Hi Bob,
ADSL is a point to point connection. An ADSL modem
is required at your house and at the CO. At the CO (and
the same goes for your house) data and POTS are split
(POTS splitter) into two paths. Your POTS or voice path
goes through the switching equipment that is already in
place at the CO. The data path gets routed to the internet,
a video server, video conference, etc.. This “data” path is the
new part of the infrastructure. The RBOC could very easily
become your ISP. ADSL offloads the voice path which is
becoming very congested these days due to all the long
connect times of internet browsing. Some of the news
rags are predicting a meltdown coming to a CO near
you -- Soon!
>> I thought that the beauty of ADSL is that it requires no change in the infrastructure. In
other words, I would use my ADSL modem in exactly the same fashion as my analog
28.8 modem. It would simply make better use of the copper wire.
“No change” usually means that the RBOC doesn’t need to upgrade
the voice path. i.e. If your CO is an old analog switch, that’s ok. The RBOC only
needs to add the modems, routers, and everything related to the data path
including people that know data (like ISP types). By the way, this last point is
why you’ll see deployment go slowly IMHO.
>> Taking this train of thought a step further, the only reason an RBOC would be
interested in the ADSL business at all, from the modem perspective, is if they intend to
become an ISP or some incarnation thereof.
Bingo! Who really knows.
>> ISDN
requires a dedicated line of a certain quality if I'm not mistaken and also involves an
"installation" process.
ADSL also requires an installation process, just look at all the new equipment discussed
above. CAP will require a line of higher quality than DMT. |
