

Thats the first problem I've ever heard of with the Asus not working at all, so that makes it very rare.
The Asus card is by far the most popular and you will get far more support from these boards if you have any questions.
With regards to the WDM and VXD drivers, I've tried both and didn't find any difference whatsoever to pings. I also beleive the latest Asus drivers are WDM only.
You won't go wrong buying either the Eicon or the Asus but for less than 30 notes it seems mad to spend more?.
Oh, avoid an external TA, though they are by far the easiest to get going, the serial port kneecaps them and the USB ones have crappy drivers.
GL.

[Muttman]

Gotta agree with the above regarding internal/external adapters.

I read somewhere (pcformat or summink similar) that for modems external are better, but for ISDN internal pci cards are your best bet.

[deejaycee]

double that!

[rat770]

Don't get an external USB ISDN T/A they are pants, I tried one made by Asus and it was so bad I sent it back.

You are much better getting an internal ISDN PCI card, I have one made by longshine which gives me pings as low as 35, they cost about £30, like the Asus PCI card it is a passive card meaning it uses the CPU. The Eicon Diva Pro is a semi active card that has its own DSP, so it uses less CPU than a passive card. With a slower CPU it might be worth paying the extra for the Diva Pro ( about £125 ). I do not know at what speed of CPU you would loose the benefit of having a Diva Pro.

Rat.

[ConquerorUK]

Well Jay My Son I think that answers our questions as to The External , Internal question , take your pick with Asus or Diva ( Knowing you .. you'll go for the Diva ) That thats' left for u to know is Which ISP will give u 128K without paying out more ? Red Hot Ant ?

[kalimera]

What an informative and stimulating thread!, my final say on dual access is try igclick, http://www.igclick.com . It allows dual channel access at no extra cost, and the performance is excellent. As for the card debate, the only reason i splashed on the diva is because as per my lenghty explanation above, it just refused to work, it was just to make you aware there has been 1 problem!, any way cheerz all, that just about wraps this thread up, kalimera.....