VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

Glenn Moore · Been Here Awhile Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Posts: 240

Well, here we go again with ISDN cost complaining. AT&T has raised me another 60 bucks this year and I am now at around $400 per month. Four years ago when I had it installed it was $125. It is true that AT&T wants to charge a premium for this "old" technology since they say it costs them more to maintain it. One of my family members who works for them even confirmed this. Whatever. Yes, my ISDN has paid for itself but I am not sure it will in the future. Depends on how much it will cost and what kind of work I get of course. There are no guarantees.

So if you have ISDN what is your monthly cost right now and what is your limit before you pull the plug on it?

I always said $400 was my limit so we will see in the next year if I have to pay more which I'm almost sure I will. I would hate to lose this right now so I'm holding on by a copper wire:-(

Glenn

Bish · Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 9:14 pm Post subject:

Price-wise, I'm one of the lucky Verizon customers in the north-east who pays $60 ... I don't know what my threshold is, I guess I'd have to feel the pain to know where I'd break. At the moment, I need ISDN for my business. I'm on the lists of a number of production houses and get to use the system three or four times a month on this "bread and butter" work... and occasionally a healthy four-figure gig. Conservatively, my ISDN earns me over $15K per year for an ongoing outlay of less that $1K.

If the prices rise, I'd have to do a cost/benefit analysis... if I was paying almost $5K per year (as you are), it would still be viable... but approaching the point where I'd have to think seriously about reappraising the situation. As it is, I usually cover the annual cost of ISDN in January... leaving me with eleven months of "free use".

I guess it's all about how much you make from it... if you start to approach 50% in line costs, then you're effectively cutting the rate for your ISDN sessions in half. At what point are you better off investing your time/money elsewhere? I think part of the appeal of keeping it (regardless of cost) is you have the tools to service that job that makes it all worthwhile! You can't win the lottery unless you have a ticket Smile

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Tom Test · DC Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 625 Location: Chicago, IL

Where are you, Glenn? Do you have any ISDN studios in your area that you could hire? Here in Chicago, I've got a few options that charge around $125/hour to talent who are paying out of their own pocket. That realization was enough for me to pull the plug when my rates here rose past $360 (along with the fact that I had reliability issues with my line, and simply did not trust AT&T to properly maintain the network).

Since I got my own ISDN line in 2011, I've had reliability issues that prevented me from really trying to expand my business in that area. I did get a nice national TV spot early on that paid for 1.5 years of service (at the old rates), but since then my business never rose to the 5 figure level for ISDN work. So the fact that I was paying $5K yr for unreliable service to make $9K was very frustrating to me.

I got rid of ISDN a few months ago. Yes, I'll lose out on some opportunities - there are some production companies that only use ISDN talent, for example (though some are said to be considering ipdtl and Source Connect). But the fact that half of my ISDN income went to paying the monthly fee AND especially the problems I had with dropouts that were unacceptable to me as a professional, made my decision a source of great relief.
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Bruce · Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 8:18 am Post subject:

Here's some math, if I have this all right:

ipDTL is $16 per month ($200 per year), bridging costs are $35 to $50 per hour to your ISDN-only studios. More and more studios are going ipDTL so soon you won't even need bridging.

You can buy a lovely Musicam Prima LT for instance (mine new was $3,600) for $500 on eBay.... soon to be as useful as a purple brick.

Here in Oregon 2-line ISDN service is still about $85 per month.

B
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chrisvoco · Club 300 Joined: 14 Mar 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Local

If I may ask without offending anyone, because I really don't know the answer... My only experience with ISDN was, in past lives, with general connectivity (as Scott Adams would say, to look at cool pictures of maps that load real fast) on the one hand, and remote broadcasts on the other (try getting reliable marti shot through tall buildings!).

I do get the fact that it let you get your audio from here to there, mutually agreeably and in high quality. So - aside from studios needing to completely retool in order to move from ISDN to any of the newer solutions, what's the drawback? Is it only because you still can't guarantee the service quality and bandwidth over internet at any given time, or is there another reason?

