BT have announced that they are to scrap their consumer ISDN service, reports PC Pro Magazine.
Before ADSL and Cable Broadband connections were prevalant, ISDN (and the “Home Highway” service in particular) was a godsend to those of us lumbered with POTS dial-up connections (which was just about everyone back then!).
Although 64kbps (128kbps “bonded”) doesn’t sound a lot compared to todays 8mb+ connections, the “instant on” style of ISDN connection and faster-than-dial-up speeds began to open many eyes to what would be possible in the future with an “always on” connection.
With the near blanket broadband coverage now available in the UK, such consumer ISDN services simply aren’t needed anymore – although I’m waiting for stories from some rural communities where broadband isn’t available and ISDN is still used…
Goodbye “Home Highway”, we may not miss you when you go, but we’re glad you were around back in the day.
Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
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3 thoughts on Bye Bye BT Home Highway
MATT
3RD APRIL 2007 15:13:59
While I never knew the sweet delight of ISDN personally, I shed a tear for the passing of the single coolest way to visit your favorite BBS' back in 'the day'
CHRIS
3RD APRIL 2007 15:22:11
I never recall connecting to any BBS's with ISDN - they were all strickly analogue unless they where 56k enabled.
RICHARD
3RD APRIL 2007 15:27:38
From memory, I connected to Demon Internet (who were *the* ISP back in the day) at 64kbps or 128kbps. If I recall Compuserve also allowed ISDN connections, as did CIX. Individual BBS' rarely had ISDN access, although the bigger ones (Apricot BBS in Edgbaston springs to mind) had ISDN lines to use. By the time I was using Home Highway though, I'd pretty much moved completely from the FidoNet BBS family to using KA9Q and the Internet "proper".