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Ardent Listener
Administrator
USA
4841 Posts |
 Posted - 01/12/2008 : 21:02:46
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Copper Wire Could Push 4 Times the Bandwidth of Fiber Optics
by Mike Zazaian October 10, 2006 - 7:37pm
A new consortium of hardware vendors is experimenting with new methods to push as much as 10 gigabytes per second through existing copper wire infrastructures, making Fiber-to-the-Home all but obsolete.
By using a technique called Dynamic Spectrum Management, internet providers would be able to achieve DSL bandwidth speeds as high as 10Gpbs through copper wires. At such immense speeds, the already-laid copper wires could achieve speeds up to four times faster than the 2.5Gbps throughput at which standard fiber-optic cables top out.
Current bottlenecks on DSL connections are caused by static spectrum management, a technology that prevents severe service degradation in wires that may be used by multiple services. It essentially ensures that nobody gets terrible service, also hinders service symmetry and greatly lowers the highest possible speeds in copper wire solutions. DSM improves upon the current SSM implementation, allowing each DSL connection to be regulated in real time based on the immediate data needs of each customer. By just changing the way data is transferred through copper wires, individual users could achieve download rates as fast as 100 megabytes per second, more than twice as fast as Verizon plans to offer with its Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) FiOS network.
The main obstacle for the advancement of DSL technology is the interference generated from different DSL lines that share the same telephone cable binder, said Professor John Cioffi, Professor of Engineering at Stanford University. DSM is a promising technology for the future evolution of broadband access networks using existing copper infrastructure.
The news couldn’t come at a worse time for Verizon, who has already committed over $18 billion to the expansion of the aforementioned FiOS network. The primary costs of such FTTH networks lie not with the actual implementation, which at $933 per home costs only slightly more than an $800 per-home cable installation. Instead, Verizon’s core costs come from the need to pass fiber optic cables by every single house that it plans to eventually connect with, even if those houses choose to opt out of service in the interim. If only 10 percent of customers then choose to adopt the service, Verizon’s costs ring up at around $10,000 per home.
And while such FTTH networks are already prevalent in Japan and South Korea, the increased bandwidth of DSM solutions would eliminate the primary costs that Verizon faces as it plans to extend its FiOS network to 18 million homes by 2010. And while DSM is still in development, its implementation would allow for a less costly Fiber-to-the-Curb solution, in which service providers could avoid the enormous costs of passing fiber by every house in a given network.
Still, DSM is in its infancy, and doesn’t yet mean the downfall of Verizon’s FiOS or Fiber-to-the-Home. If DSM gets off the ground any time soon however, Verizon may have a whole lot of ’splainin’ to do to its investors about the $18 billion hole in its pocket
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fiatboy
Administrator
912 Posts |
 Posted - 01/13/2008 : 01:09:59
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Interesting read, and yet another picture to add to my "copper porn" folder.  |
"Bart, it's not about how many stocks you have, it's about how much copper wire you can get out of the building." --- Homer Simpson |
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MaDeuce
Penny Pincher Member
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2008 : 13:37:57
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Interesting indeed. However, the article does have a glaring error. Even 10 years ago when I was with NEC, we had 10G fiber. God only knows what the max rate is now. An error like that makes me wonder about the accuracy of the article as a whole.
Ignoring the error, it sounds like they are saying that Cu can supply 25G to the home (2.5 * 10), which is indeed more than adequate. At least for another year or two... Cu also has the advantage of being easy to splice.
Wouldn't it be cool to see all the miles of fiber (which replaced miles of Cu) replaced by miles of Cu?
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2008 : 17:37:07
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Quote from the article:
"The main obstacle for the advancement of DSL technology is the interference generated from different DSL lines that share the same telephone cable binder, said Professor John Cioffi, Professor of Engineering at Stanford University. DSM is a promising technology for the future evolution of broadband access networks using existing copper infrastructure."
There is another problem not mentioned-
the age of the copper wires already in use.
The existing copper phone wires (or spagetti thin wires to be more precise) degrade over time. Insulation dergrades due to the elements, thin wires snap, a kink in the wires can cause them to break, etc.
Replacing all of the old wires with new wires, even if the technology were available next month, is an expensive proposition to try to get existing wire up to snuff.
Expecting existing copper phone lines to allow 10Gbps is much like expecting a Model T to compete in the Indianapolis 500-
And win!
Some months ago my land line copper phone needed repair. The phone company was able to get my phone up and running but the junction box (which is above ground, I pass it every day) is barely able to keep up with the constant repairs that are needed.
I used to see the phone company at that junction box on a weekly basis trying to get somebody's phone service back up and running (I used to tell the repair guys "you need to install a house here for you guys to live in since you are here so much")
and the junction box is only from the late 1980's!
Maybe the reason Vewrizon is pushing fiber optcis is due to fiber optics being able to last longer than copper wire. Fiber optics date back to the 1970's and since these fibers are nothing more than glorified strands of flexible glass perhaps they do a better job of surviving the elements. (I do not know, just a guess on my part.)
Another reason Verizon ispushing FIOS-
Competition against Cable TV.
In Philadelphia PA where I used to live, Comcast has a monopoly on cable TV.
FIOS is the competition but it isn't installed in all areas of the city yet. Just thought you might want to know. |
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Cu wire 4 X bandwidth of fiber optics?
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