by (Posted to comp.dcom.isdn, comp.os.linux.networking, linux.admin.isp,
linux.dev.ppp)
Did they lie? Or were they fooled like the hundreds of others taken in
by Boca's "Multilink PPP". I know I was. Boca Webgliders &q3&b3 config
for bonding B1 and B2 channels IS PROPRIETARY! IT WILL ONLY WORK IF
YOU ARE CONNECTING TO ANOTHER BOCA WEBGLIDER. (Does USR HST ring a
bell? Of course USR HST then was cutting edge. Boca has brought their
PROPRIETARY protocol into a mature market with established
standards.) If you want to connect to an ISP running (almost)
anything else, the best you are going to get is 64k single channel.
Whoopee!! 56k Digital Modems at $100 (USR Sporster) are only weeks
away. Lets go spend $400 on a 64k Boca ISDN TA!?!? Hmmmm. If I were
them, I would try to flush my reseller channel.. But wait, I am ahead
of myself.
It took 3 days, 3 Tech support reps, several "We'll call you back" and
about 90 minutes of long distance mostly on hold (They have no 800
number) before I was connected to a "Senior Technician" who knew why I
could not connect in MLPPP mode. According to Boca's Sr tech. Chris,
their PROPRIETARY MLPPP is by their design. Intentional. The protocol
is kept in a Flash ROM on the Webglider. And they have no plans to
adopt a standard MLPPP protocol.
Ok, I'm a sucker. I've been screwed by one of the big boys.
To compound problems, you can not fire up both channels and not run
their PROPRIETARY MLPPP. So, say you were thinking you could write a
software based solution.... Nope. According to Boca, by virtue of
asking the Webglider to dial dual channels, you are invoking
BOCA-MLPPP. This poses an additional problem of being in MLPPP before
you have attached and signed onto a term server. (All the term servers
I know about start the Network protocol after you have signed on. )
Something else I noticed about the Webglider-Don't expect to connect
an Analog v.34 modem to the aux port and get better than 19200bps.
I'm new to ISDN, so this may be typical of all ISDN TA's.
>I'll just go ahead and sue Boca because of this horrible false
>advertising.
Computer City. Its been too long. (took me 5 weeks to get the ISDN
line installed! Another 2 weeks figuring out what was wrong..) By
the way, that was Boca's Solution. They told me to be persistant with
Computer City for a refund or exchange. But CC sold that item in good
faith, and they have a return policy of 15 days on this item. Class
action? I'm in the same boat. I pointed this out to Boca. He said
their documentation for connecting in dual channel mode is not called
MLPPP, but "Making an Aggregated Call L" on page 95 of the Reference
manual. I pointed out to him that the "Addendum", is titled
"Multilink-PPP Installation" , not Making an agregated call. Without
some disclaimer on the addendum, you are led to believe that the flash
upgrade this document refers to is a standard MLPPP and supercedes the
reference manual section regarding aggregated calls.
Since then, I have wondered why, if this is by design, the first techs
I talked to did not know their MLPPP was proprietary.....???? It was
as though I had to be persistant about the problem before they would
admit it to me.
The saddest part is they did this on purpose!
>course I want to switch to one of the local full-time LAN ISDN
>connectivity products ($255/mo for 2B is Thorn.Net)
$19.95 dual channel unlimited per month! (www.ij.net)
Has anyone else had a similar experience? When I talked to my ISP
yesterday, they told me they had a Webglider collecting dust on the
shelf, they had fallen victim to the same thing.
Has anyone come up with a solution?
Ste...@atlantic.net
u...@panix.com (Bradley Ward Allen) wrote:
>This is all about the Boca Webglider; I've divided it roughly into
>sections as they relate to the Boca and my issues.
>** J&R Computer World and Boca Research **
>Ok, I was at J&R Computer World in downtown Manhattan, and of course
>their sales people knew nothing about ISDN, but I did, so I wanted to
>make sure their more solid-looking product, the Boca Research
>Webglider, supported MLPPP. So I called Boca Research on the phone,
>got their Technical Support line and asked these questions to which I
>got the indicated answers:
> * Does it send Caller ID to the analog ports?: Yes.
> * Does the unit have MLPPP?: Yes.
>Now, I have it at home and I'm wondering if they lied. If so, I'll
>first go to J&R and explain the troubles and explain that I am helping
>J&R by telling them what a rotten company Boca is and to drop the
>product, and ask for an exchange (I'll have to bite the bullet and get
>the Motorola Bitsurfer Pro I guess). If they don't assist me then
>I'll just go ahead and sue Boca because of this horrible false
>advertising.
>I did call them again and they said my software must support MLPPP.
>Of course.
