'Sleepy' ISDN wakes up angry users

Evidence of a widespread problem within BT's ISDN network is buildingby the day. The question of why some lines are cutting out remains amystery, however

If BT was hoping to take attention away from its much criticised ISDN pricing strategy, it has succeeded - but not in the way it might have hoped. While arguments still rumble between users, Oftel and the telco over the newly vamped pricing structure, all three have now got another bug bear to consider - service.

In the two weeks since Network News first highlighted the tendency for ISDN channels to cut out after a week or more inactivity, the paper has been flooded with calls, faxes and emails from readers with a very similar story to tell.

The story goes like this: an ISDN line which has remained unused for seven days or more will fail to respond the first time it is called into action. Initial phone calls to BT prove equally fruitless. A third call to BT and the ISDN engineer at the other end will tell the by now irate customer that there is nothing wrong with the ISDN line. On checking, the line is found to be up and running.

Consider the fact that ISDN is often used as a back-up technology, and it is easy to see how the problem is exacerbated. A company may use Frame Relay or X.25 to link central office with remote branch offices with ISDN acting as the fail-safe. If the fail-safe fails, the situation is likely to become critical.

Others have been left embarrassed because ISDN failures prevented them from running specific applications Andrew Brown, consultant to oil platform designer, McDermott Engineering, recently tried to set up a video conference between his MD in the UK, a director of the company in Houston Texas and an existing customer in New Orleans. The video link failed because one of six ISDN lines failed to work. "My MD was asking what the hell was going on. Eventually they walked out," he recalls.

Why is this happening? Among the proposed reasons for failures and "magical" reconnections is the (cynical) view put forward by Paul Blitz, from Kerridge Network Systems' technical support department.

"I reckon that the BT guy simply resets the circuit, and if it then works, reports it as 'no fault found'. Shame that they can't say 'well, we just reset it, and it seems to be okay now ..."

Another Network News reader, Stephen Powell, suggests an alternative.

"I had a similar problem with 'dead' ISDN additional lines, however I was told by BT it is simply the task allocation of the 'other end' dropping offline due to lack of use. BT's 'test' simply 'kicked' it back into life.

Doesn't quite sound like 'ISDN users get cut off by BT' to me, but more like 'sleepy circuits'."

According to a source within one PTT - a BT ISDN customer - the problem occurred in his organisation only if a terminal adaptor was missing at one end of the line.

"It happens when BT can't identify a suitable adaptor. One B channel goes down after seven days, the other after another seven days. It doesn't affect the D channel but as no-one has a use for that in the UK, that makes little difference."

BT doesn't help it customers, he adds, because its support engineers work "nine to five, not 24 hours a day" and these problems occur at any point.

ISDN is "a bloody nightmare and they (BT) don't want the product," he claims adding that ISDN is expensive and bandwidth hungry for the telecommunication company.

"We haven't had any complaints and we wouldn't deliberately cut off paying customers," a BT spokesman said last week. "It is not in our interest to do this. If there is a problem, then BT will carry out the investigation."

The response from Network News readers would suggest that BT has had complaints. It seems that a trend of these complaints has not been spotted.

Mike Angove, IT Manager at Wales Tourist Board, says this is nothing new. "Over a number of years whenever we have had problems with either ISDN or BT private circuits, after checking our own equipment we call BT. The response is always the same - the circuit starts working again and a little time after you get a call to say they couldn't find a fault."

Oftel insists it cannot act until it gets official complaints from the offended customer. Judging by the calls, faxes and emails into Network News, those complaints should not be long in coming.

Network News coverage of this issue will continue in the next week's issue.