DSL-Extender Brings Broadband 20km

An anonymous reader writes "Whirlpool outlines Telstra's new DSL deployment: "Telstra announced a trial of the technology back in January, saying it would allow DSL to be connected to people who were up to 20km from a central exchange. DSL Extenders work by splitting an existing copper phone line into eight separate ADSL lines using a tiny, ruggedised remote DSLAM.""

Comments

Remote DSLAMs

[Phroggy]

Remote DSLAMs are certainly nothing new, but usually the connection from the remote DSLAM to the CO is fiber, not copper.

Newer housing developments sometimes have a fiber line that runs into the neighborhood, then copper lines from there to each house, so the phone company doesn't have to run a big bundle of copper all the way back to the CO; a remote DSLAM is the only way to offer DSL to these houses.

What I want to know is, how did they get a reliable 2.3Mbps link to work over 20km of copper?

Re:Remote DSLAMs

[Macfox]

Telstra are already using this MINIMUX technology. In many new housing estates they have installed RIM units (on the cheap) where there wasn't enough copper back to the exchange.

When the residents discovered they couldn't get ADSL in the brand new mega expensive developments, Telstra backflipped and took two years to addressed the issue with the so called MINIMUX (Mini DSLAM). They're still rolling them out as we speak.

Having said that, even if your on a RIM voice service, you can't get access to other providers, only Telstra (wholesale). So you're still at the mercy of Telstra's premium pricing.

Re:Remote DSLAMs

[elgatozorbas]

Copper: great for POTS, crap for data, ubiquitous. So they invent DSL to compensate for copper's inadequacies.

They invent DSL because copper is ubiquitous. Why do you think the fiber was put there in the first place? Exactly to have a headend for either DSL or cable.

Fiber: crap for POTS, great for data, ubiquitous right up until the end of the street. DSL doesn't work because its a copper technology, so these poor people who are feet away from all the broadband they could ever need can't access it because telcos only know how to do DSL.

In a FTTC (fiber to the curb) system the DSL modems are right in the cabinet at the end of the fiber you mentioned.

I'm not oblivious to the fact that it costs more to split fiber (light doesn't split like electricty), but thats because we don't do it very often as the priority has always been POTS. How long will it be, now that data outweighs POTS, until we get fiber to the front door?

The problem is not technological in nature: neither light nor electricity is 'split'. The connections are point-to-point (between modem and DSLAM), so there is no splitting involved. The real cost is in guys digging trenches to put the fiber (and obviously the fiber and installations themselves).

Australian Broadband...

[Macfox]

A few facts

Oz Broadband is anything over 128kbs.(ISDN) Laughable yes.

The maximum speed Tel$tra offer (over ADSL) is 1500/256kbs. *

Up till this announcement, if you were over ~3.5km from the exchange, then you probably couldn't get ADSL.

Telstra (Bigpond) charge for data usage in both directions and their largest offering is 10GB, with modem speed shaping there after.

Telstra also force voice bundling. If you want ADSL, you must have voice and pay a minimum of $18.50AUD per month, even if you don't need it.*

This new offering is best described as a mini DSLAM with a ~2.3Mbit backhaul. So even two users could potentially max it out.

While it's good news for some that are out of reach. The overall state of Oz broadband isn't worth writing home about.

* Some providers offer connection without a voice service (ULL) and ADSL2+ (24Mbs) but only in 5% of exchanges.