'Last mile' problems will dog triple play hopes

bealtine

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single11007

Last mile’ problems will dog triple play hopes

14.05.2008 - Unresolved issues such as the increasing broadband bottleneck at local exchanges and overcoming the ‘last mile’ between the exchange and home will mean deploying triple play services – broadband, TV and telephony – a struggle for providers in countries where copper is the dominant access method.
Connectivity expert Brian McBride, managing director of Bray-based equipment provider Data Edge, told siliconrepublic.com that service providers wishing to offer triple play services will struggle to provide anything over 8Mbps over copper loops.

“In the UK, OfCom has told BT to stop promoting services of ‘up to 8Mbps’ because in reality when you study these connections, they rarely exceed 1Mbps at the user’s end, and are unsuitable for services like TV.

“Last mile – the connection between the local telecoms exchange and the user’s home or business – is still the tough issue for triple play. If you live on a greenfield site where fibre has been installed, yes these services will work. If, however, you live on a site only addressed by copper, the only way around is to use incumbent networks like those of Eircom or BT in the UK. Fibre to the kerb (FTTH) may be one way around it.”

McBride said consumer-facing telecoms companies want to get away from offering just bandwidth and are now beginning to focus increasingly on offering content. “In theory, with ADSL and SDSL, the bandwidth is increasing, but if it can’t get beyond the last mile, then these services will struggle. You will need at least 8Mbps of uninterrupted bandwidth to enjoy proper services.

“If you are a Sky user and you want to use two hard disk recorders in your home, you will require 24Mbps if you want to watch using internet protocol television (IPTV). If you want to watch multi-room services, you’re talking about four or five streams of 24Mbps into your home, which just isn’t available today.”

Another issue that IPTV customers using copper networks will face is what McBride terms “continuity”.

“One of the problems, particularly with ADSL is a lot of ‘reset’ happens. Because twisted pair copper runs in bundles with others, if someone switches on a fax machine or a house alarm connected to a phone line goes off, the noise may knock the ADSL off and it will have to reset, which normally takes 15 seconds. During that time you have no signal to carry pictures and voice.

“Operators are fully aware of this problem but that’s the nature of the beast – they are trying to squeeze more and more out of copper loops. The truth the market doesn’t seem to be telling consumers is that copper was designed for voice and not much else.

“They are trying to squeeze megahertz through something designed for kilohertz”, McBride pointed out.

He said that with the advent of next-generation networks (NGN) with fibre to the kerb and fibre to the home the problem should abate. However, operators will need to be constantly monitoring the network for quality issues to keep consumers satisfied.

“Suppliers will have to monitor the quality of video from the head end and from the consumer’s premises. They need to know if there’s an issue before the consumer is even aware.”

McBride said that issues will soon emerge over false advertising if operators are promising and charging for broadband services that aren’t what they seem to be.

“The reason telecoms companies are doing this is they’ve got a network there and they’ve got to make money back on it. The danger is that you will disappoint people.”

He added that IPTV providers will struggle to satisfy the needs of consumers already used to a certain standard of terrestrial and satellite TV service. “If you are trying to compete with something like that, you’ll need to offer another reason for consumers so they’ll put up with it.”

By John Kennedy

watty

They will struggle to get 4Mbps @ 2km

I estimate only 10% to 30% of phone line users would be able to get decent quality IPTV.
For ONE set box.

Each additonal set box needs another 4Mbps.
BluRay / Satellite Quality HDTV needs 20Mbps at least. (less than 1km and VDSL) PER SET BOX!!
Plus what ever you want for ordinary Internet.

If I had xDSL I would surely stick with my Satellite or Cable for MultiRoom HDTV

bealtine

watty wrote: »

They will struggle to get 4Mbps @ 2km

If I had xDSL I would surely stick with my Satellite or Cable for MultiRoom HDTV

You wouldn't really have any other choice. In Paris the 24Mbps service (generally pegs at about 15-18Mbps) has trouble with streaming tv.
Which is why the Paris authorities/telcos are rolling out fibre to the home.
It's all about service and a service culture which is why they do these things.
In General terms it's unlike here where it's more about money liberation than actually providing anything for the liberated money.

Patrickof

Is delivering whats essentially ideally suited for satellite (i.e. broadcast TV) via the broadband network not a waste of resources?

paulm17781

Patrickof wrote: »

Is delivering whats essentially ideally suited for satellite (i.e. broadcast TV) via the broadband network not a waste of resources?

It's all about convergence.

watty

Delivering essentially Broadcast on an essentially unicast medium is indeed a staggering waste. The big hype 20 years ago and 2 years ago for IPTV was long tail VOD, not a bad duplication of Cable TV. But the rights holders won't give the IPTV operators economic access to the catalog. Many bits of which are not even on Digital/DVD yet but broadcast format tapes or 35mm / 70mm cinefilm.

