I recently moved (all of one block), so I had to move my cable modem
and ISDN connections. What a fiasco. The cable company disconnected
our cable 2 times in the weeks before the move and then lost the order
completely and did not show up on the install date. The only good
part is that the old cable modem still worked at the old house and
continued to keep my email flowing... (moral: do I really want
to get phone service from my cable company?)
On the advise of a colleague (thanks Chris!) I decided to convert one
of my analogue lines to ISDN rather than opt for a fresh install. I
called "1-800-GET-ISDN" and told them I wanted to keep the old phone #
(it is my fax line). The called back in a week, as promised, and gave
me the "SPIDs" - those ridiculous numbers which look like long phone
numbers with "0000" or "0101" at the end. (imagine if you had to configure
your phone with SPIDs before it work - NO one would have working
dial-tone). Anyway, they checked out the line and gave me the SPIDs
and said that in two weeks my line would magically convert to ISDN.
The morning of the cutover I noticed I'd lost dial tone so I connected
an ISDN TA to the line. No joy - I could not get any D channel
activity (the "D" channel is one of the 3 channels used in ISDN; the
D, B1 and B2. The D channel is for signaling and the "B" (bearer)
channels are for voice & data. If the D channel is not "up", you can't
talk to the phone switch to send and recieve calls.
Around 11am I called to inquire. They said it was scheduled but was
not up yet. Shortly after I noticed I had the D channel working and I
could make and receive calls. OK! Not bad. Worked right away. This
is nice because I used the existing premise wiring without any
changes. All of the other ISDN installs I've had required new wiring
in the house (mostly due to inexperience/paranoia I think).
So, the moral is, converting an existing line to ISDN is faster and
easier.