Re: tlug: US Robotics Courier I

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

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tlug note from "Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>
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>>>>> "Yuri" == Yuri Anissimov <youri@example.com> writes:

    Yuri> Folks, anybody knows anything about US Robotics Courier I
    Yuri> Modems?  It is Courier V plus ISDN adapter, $429 internal.
    Yuri> Will it be compatible with japanese ISDN?  Sincerely, Yuri

>>>>> "Andy" == Andrew S Howell <andy@example.com> writes:

    Andy> My guess would be no. It seems that though ISDN is a
    Andy> "standard", it it open to interpretation. In particular, it

Pity, that.

    Andy> depends on who makes the switching equipment at the
    Andy> telephone company. A ISDN TA has to have software to deal
    Andy> with all the various "Switches" that it can connect to. In
    Andy> Japan, the TA needs to be able to connect to INS, I
    Andy> think. Check with USR and see if they specifically support
    Andy> INS-64. From what I've seen so far, most vendors make
    Andy> special versions for Japan. This is rather frustrating,

Japan has lots of special requirements, like a 3-minute waiting time
before redialing.  Fortunately, none of the other special local
parameters seem to matter, so I changed my international version
back to US with the configuration tool.  :-)

What USR and 3Com, anyway, do is the reverse.  They make a special
version for the US, with no national regulation compliance firmware.
Thus, cheaper.  Not only are half of the host population in the US and
Canada, but they are much more connection-intensive so the market is
much bigger there.

Of course, this doesn't explain the price doubling.  the fact that
when I order a modem from a Tokyo company, somebody hand delivers it
to Tsukuba and installs it might....

    Andy> because they tend to leave to pricing to the local
    Andy> distributors, thus raping the consumer for more than twice
    Andy> the US price.  :( Japanese ISDN products seem to be priced
    Andy> much more in line with US prices, well, maybe at 25%
    Andy> premium.

    Andy> Arrrrgggg,

Me, too!

-- 
                            Stephen J. Turnbull
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences                    Yaseppochi-Gumi
University of Tsukuba                      http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/
Tel: +81 (298) 53-5091;  Fax: 55-3849              turnbull@example.com
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