How does this work? (Fiber to copper 101) - 01/22/08 06:27 AM
OK,
So the AT&T rep sold me on their U-verse service last night. It won't be a huge change for me, other than I can finally get rid of the dish mounted on my deck (local cable is Comcast, a company I really, really don't like, aside from the fact that in my experience, satellite TV is more reliable than cable) so I went with Dish network). Aynway I'll get 4 TV streams, 1 in HD. Could have gotten VoIP, but I have to, and want to, stay with POTS. Internet bandwidth stays the same (6 MB).
Price is about the same as what I'm paying now.
What I don't understand was I remember years ago being told about the upper limit of copper to transmit data. Of couse, this was in the heady days of 28.8 modems, but I clearly remember when the 56K modems came out, being told there was no possible way things could be made to go any faster; that copper had an inherent limit, and 56.6K was about it.
Of course, I've been getting POTS and DSL over copper for years now, but it wasn't until last night that I thought about this.
I can see that the technology on either side of the copper has increased tremendously, but I still don't quite understand how they are now squeezing so much out of the copper. The total length of the run can't be more than 1/2 mile give or take, from my demarc to the telco box in the backyard, and then from there up the street a bit to a piece of equipment they put in when they surrounded my subdivision with fiber.
One other question: Does anyone see a day when they finally bite the bullet and start running fiber to the home? The rep said it's getting to be standard practice in new subdivisions, but they aren't doing it in existing subdivisions because people don't want their yards torn up - I don't buy that argument; they went through it once (albeit many years ago) with POTS, and then again with cable. Is it really just a question of cost, as at the present day people really don't _need_ fiber to the home (I can see that changing in 5 years or so), and so the demand isn't there to cover the costs?
Sorry if this is a question that could be answered via google, just wanted to get your guys input on it.
Thanks
Matt
So the AT&T rep sold me on their U-verse service last night. It won't be a huge change for me, other than I can finally get rid of the dish mounted on my deck (local cable is Comcast, a company I really, really don't like, aside from the fact that in my experience, satellite TV is more reliable than cable) so I went with Dish network). Aynway I'll get 4 TV streams, 1 in HD. Could have gotten VoIP, but I have to, and want to, stay with POTS. Internet bandwidth stays the same (6 MB).
Price is about the same as what I'm paying now.
What I don't understand was I remember years ago being told about the upper limit of copper to transmit data. Of couse, this was in the heady days of 28.8 modems, but I clearly remember when the 56K modems came out, being told there was no possible way things could be made to go any faster; that copper had an inherent limit, and 56.6K was about it.
Of course, I've been getting POTS and DSL over copper for years now, but it wasn't until last night that I thought about this.
I can see that the technology on either side of the copper has increased tremendously, but I still don't quite understand how they are now squeezing so much out of the copper. The total length of the run can't be more than 1/2 mile give or take, from my demarc to the telco box in the backyard, and then from there up the street a bit to a piece of equipment they put in when they surrounded my subdivision with fiber.
One other question: Does anyone see a day when they finally bite the bullet and start running fiber to the home? The rep said it's getting to be standard practice in new subdivisions, but they aren't doing it in existing subdivisions because people don't want their yards torn up - I don't buy that argument; they went through it once (albeit many years ago) with POTS, and then again with cable. Is it really just a question of cost, as at the present day people really don't _need_ fiber to the home (I can see that changing in 5 years or so), and so the demand isn't there to cover the costs?
Sorry if this is a question that could be answered via google, just wanted to get your guys input on it.
Thanks
Matt