OT> FCC Gives Green Light For New Cable Internet Access
October 8, 1998 WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., Newsbytes via
NewsEdge Corporation : The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) has
announced it has given the thumbs up to
CAIS Internet's OverVoice fast Internet
access technology to be used on the public
switched telephone network (PSTN).
According to CAIS Internet, a first-tier
Internet service provider (ISP) that is part of
the CGX Communications group, the FCC
permit has been made under the FCC Part 68
licensing arrangement.
CAIS says that its OverVoice technology is
the first to adapt the Ethernet standard used
on PC local area networks (LANs) for use
across standard copper pair cables, as used
on the PSTN local loop. The OverVoice
technology, officials say, supports Internet
access at speeds of up to 10 megabits per
second (Mbps), while still supporting
simultaneous voice calls as normal over the
phone line.
"While Part 68 licensing is somewhat
standard and routine for devices such as
telephones and answering machines, it is a
more complex issue with technology like
OverVoice, which combines analog voice
signals and high-speed data over standard
telephone wiring," said Kevin Powell, CAIS'
director of OverVoice product services.
According to CAIS, the OverVoice equipment,
which consists of a proprietary wall jack and
control unit, uses a number of capacitors,
inductors, transformers and terminators to
form the OverVoice filters that allow
simultaneous use of the wires by data and
voice while ensuring interference-free
communications.
These filters, the firm says, enable the voice
signal to flow freely between a telephone
and the public switched network, and data
traffic to flow freely between an end user's
PC and the Internet at speeds faster than
many of the DSL (digital subscriber line)
technologies starting to become available.
In addition this, the company says,
OverVoice technology, which requires no
outside power source, also removes Internet
traffic from the public network and routes it
over a private high-speed circuit that
connects directly to the Internet.
OverVoice is primarily aimed at shared usage
Internet access applications, Newsbytes
notes. The OverVoice technology allows an
entire apartment building of a hotel to be
connected into the Internet on an
"always-on" basis, sharing the bandwidth
between various users on a local network.
At the building end of the OverVoice link, the
high-speed Internet access line is connected
to a server and an Ethernet Hub, which
connects to a proprietary device called the
OverVoice Control Unit. Next, a special
OverVoice wall jack, which has separate
openings to plug in a telephone and a
computer, replaces the existing telephone
jack. Existing telephone wires then connect
the OverVoice Control Unit and wall jacks
around the building.
CGX Communications, the parent company of
CAIS Internet, says it expects the OverVoice
technology to play a major role in the
nationwide and international expansion and
growth of the company.
According to the company, the technology is
currently installed (or being installed) in
hotels and apartment buildings across the US
as part of commercial trials with Microsoft,
Atcom/INFO, and OnePoint Communications.
As reported in June by Newsbytes, CAIS has
struck a 10-year, $100 million deal with
Qwest Communications, calling on Quest to
provide leased and routed Internet Protocol
(IP) bandwidth on its 18,449-mile domestic
fiber network. That deal, Newsbytes notes,
has expanded CAIS's nationwide network
from five cities to around 130.
For the technically-minded, the OverVoice
technology allows Ethernet networking over
the twisted-pair phone wiring installed in
hotels and apartment buildings.
Installing OverVoice in a building requires
replacing the wall jacks with special jacks
that have separate connectors for voice and
data, and installing devices in the telephone
wiring closets that allow conventional
Ethernet hubs to be connected to the
existing wiring.
A high-speed connection, such as a T1 line,
is then installed to carry data traffic from the
building to an ISP. The result is Internet
access at 10 Mbps -- the same speed as a
standard Ethernet network and close to 20
times as fast as a 56Kbps analog modem.
Reported by Newsbytes News Network,
newsbytes.com . |
