Subject: REVIEW: ISDN Master
From: [email-masked] (Alan Berney)
Date: 27 Mar 1994 22:51:59 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	ISDN Master rev.2, WilhelmTel V1.187

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	This is the first board for Amiga that allows you to connect your
computer to an ISDN network.  It turns your Amiga into a powerful phone
answering machine and high-speed ISDN modem.

	WARNING:	Before using this product, be sure it complies with
			the FCC regulations in your country.  Also contact
			your phone company.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		BSC buroautomation
	Address:	Lerchenstrasse 5
			W8000 Muenchen 50
			GERMANY

	Telephone:	+ 49 89 357 130-0
	FAX:		+ 49 89 357 130-99

	E-mail:		Available on request

LIST PRICE

	About DM 900.00

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		ISDN phone line (contact your phone company).
		Amiga 2000/3000/4000.
		Hard disk strongly recommended.
		Phone handset (not included) would be very useful.

	SOFTWARE

		AmigaDOS 2.0 or higher

COPY PROTECTION

	None.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	Amiga 3000/25, 2MB Chip RAM, 8MB Fast RAM
	1 internal 880K floppy.
	1 Quantum 500 MB internal hard drive.
	2 Quantum 100 MB internal hard drives.
	1 Sony CD-ROM.
	AmigaDOS 3.1.

INSTALLATION

	Software installation is done with Commodore's Installer program.
It is very easy to install, and the installation script is very well
documented.  The version of the software in the box is 1.0, but there are
many patches available almost everywhere, or directly from BSC.

	The card is a bit hard to plug it in, as the dial does not fit in
the opening. You have to remove the guide for the card. The "jumpers" are
set for USA regulations - you may find in the manual the correct positions
for European standards.

	Once the software in installed, you have to set it to the network
type you're using. The board has been successfully tested in the USA, France,
Switzerland, Germany and Great Britain.  It might work in many other
different countries, although nobody has tested it.

WHAT IS ISDN ANYWAY??

	ISDN is to an analog phone line like what a CD is to an LP.  An ISDN
line has almost no line noise, and it allows you to transfer data at a much
higher rate than on regular analog lines.

	ISDN allows you to use, on a single line, a telephone, faxes (class
4 or lower), visual-conferences, high-speed data transfers, etc.

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

	(Note: This may slightly vary from country to country)

	ISDN allows you to transmit informations "digitally" instead of the
regular "analog" way.

	With each phone line, you get 10 different phone numbers. You may
set one different phone number per device connected to the network.  For
example, you may have a telephone, a fax, a BBS and an answering machine,
all on one line, without any conflict.

	ISDN lines may carry two communications at the same time.
Information is transmitted via two B-channels (binary) at 64 Kbits per
second each. There is also a D-channel (data) at 16 Kbits per second which
carries information such as Caller-ID, tax information, busy signal, etc...

THE HARDWARE

	In the box, there is one ZORRO II ISDN board, one printed manual,
one 3.5" disk, and a special wire to connect the card to ISDN.

	On the card, there are about ten chips (surface mounted), 7 jumpers,
two connectors for ISDN-IN and ISDN-OUT, one connector for a phone handset
(not included), a CINCH connector for Audio-in, and a dial to set the gain.

DIGITAL MODEM

	ISDN-MASTER does not allow you to connect on "regular" analog
modems, but you may connect to any other ISDN compatible device.  The
software supports X.75 and V.110 protocols.  X.75 goes up to 64000 baud
(!!), and V.110 goes up to 38400 baud!

	The "bscisdn.device" emulates a Hayes-compatible modem and may be
used as replacement for the "serial.device".  As there may be two
connections at the same time, one card has two "units".

	The transfer rates are around 7800 cps (tested with TERM 3.4) I also
tried to connect from unit 0 to unit 1 and make a transfer, and I got the
same results! There is NO CPU wait time!!

WILHELMTEL SOFTWARE

	I had to "borrow" my neighbour's handset to do this test.  The
software (WilhelmTel) is a commodity which loads when booting.  It contains
four "elements":

	- Digital Phone
	- Phonebook
	- Answering machine
	- Phone taxes

DIGITAL PHONE

	This software allows you to use your Amiga as a regular phone, with
many useful options, such as:

	- Seeing actual phone taxes.
	- Having two conversations at the same time.
	- Conference mode (you hear both callers, but they can't hear
	  each other).
	- Mute with AUDIO-IN, allows you to play music to the callers
	  directly from your HIFI.
	- Redial, Caller-ID, etc...

PHONEBOOK

	You may store the most frequent callers, so when they call you,
their name pops up instead of the phone number.  You may choose for each
entry if you want to hear the ring or not, or even to send a "busy" signal
for "unwanted" callers!!!

ANSWERING MACHINE

	This is the strong part of the software! You may record any
conversation, you may record the "welcome" message, you may even record one
personalized message per caller, etc...
The quality of the samplings are simply PER-FECT!!!

	The size of a sample is 8 Kbytes per second recorded!  You may
listen to the samples either with the handset or through the Amiga speakers.

PHONE TAXES

	Prints out a list of all incoming and outgoing calls, and prints the
total money spent.

CONFIGURATION FILES

	You may create your own "ringers."  You also may define a ringer and
a message per phone number, and even one special message if the disk is full.

DOCUMENTATION

	It comes with printed German manual and German AmigaGuide file.  The
guide is well done, although I couldn't understand much, but the printed
manual is not clear at all.

	The board is fairly easy to install and you won't need the manual
too much.

LIKES

	- FAST transfers without going down on CPU rates.
	- Phone/answering machine option.
	- Quality of samples.
	- Software really easy to use.
	- Mute with injecting an audio source.
	- Samples may be converted into IFF with a special software (not
	  included).

DISLIKES

	- German manual, not complete.
	- The board is not approved by any phone company.
	- The answering machine software is not "programmable"
	  (it will be soon...).
	- The software does not accept faxes or regular modem calls.

BUGS

	None - the software is still in BETA test and the programmers are
VERY friendly and help a lot.  Further BETA versions are available directly
from the authors as soon as they are released.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	VERY GOOD!  Everyone is friendly, they are helpful and they speak
English....

WARRANTY

	1 year

CONCLUSIONS

	A very good product. You've got to have it!

	When I ordered this card, I was expecting to get only an ISDN modem.
It came with this phone/answering machine software and I was really glad to
have it!

	ISDN is getting more and more popular, and not only for big
companies. With this card, just about anyone can connect to this wonderful
network. Make a step into the 21th century!

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	Copyright 1994 Alan Berney.  All rights reserved.
	Translated/adapted for c.s.a.reviews by Alan Berney.

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