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Groundwork Laid For Superfast Broadband Over Copper
itwbennett writes: Telecom equipment vendor Adtran has developed a technology that will make it easier for operators to roll out broadband speeds close to 500Mbps over copper lines. Adtran's FDV (Frequency Division Vectoring), enhances the capabilities of two technologies — VDSL2 with vectoring and G.fast — by enabling them to better coexist over a single subscriber line, the company said. VDSL2 with vectoring, which improves speeds by reducing noise and can deliver up to 150Mbps, is currently being rolled out by operators, while G.fast, which is capable of 500Mbps, is still under development, with the first deployments coming in mid-2015. FDV will make it easier for operators to roll out G.fast once it's ready and expand where it can be used, according to Adtran.
Meanwhile, Ars Technica has an article about how Verizon is letting its copper network rot in order to passively encourage customers to switch to fiber.
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They keep coming up with faster and faster methods to deliver data and the ISPs keep artificially lowering speeds and data limits. As long as Comcast and the like run the show none of this will go to use for the end consumer.
Because copper is already ubiquitous. It's literally deployed to every home in America. And outside of dense large municipalities (think small to mid-size towns), comprehensive FTTH deployment is not financially feasible. A copper-based broadband solution is the only short-term means to bring universal broadband to most places, and it shouldn't be overlooked.
ALU's "10 gig copper" technology is something like 10 meters length. that's way out on the tail of the straight line of speed vs distance that's been pretty much unchanged since the days of ADSL 7 meg. if you can't get out of the shadow of the field cabinet, what good is it?
show me 150 mbps at 7000 wire feet, and I will pester my engineers to buy a trainload of it. it's got to be pretty clever to beat what appear to be the laws of physics.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Yeah well, let's see if fiber doesn't develop a serious case of cataract in 20 or 30 years. The stuff is still too sensitive. What was good enough for grandpa, and when you need robust.. and, when you want to transmit power over the same line, you have a hard time beating copper.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I learned on Slashdot that Verizon is evil for not investing billions in upgrading their network to fiber. Now you tell me they've already upgraded half of their customers to fiber. Since they ARE upgrading their network to fiber, that's now evil. I'm confused.
I'm sure Verizon is evil of course, but are they evil for upgrading to fiber or for not upgrading to fiber?
Interesting, the VOIP service is not regulated as a utility, and consumers have a bit more rights/protections with the copper service.
Thanks Verizon! Attempting to kill off POTS is showing dedication and appreciation for your loyal customers.
How much public money went into wiring up the country with copper anyhow? It's almost as if the telco's will take every single government handout they can get and will revel in their natural monopoly status. But when it comes to providing a basic service that they can't turn quite as much of a profit on? Drop it asap.
I'd gladly take fiber, if it were available.
The problem is, it isn't for the vast majority of the population.
Verizon and others are just letting the copper rot. There is no alternative. If you're lucky, you have a cableco co come in and provide a usable service. Luckily, I live in a Comcast territory and have had exactly zero service issues in the last 8 years and a speed increase every other year. Copper? Verizon sold this area to Frontier and you're still lucky if you can break one megabit on their DSL. Please, you wouldn't have to passively encourage me to get fiber if it were available. I'd already be on it.
If the telcos weren't so busy spending every last dime on C-level executives, lawsuits, advertising, and slithering out from underneath their commitments, even good old Verizon could have rolled fiber to everyone in their footprint. Even the ex-GTE areas like mine that had a stellar copper network before Verizon consumed them and left them for dead.
Both. Their evil-ness doesn't stem from whether or not hey've upgraded to fiber. It stems from abusing their monopoly position to slow down upgrades (both fiber and copper) as a cost-cutting measure. If there were a competitor in the market offering DSL/FO/cable service and Verizon dragged their feet on upgrading to fiber or neglecting to maintain their copper, they would hemorrhage customers and lose a lot of money. But in most areas they have a (government-granted) monopoly. They can take their sweet time upgrading to fiber, and there's nothing their customers can do about it. They can let areas with older copper lines rot, and there's nothing their customers can do about it.
Case in point, the city I live in was one of the first which contracted for Verizon to provide FIOS. They rolled it out to half the city, then got into some sort of disagreement with the city and stopped. If there had been a competing cable/fiber service, they would've had a huge incentive to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible and get back to work. But they were the only game in town so they dragged it out. For six years, the houses two blocks down the street had FIOS and I didn't. Then after an election, the city council changed, Verizon got what they wanted, and resumed rolling out FIOS.
Meanwhile, the city I work in has Verizon DSL as the only provider of business Internet. Cable companies provide cable internet to residences, but apparently they're prohibited from providing it to business. So again, Verizon is the only game in town. They have absolutely refused to upgrade or maintain their copper lines. The fastest DSL speed we can get is 3 Mbps down / 768 kbps up. For this "privilege" we pay $100/mo. Most of the phone lines are of such poor quality they can't even get you that speed, and 1.5/512 or 1.5/256 is the best they can do ($50/mo). The service is such a poor value that most companies in the area just get the lowest-tier 1.0/128 service for $40/mo to minimize how much they have to pay for any Internet. Others have signed on to cellular companies' 4G data services and willingly pay per GB for overages - because it beats having to get reamed in the rear by Verizon.
Both are evil.
Because for many, fiber is like hot fusion. It's been right around the corner for decades now.
Mostly because it's a decade overdue and they seem to be doing their damndest to make sure the fiber doesn't actually benefit the customer.
You will be thrilled to know that way out in Ephrata, WA they have had gigabit fiber to the home for 14 years, and in gritty Tacoma just south Click! Network sells 100mbps Internet - both through the power utility. But in Seattle, no. Not you. Those power utilities were grandfathered in from before the Qwest/Comcast Protection Act was made a stare law. That is why internet technology in Washington is almost exactly backward: high speed in rural areas, dialup in Seattle and the capital.
Incidentally, I caught a guy pulling underground fiber in my neighborhood recently and grilled him. Apparently we are finally scheduled for fiber to the home Real Soon Now. The guy said the company "wanted it done yesterday" and that they were definitely bringing fiber to the homes where my home is. Hopefully it will be with a decent company. I didn't recognize the name of the company but apparently they are going to lease it out anyway.
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But to get those speeds, they need to install a lawn wart, which costs more than just installing fiber. $200 of equipment can send 1gb/1gb over 80km of fiber. But instead we talk about $10k of equipment to send 500mb over 100m of copper. It's faster to deploy and a more familiar tech, but it's slower and more expensive.