Hi Carol,
You didn't know you were poking a hornets nest, did you? In fairness, most of the folks on this forum are phone system gurus and don't give a hoot about remote access.
Probably a majority of remote (network) access schemes skip the phone system altogether. If you have one or two lines, you probably use analog modems and dedicated lines from the telco. Or if you have many lines, you probably have a T-1 PRI connected directly to you remote access equipment (ISP's for example, 23 lines per T-1 PRI).
But there cases where the phone system would be involved, and I have both in the next room. I can only guess what you might have. It probably only makes sense if you have a T-1 PRI to your phone system (which I do). One case is that if you have a few analog lines for remote access, you could use analog station ports on the phone system instead of separate POTS lines from the telco. Everyone on this forum understands that from the phone system side.
The other case gives excellent performance, but is a lot less common. It involves remote access equipment that supports ISDN BRI lines. That lets you get V.92 (X2/K56flex) performance when you dial in, because it's all digital. The Norstar MICS will support ISDN BRI for stations (as well as trunks), but it's pretty uncommon--some techs might tell you it can't be done, but it can.
Remote access products are very scarce compared to a few years ago--widespread broadband internet access and VPN solutions have significantly reduced demand. Our ISDN BRI card is a Patton Electronics 2977/B4. Their web site is
It lives in a PCI slot in a Windows Server and Windows handles the authentication in the same fashion it would for an analog modem plugged into a serial port. The card has 4 ISDN-BRI channels, so it handles 8 simultaneous inbound modem calls. Those calls ride on channels of our T-1 PRI, just like a voice call; we get full V.92 speed. I don't know of other vendors, but Patton has a variety of products--several ways to "skin the cat".
I hope that helps. Feel free to post again, or if you'd rather call, area code 614, then 508-1255 (hopefully that keeps the telemarketers away), eastern time.
Eric
polarbear85