Hi Doc,
Sorry, didn't see your prior post on this topic.
re: "How does WinFirst deliver 100 mbps over copper coax?"
They don't. Let's put it this way. They claim that they will use both coax and fiber. An excerpt from WIN's technology page, with bolded emphasis mine:
winfirst.com
"The final connection to the home will be made by installation of a bonded coaxial cable and fiber optic cable. Telephone and data transmissions will be carried over the fiber, while video signals will be carried over coaxial cable. A network interface unit at each customer's location will provide the connection between the network and the end-user.
"The end-to-end fiber delivery for voice and data services allows for tremendous bandwidth capacity and reliability. The network will be capable of delivering up to 100 megabits per second of capacity to every home. Fiber to the home is inherently scalable and will enable WIN, on a per customer basis, to meet the bandwidth needs of new applications and services in the future."
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It looks almost too good, at first take. But they are not blanketing the whole country with their investment, instead they are going after selected locales initially. Although appreciable ones, so their resources will not dilute to the point that someone else's may have, when that someone else took on the hidden problems of an older incumbent's aging plant.
From what I can tell they are not proposing a kludge of retrofitted incumbents, rather they are doing overbuilds. The coax is to avoid re-inventing video, possibly as a placeholder until an industry supporting streaming video over IP comes to maturity. Who knows.
I'm not placing blind faith in what they say. But they do present a viable approach, IMO. One question is, can they dislodge or take away sufficient business from the incumbent cable operators who are using only black?
But the ultimate question, however, despite how irrelevant it may seem these days, is: Can they make any money?
FAC |
