Five years ago: Orange offers ISDN access

Mobile communications company, Orange unveiled a direct access to ISDN service at the TMA conference in Brighton. The service allows users to connect to ISDN via a PC Data card. Calls are charged at Orange rates rather than ISDN rates and the company claims connections should be made within 8 seconds.

The company also announced a deal to offer Internet access via UUNet Pipex. A similar deal has been in place with Demon Internet since May. Users will be able to access their Pipex Dial account by dialling a special number. Calls will be charged at Orange to Orange rates, half the standard Orange call rate.

The company has also previewed a link to the BT Data Network, the UK's largest public managed data network. Users can access national and international X.25 hosts if they have a BT Dialplus account. Calls are charged by the second and connection times are claimed to be less than 6 seconds.