Maximum throughput for ISDN is 1.55Mbps. Unfortunately, ISDN is not universally available. While Pacific Bell offers more than 90 percent coverage, other regional Bell companies cover 75 percent or less of their territory. As an alternative, telecommuters with advanced needs may want to try frame relay, a fast packet- switching technology that can transmit data at rates from 56Kbps to 1.5Mbps. Unlike dedicated lines, frame relay providers charge only for usage, making it economical.
Frame relay is used by most state and local governments primarily to interconnect LANs.
But it could serve the telecommuting community in a number of ways, including a link between remote work centers and departments or agencies located in cities. Remote work centers, or telecenters, are basically intermediary telecommuting offices located between an urban or downtown area and outlying suburbs. Rather than commute all the way to work five days a week, workers commute to the telecenter, which is equipped with phones, faxes, PCs and modems. When San Luis Obispo surveyed 13 county government departments and three state agencies employing a total of 3,639 people in 1995, they found 24 employees telecommuting on an occasional basis and only two people telecommuting on a scheduled basis. At that level of activity, the issues of using technology to support telecommuting are minimal.