>Ok, well, so I'll look into that. Here's what I have so far and do need
>assistance:
>** OS (Operating System) **
>I run Linux 2.0, with some patches to support the ST16C650-based
>higher-clocked serial card I had to buy for use with the Boca (so it
>can do 460800bps, which the Boca does support; without the patches my
>system would drop characters like wild). I didn't *have* to buy it
>but of course I want maximum performance, plus I needed another serial
>port anyway.
>I found this Linux Mini-HOWTO:
> http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/mini/PPP-over-ISDN
>Inside it it has a section stating:
> For "[init string]" you'll want to put in the appropriate string for
> MultilinkPPP (this will work equally as well for a modem, so if you want
> to use your modem put in a string for it). You can look in your manual
> to find the appropriate string. I'll give a few:
> For a 3com impact put in: s71=1s80=1&d2
> For a Bitsurfer put in: %a2=92@b0=2&d2
> For a Bitsurfer Pro: %a2=92@b0=2@m2=p&d2
> For an Adtran ISU express: s54=12&d2
>That indicates that the 3com Impact, Bitsurfer, Bitsurfer Pro and
>Adtran ISU Express all support MLPPP, but then again the above
>paragraph does look a bit off the mark; "this will work equally as
>well for a modem, so if you want to use your modem put in a string for
>it" does not make a lot of sense in this context, unless it meant to
>mean what it would mean if "your" was replaced with "as a", but then
>that would be redundant (which isn't the nature of a Mini Howto for
>those who aren't initiated -- short and sweat is the goal).
>However, the Webglider Reference Guide doesn't mention any way to do
>MLPPP in it.
>I got the Linux ppp-2.3b3 package from cs.anu.edu.au in
>pub/software/ppp, and didn't find any files with the following terms:
>mlppp, multi, multilink, mppp
> 535 egrep -il mlppp `find -type f`
> 537 egrep -il multi `find -type f`
> 538 egrep -il multilink `find -type f`
> 539 egrep -il mppp `find -type f`
>So, perhaps Linux's PPP doesn't support MLPPP yet.
>I am going to get a month of ISDN 2B non-fulltime (but unlimited)
>usage from Escape.Com for $50 to test stuff out.
>** Standards (MLPPP, RFC1717, IETF) **
>Ok, on to other information about MLPPP:
>This URL explains it but seems to leave out a few details I need:
> http://www.data.com/Tutorials/Multilink_PPP.html
>** NYNEX **
>Also, I'm having the usual difficulties with NYNEX (now Bell Atlantic)
>in making sure ISDN has everything I want on my line. I have NI-1 so
>far with:
>It seems to be an AT&T 5ESS:
>NI-1 (National ISDN 1)
>Two SPIDS
>ACO (Additional Call Offering) is Unrestricted
>CSV (Circuit Switched Voice) is 1
>CSV Limit is 3
>CSV NB (Notification Busy) Limit is 1
>CSD (Circuit Switched Data) is 1
>CSD ACO is Unrestricted
>CSD limit is 2
>CSD NB limit is 1
>EKTS is No
>ACO is Yes
>Capability P
>They said they installed it. I don't know what they actually put on
>it; does my bill itemize it at all? I could ask them. NYNEX these
>days is very helpful with this stuff, thank god; they have improved a
>lot in this way. However, time will tell whether it is effective.
>** My needs **
>What I want, of course, is to use my Integrated Services Digital
>Network (ISDN for short) by integrating my services within the digital
>network. I list the devices, what they will communicate, and the port
>on the Boca I expect to be able to do it via:
>* POTS telephone for receiving and placing voice calls at a single DN
> (Directory Number). I have multiple CA (Call Appearances) on my
> ISDN line, but for some strange reason Call Waiting doesn't work
> when another voice caller calls the same number they get a busy
> signal. Boca Tech Support says they support whatever ISDN supports.
> Also, this line takes top priority: if the user needs to call out or
> if a call comes in and there are no available B channels, then it
> must be automatically dropped and the phone give dial tone or ring
> respectively. This is of course a necessary feature of ISDN and any
> product that supports ISDN with both Data and POTS lines. The box
> and tech support people didn't say that they do not support this, so
> it must.
> Connected to the Boca Webglider AUX1 (POTS port). I could put it on
> AUX2 too.
> Incoming calls that get dropped while ringing leave the phone
> ringing until it gets picked up (by the answering machine usually)
> and then hung up (also by the answering machine). Why? This must
> be a bug?
> Also the VC light (Voice Call) doesn't always go on for voice
> connections unless I don't understand it correctly.
>* FAX Modem for receiving and placing FAX calls.
> See POTS telephone above. Yes, I want it to drop all data if both
> FAX and Voice are in use. I rarely have need for FAX, but I believe
> that I will have need
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