Larrie: Hotter than a T-1 line down here, help!. T-1's are getting cheaper and will remain so which is great for products like (channel banks) that connect to the end.
DSL standard promises to force
T-1 prices down
July 9, 1997
A new network access
technology is emerging that could drive down T-1 prices.
The technology, dubbed high-bit-rate digital subscriber line 2
(HDSL2), boasts the same 1.544M bit/sec capacity of a standard
T-1 line. But because HDSL2 uses one pair of copper wires rather
than the two employed by a standard T-1, carriers should be able
to provide HDSL2-based T-1 service more cheaply.
Three companies - ADC Telecommunications, Inc., PairGain
Technologies, Inc. and Level One Communications, Inc. - last
week jointly submitted an HDSL2 standard proposal to ANSI.
This proposal is based on technology from Adtran, Inc., which
quietly made an HDSL2 proposal of its own in January.
Observers expect a standard to gel later this year;
HDSL2-compliant products should be available by mid-1998 for
carriers and customers.
As users order more lines and new carriers lease additional lines
from established carriers, pairs of copper wires will become scarce.
``A service that takes one copper pair is a lot more useful than
something that takes two,'' said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI
Corp., a technology assessment firm in Voorhees, N.J.
HDSL2 would offer all the features of HDSL, the four-wire
technology used now to provision most new 1.5M bit/sec T-1
services. HDSL has been a major factor in pushing T-1 prices
lower because it works over longer distances without repeaters to
install and maintain, Nolle said. HDSL has helped several carriers
offer T-1 prices at a lower cost (see graphic, right).
Like its four-wire sibling, HDSL2 can coexist peacefully with other
services supported in the same telephone company cable. It is
quiet enough not to disturb neighboring transmissions and
indifferent to noise generated by other wires. In that regard, it has
advantages over some other DSL technologies, which can disturb
and be disturbed by other services.
Still, HDSL2 is expected to complement rather than displace other
DSL services, each of which tends to serve its own purpose, said
users and analysts.
``I'm not interested in T-1s,'' said Doug Siebert, director of
computing facilities for the Division of Mathematics at the
University of Iowa. Rather, he would be happy with asymmetric
DSL, which the university is trying to obtain to support faculty
members who telecommute.
Siebert is attracted to ADSL's download speeds of up to 8M
bit/sec, even though the service only supports 1.5M bit/sec
upstream. For him, symmetry does not matter.
But for applications that require equal bandwidth in both
directions - such as interconnecting LANs - HDSL and HDSL2
will be the answer, said Kieran Taylor, broadband analyst at
TeleChoice, Inc., a consultancy in Verona, N.J. In fact, HDSL2
could be used to carry any traffic now carried over traditional
T-1s, including voice and data, Taylor said.
The technology also will be appealing to alternative carriers trying
to make inroads against established local exchange carriers (LEC)
that control local phone wiring. Alternative carriers could lease
copper lines from the LECs and offer T-1 competition, sparking a
price war that could drive prices down.
Competition has been the main reason for falling NYNEX Corp.
T-1 prices, said Colin O'Garro, a T-1 product manager for the
carrier. Prices have fallen even without using HDSL, he said.
Because HDSL2 uses one copper pair instead of two, the
technology also would stretch the limited supply of copper lines
that are being snapped up by customers to support a second
dial-up phone line for faxes and modems or other uses.
Given that the latest HDSL2 proposal is based on an
implementation of Adtran's earlier proposal, vendors are hopeful
that they might unite behind a single standard.
HDSL actually has evolved without a standard, making every
vendor's hardware proprietary. To get HDSL to work, carriers and
customers are stuck buying all their equipment from the same
vendor.
****An HDSL2 standard would ensure interoperability and
encourage competition that would drive prices as low as possible****
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