VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

ChrisMezzolesta

OK, based upon career advances made this year (and after only 18 years in this business.....!!!!!!!) I am ready to re-do my room in here, build an iso booth, and get ISDN in. I've done a lot of Googling and searching this board for your war stories etc., and wanted to know:

Is my regional telco the only option for installation and LD? (in my case it's AT&T formerly Bellsouth, for Hampstead (Wilmington area) NC...I've done a lookup on their ISDN website and it "appears" I can get it, I also know where the CO is and I *think* I'm within the distance but not 100% sure) I previously had 64k ISDN, back up in Mentor OH (Ohio Bell/Ameritech) for Internet when it was faster than dialup and pre-ADSL - if I only knew...

Assuming install and hardware handshaking goes OK, are there any other pitfalls I need to be aware of? Is there any sort of standard pricing from state to state? I've seen some disparate figures in various posts, and the AT&T site claims ~$240 install & ~$84 per month. Been thinking about this for years and am hoping to really make a go of it, but don't wanna drain the funds if not necessary.

I appreciate any and all replies. I've had interest from one of the "big honkin'" ISDN-only casting studios and am thinking that hopefully this is "the sign". Or else it'll be Bill Engvall saying "Heeeeere's yer sign". 'Cept in my case it'll say "Will talk for food" or something if I don't get this right....
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Chris Mezzolesta, Voice Talent
800.356.5519 www.voiceatile.com

bobsouer · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:41 pm Post subject:

Chris,

Not only is there no standard from state to state, even within states things can vary wildly from phone company to phone company. My number one suggestion, even if you don't end up hiring him to do the leg-work for you, is to spend some time talking with Dave Immer at Digifon. It will be time well spent. Here are the contact details.

Name Dave Immer
Email digidave@digifon.com
Studio DIGIFON
Phone 203-254-0869
URL http://www.digifon.com

His site answers a lot of questions. I hope that helps.
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georgethetech · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:01 am Post subject:

I second the Dave Immer suggestion. He'll charge you $400 to just take care of it for you, but he's also got a lot of resources on his website that are helpful. Telos Systems has an ordering info sheet to help you along, as well. Use Sprint for LD, tends to be one of the better ones.

Number one most difficult part is getting to the correct department to make the order. Most who answer the call will think you want DSL, or pretend (or REALLY) they have no idea what you are talking about. I've got it pretty well hooked up here in LA as who to call at Verizon and ATT, but other cities I do not. Be prepared to follow up repeatedly with the TelCo after your initiate your order until they actually process it and schedule your installation. The person that takes the order is not the same one that schedules and facilitates the installation.

May the force be with you!
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ChrisMezzolesta · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 5:44 pm Post subject:

Thanks gents for the info. I will most likely go this route, since it appears that there may be much more to the equation than I remember there being the last time I had ISDN installed. Hopefully he can tell me ahead of time just how much it's going to run me per month to the telco or wherever...

Looking forward to this....

C
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Chris Mezzolesta, Voice Talent
800.356.5519 www.voiceatile.com