I don’t know whether it’s because I’m getting old but the pace of life seems so frenetic these days. Today I read about a 700Mbps DSL prototype showcased in Hong Kong by Chinese networking vendor Huawei.
Huawei’s SuperMIMO technology uses four twisted pairs to achieve a downstream rate of 700Mbps at a distance of 400 metres. This means it would likely fit into a Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC broadband) scenario. In the UK of course we are just rolling out “up to 40Mbps” FTTC and trialing 100Mbps Fibre to the Premises (FTTP).
FTTP will hit the streets (ducts/poles) next year in the UK. Common sense however still tells me that rather than even think of a 700Mbps replacement for the current FTTC service we would be better off overall going for FTTP which would be more future proof. Although not yet practical for home use, if for nothing other than the cost of the equipment, Fibre Ethernet technology is already at 100Gbps and over greater distances than 400m.
Of course the doubters amongst you will be saying that we will never need 100Gbps to the home. I’m sure that teleporting will need at least that kind of data rate – beam me up Scotty (to the asylum please).
PS I bet we will all have 100Gbps Ethernet to the home in 20 years time – any takers?
7 replies on “FTTC Broadband at 700Mbps? The Man from Huawei He Say Yes!”
you spotted that Huawei’s 700-meg solution uses four copper pairs, right? that means that maybe as many of 3 out of 4 of us have to give up our telephone lines so that our neighbours can have fast broadband. hmm
You might be forgetting that when BT sticks a phone line into your home it makes allowances for future demand (e.g. extra phone lines) and thus, I believe, sticks more than one twisted pair down (I did once cut my own home line open and confirmed that 4 or 5 were present). I could be wrong about that as it was a long time ago and in a big house, smaller properties might get less? Not sure.
Anyway it doesn’t change the fact that the real speed to note here is 175Mbps (each pair) because only really weird home users would (using current needs only) pay twice, three times or even four times as much for their broadband (i.e. effectively four phone lines).
how many pairs to each home is an interesting question. i was under the impression that each cable has 2 pairs in it, based on a vague memory of ordering a new phone line back in 2000 when the existing four cables coming to the property (a farmhouse) gave us 8 lines. all were in use, so BT had to string up a new cable from the bottom of the hill a mile away.
i think this technology only works if everyone in the cabinet is using it. you have do crosstalk cancellation of some sort between all the pairs in the same bundle. i really should find out more before i start posting…
BT usually run 2 pairs I believe. EFM has 8 pairs but that is a different kettle of fish.
Ma Bell (US) used to use a single pair (flat, black, molded plastic) for residential connections from pole to house. The old style round wires for internal use were two-pair (Xmas Hornet aka red-green-black-yellow) with the red-green pair required for a single POTS line. The black-yellow pair was often either trimmed off or coiled around the outer jacket inside the terminal block (RJ-11 type).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_jack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_jack#Pinouts
I’ve not been involved in either an ISDN or DSL hook-up here in the U.S. so I don’t know about their requirements.
its another con. to protect the copper cabal even longer. Tref is right, they should be running fibre. Think of all the dacs, they are gonna have to run more copper to get enough lines, and 400 metres is nothing, it means only a few are going to be able to benefit. Obsolete before it starts.
nuts.
chris
It’s a prototype, don’t knock it.