I'm Still Dazed and Numb

I locked the other Lab Guys in the Windows NT Magazine Lab so that I could take over this column for a couple months. Don't worry. I left them plenty of food and water. Besides, we just received a shipment of new servers, so for the next 90 days they probably won't even notice that they can't get out.

Why did I take this drastic action? Because I want to focus on the subject of remote connectivity—or more precisely, my quest for high-speed remote connectivity.

My Secret SOHO Life
In addition to managing the large, enterprise-oriented NT lab that services Windows NT Magazine, I maintain a small office/home office (SOHO) lab in my basement. My SOHO lab isn't particularly large or impressive. It consists of six PCs running various Microsoft operating systems, three Macintosh systems, and an assortment of peripherals, all of which I have interconnected via an Ethernet network.

I recently concluded that I need a high-speed link between my SOHO lab and the Lab. Plenty of small businesses and remote offices operate with a handful of machines and need some form of remote connectivity, so my desire for a high-speed link isn't unrealistic. The Lab has an ISDN line (more about that next month), and I just moved into a new house with new phone wire. Thus, ISDN makes sense for my SOHO lab.

I planned to attach the ISDN line to my central NT Server system to handle communications between my SOHO and the Lab. My central server handles file sharing, print sharing, and fax services for the client systems in my SOHO lab—giving it another function seemed logical. I hadn't decided what software to use on the server, but I planned to evaluate Proxy Server, Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS), ISDN modem sharing, and other products once I received the ISDN link.

Enter the I-Team
I've had plenty of first- and secondhand experience with the horrors of ordering an ISDN connection (for another horror story about a home ISDN line, see Bob Chronister, Tricks & Traps, page 211), and my phone company, US West, has the worst reputation for ISDN deployment in the country. I prepared myself for the worst.

Before I called US West, though, a 3Com/U.S. Robotics representative provided a glimmer of hope. The representative told me about the I-Team, a free service 3Com/U.S. Robotics offers that acts as an intermediary between you and the phone company. 3Com/U.S. Robotics subcontracts the work to Cyberlink Technologies (http://www.cyberlinktech.com), but you are unlikely to notice this arrangement unless you read all the small print in the paperwork the company generates.

When you contact the I-Team, 3Com/U.S. Robotics asks you to sign a form that lets the I-Team contract service on your behalf. You identify what kind of equipment you will connect to the ISDN line, and the I-Team places your ISDN order with your local phone company, making sure the line's provisioning is right for your equipment (you don't have to use 3Com/U.S. Robotics equipment to use the I-Team).

After talking to the I-Team, I decided to install a new line for my ISDN service. The I-Team ordered ISDN service at the same time I ordered a new phone line from US West. Much to my surprise, US West did an excellent job of installing my new line in a prompt and professional manner, although at that point it was just another analog phone line. After the line was in and I had given the I-Team the new number, the I-Team set a date for when it would reprovision the line for ISDN service. At that point, I figured I was set—all I had to do was endure a short wait. I leaned back in my chair, propped my feet up on my desk, and chuckled to myself about how well my ISDN project was going.

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