Teachers used to wash out your mouth with carbolic soap in my primary school if you used bad words. Like the one beginning with c

BarryM

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single11037

Not wishing to infringe Silicon Republic's copyright - only an extract.....:)

"The existing broadband coverage figures prepared on a county-by-county basis for the NBS proposal request are grossly inaccurate, with large parts of some counties shown as broadband-enabled, which is clearly incorrect."

Well, well, finally the meja realises that Ryan and Co have been lying.....

Bye, Barry

watty

While I agree totally that the NBS map and DSL coverage is let's say "very optimistic", the article is actually advertising copy for one of the smaller two way Satellite vendors with a very basic product, which ironically is also very optimistic about coverage in the South West.

BarryM

watty wrote: »

While I agree totally that the NBS map and DSL coverage is let's say "very optimistic", the article is actually advertising copy for one of the smaller two way Satellite vendors with a very basic product, which ironically is also very optimistic about coverage in the South West.

Par for the course for Silicon Republic, of itself a set of press releases kept apart by advertising. Given their record I was surprised they kept in the criticism of the Dept's data.
As to small satellite providers, its better than nothing, and as someone who lives in the rural SW we have f***k all else than (excellent) small suppliers.
Just for a laugh I applied to have Perlico, I'm awaiting with interest their 'offer'

Bye, Barry

BarryM

BarryM wrote: »

Not wishing to infringe Silicon Republic's copyright - only an extract.....:) -

another one -
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single11085

“But the reality is that countrywide fibre networks, not ancient copper technology, are the way forward. Very soon the OECD will redefine broadband as fibre and we’ll disappear off the [OECD] chart,” Hanrahan warned.

Hanrahan is from ALTO, the alternative operators group, 'bout time they woke up to the reality.....

Bye, Barry

BarryM

BarryM wrote: »

Just for a laugh I applied to have Perlico, I'm awaiting with interest their 'offer' Bye, Barry

Got the paperwork, says my line will be taken over 'soon' and then BB..... In the small print it says they reserve the right to not provide BB if tech doesn't work out.... I'll be interested in the reduction in price if (and when) this happens.

Bye, Barry

BarryM

BarryM wrote: »

another one -
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single11085

“But the reality is that countrywide fibre networks, not ancient copper technology, are the way forward. Very soon the OECD will redefine broadband as fibre and we’ll disappear off the [OECD] chart,” Hanrahan warned.

From the CSO's recent publication....

In 2006, 63.8% of households in the Mid-East region and 60.7% in the Dublin
region owned a PC, while ownership rates were in the range 52% to 55% in all
other regions (see Table 3.9).
♦ At county level, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest proportion of
households with a PC (70.7%), while Limerick City had the lowest proportion,
45.2% (see Table 3.9)
♦ In 2006, 53% of households with a PC in Dublin had broadband access to the
Internet compared with only 22% in the Border and Midland regions (see Table
3.9).
♦ In 2006, broadband was the most common form of Internet access in only
Galway and Waterford cities and the four Dublin administrative counties (see
Table 3.9 and Map).
♦ Less than 20% of households with a PC in Leitrim (15.8%), Cavan (18.3%),
Roscommon (18.3%), Galway County (18.5%), Wexford (18.6%) and Donegal
(19.1%) had broadband in 2006 (see Table 3.9 and Map).
♦ Between 2002 and 2006 there was an increase in Internet access across all
regions, particularly in the West (+14%), Border (+13.2%), South-East (+13.1%)
and South-West (+13%) (see Graph 3.10).

The ONLY real data..... pity it took them so long.....

the URL - http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/other_releases/2008/regqualityfull.pdf

Bye, Barry

bk

And the sad thing is, even when you have fibre to the development, the result still turns out very poor.

I've got the Smart Vision service, which if Fibre To The Basement of my apartment building.
We end up with just 4mb BB and a TV service which is missing lots of channels like Sky and discovery and which suffers from pixelation, and out of sync audio problems.

Meanwhile just 5 minutes away in my previous accommodation, on lowly UPC copper, for the same price I'm now paying, you can get 20m/1.5m BB, most of the TV channels available and without any problems and a DVR.

I'd happily take the copper over fibre when it leads to no competition and a lazy mini monopoly.

cgarvey

bk wrote: »

I'd happily take the copper over fibre when it leads to no competition and a lazy mini monopoly.

As many thousands are all starting to realise right across urban areas. Wonder how many more cozy exclusive deals with property developers will we need to see before some intervention (or, indeed, some telcos to have the balls to do something about it). A good few more, I imagine, and now that it'll all be built at a much slower rate, it could be some time yet before the monopolies are examined more closely.

rardagh

Hi,

On pages 22/23/24 of this presentation is an analysis of 'real' data with regards to the types of capacities supported by copper pairs in-situ in Ireland.

http://www.uknof.org.uk/uknof7/Whittaker-LLU.pdf

Best,