Thank you all for pardoning my interruption.
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Tom Test · DC Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 625 Location: Chicago, IL

Oh right - bridging! I had my first SC-ISDN bridge session last month. It was a pick up session (the original session used my own ISDN). I hired Out of Hear, which was highly recommended by other talent, for the service, which had a reasonable fee.

The bridge worked well, but DO heed Out of Hear's advice to set your SC to "medium-quality" rather than "high." Medium is equivalent to ISDN audio quality actually, and you might have drop outs if you use the high setting.

But the point is, SC-ISDN bridging works well and is reasonably priced, so keep that in mind in your equation regarding the value of your ISDN service. (I will say however, that *some* clients may worry about using a bridge service. I had one ISDN client who had a bad experience using a SC-ISDN bridge service - dunno how widespread the problem may or may not be).

Also, has anyone here tried an ipdtl-ISDN bridge yet? If so, how did it go?
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 9:17 am Post subject:

chrisvoco · Club 300 Joined: 14 Mar 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Local

I guess that's reasonable.
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Glenn Moore · Been Here Awhile Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Posts: 240

Hi Tom. I am in Dayton, OH. There are no ISDN studios here and I only know of one other VO talent who has it besides radio and tv stations in the market. There are a few studios in Cincinnati but that is a little drive. I am considering IPDTL and I already have Source Connect but have not used it much. Seems like the phone companies aren't messing with rates on the West Coast as much as in the Midwest and the East.

Eddie Eagle · M&M Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 2393

Post your issue on Twitter Glenn and be specific about cost and carrier. I bet you will get a response from ATT.

bobbinbeamo · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 8:02 am Post subject:

I have an ISDN session scheduled next week for an ongoing national radio client. It will be my last ISDN session here at the home studio as my ISDN bill has escalated to $500/month. AT&T can go F themselves and their terrible service and business practices. I'm done holding for hours or calling AT&T listed numbers that are no longer in service. I have made alternative arrangements for ISDN, bridging services and now have Source-Connect NOW, and ipDTL. My Telos Zephyr 9202 Layer II and III will be available in about 10 days. PM me if interested.

First I'll need to be on hold for another couple hours with AT&T to get through to someone who will be able to disconnect my lines!
Bitter? No. Just DONE! I'm giving myself a $6k+ a year raise.
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Glenn Moore · Been Here Awhile Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Posts: 240

I feel your pain, Bobbin. I'm giving it one more shot with Customer No-Service and then the Public Utilities Commission but I doubt that will change anything. I am going to ask that they change my account to a Residential account from a Business account. That should decrease my monthly bill almost 75%. It probably won't happen. One of my family members who works for AT&T says they are wanting to phase out ISDN totally by 2020, at least here in Ohio. I am probably a couple months away from pulling the plug on it too unless a big job comes in to pay for it for the rest of the year.

bobbinbeamo · Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:53 am Post subject:

Glenn,
Good luck with your attempt to change to residential. I believe you're also in the midwest region of AT&T's stranglehold monopoly. I begged, pleaded and tried to cajole to be a residential account, and was advised by my rep those were eliminated in July 2012. Do tell if you change their minds.
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NorthEndVoice · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:33 pm Post subject:

I recently contacted AT&T (no other choice) to inquire about an ISDN installation in S FLA. I was hesitant to even try after the pure unadulterated hell I went through last year with them for a temporary installation.

Installation is in the neighborhood of $400 plus. The monthly ISDN charge is $330 (not including taxes, etc). AND you can no longer do a contract. It is now purely month to month ONLY....which means they can raise the rate by however much they desire every month....AND...it'll be unavailable starting in 2019. They are replacing copper as fast as they can.

No thanks.

I'll bridge from Fla with one of the IP options (ipDTL, SC, SC NOW) back here to the Xstream box in NC ( with a 3rd party bridging partner available just in case).

I'm already euphoric knowing that I won't have to deal with them for the service.

georgethetech · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:40 pm Post subject:

It's good to be outofhear.com isdnbridge.com right now... if they get too busy, I might just start my own since ISDN is STILL reasonable with Verizon in Los Angeles.
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