Mike:
I see that Frank has answered your questions with far more erudition than I could, but I
thought I'd address one of your issues.
Yes, HDSL-2 using a single pair instead of two is a big big advantage in copper
exhaust. So I suppose the question is again what do you do when go need more than a
copper pair.
I should have thought fiber was not likely until then, except that I've heard of at least
one case where a CLEC is proposing it- don't ask me how they justified the costs you
note. I and several thread members seem to think HDSL-2 has 5 years to go before
then.
About the issue of HDSL being "minor" and transparent- well yes, that is why it
succeeds. If you, as head of IT, go to your CFO and say, "hey, boss, we need 10
more lines to handle two years expansion, I thing we should put in a 10G fiber link and
run VOIP on the internet" , you'll be thrown out of the office. If you go and say, "hey,
this CLEC claims they can deliver the same T1 we get from the ILEC at 1/2 the cost,
and we don't need to change our PBX or routers or other equipment" , you are a big
hero.
===== A personal rant almost on topic =====
I live in a suburb that was considered out in the sticks until recently. Four years ago, I
was told I had taken the last copper pair on the street I live on, which is a long rural
road and a major artery to the town center. I can't have xDSL, for example, since I'm
about 2 miles from the CO in the town center. Nothing was done to expand the
system, so I don't know what other people did for their second internet line. Perhaps
the phone company put in SLC and I didn't notice. I got cable early this year, and
would donate the second line back to the wire company if I could keep my fax number,
so perhaps HFC is one sort of relief to copper exhaustion.
Today it is not so rural. To accommodate a new large housing development down the
street, they just finished digging up the streets and laying some sort of cable even though
everything up to now was strung on poles. However, the stuff you can put on poles has
become a legal nightmare, and they are overloaded, so they apparently found it better
to dig, pipe, and plant.
Independently the gas company came, and dug up the streets to reset the gas lines.
I am scheduled next year to have them come and expand the sewer
This is in Connecticut, which is hilly, very rocky, and very conservative about zoning.
I have no idea how any of this is cost justified by what I call the 'wire' company,
formerly known ILEC, or the others, but I do note that although the road was torn up
for years, the town never fixed it until they needed to lay this cable.
If it costs so darn much to dig up the ground, how come they are doing it three times in
my yard! And I still don't have fiber to the home. |
