Vodafone-ESB 250MBps delivered over power Lines?

dowtchaboy

(This is anecdotal but I have no reason to believe the source is bullshi**ing)

A guy from the business fibre side of Vodafone told a business colleague that an announcement was due "in late September" of a new initiative from the Vodafone-ESB joint venture for the delivery of broadband at (up to, I presume) 250MBps speeds over ESB copper power lines, NOT FTTH. The plan, he says, is to target areas and customers who are not being considered for Eircom eFibre, nor UPC, ie small town and rural customers. Further developments should extend to full "triple play" of broadband, phone and TV. I guess they could get a premium price if they are not slugging it out with eircom/sky/UPC.

If true, and I hope to God it is, it seems strange that none of this has leaked yet, equipment being ordered, people being trained etc. I don't know what countries are doing this yet, nor what companies are supplying equipment capable of delivering 250MBps over a few km of power lines. I guess the location of your local ESB substation is going to be of great interest? Makes a change from eFibre cab spotting!

Here's hoping!

ItHurtsWhenIP

Hmmmm ... I read somewhere a couple of years ago that the same technology that works over home plugs would not work on the larger electrical network.

There's an ar$eload of transformers scattered around the fields out here, with every farmer getting their own and then one to 3-4 domestic customers. I gotta imagine those would screw up a data signal.

ED E

dowtchaboy wrote: »

Here's hopingDreaming!

FYP.

There isnt any tech that Im aware of (nor BK I suspect) that can deliver 250Mbps over the mains network in real world deployments. All mains connections pass through AT LEAST 1 RCD/RCBO which nukes signalling.

What hes talking about IS FTTH and he just hasn't copped that.

bk

Well the only thing I could find is this AC-WAN tech that claims to be able to do 288Mbps over electric wires:

http://www.fast-bpl.com/products.html

But I've never heard of it actually been deployed anywhere and all seems very dubious.

So it seems it is possible, but I doubt it, more likely it is just FTTH and the sales guy got it mixed up.

caff

Its fibre, here is the press release http://www.esb.ie/main/press/pressreleaseWS.jsp?id=4074

Nollog

She likely just got confused about the offering.

It's probably just a 250mbps offering for the people who won't want to pay for 1gbps when siro's out. Still fibre.

ItHurtsWhenIP

caff wrote: »

Its fibre, here is the press release http://www.esb.ie/main/press/pressreleaseWS.jsp?id=4074

That press release is from July 2014 and heralded what we now know as Siro.

/\/ollog wrote: »

She likely just got confused about the offering.

It's probably just a 250mbps offering for the people who won't want to pay for 1gbps when siro's out. Still fibre.

Agreed, though I thought the tiers were:

1. 150Mbps
2. 300Mbps
3. 1,000Mbps

Or maybe that's just what EirWhatever will be offering.

bk

MMFITWGDV wrote: »

1. 150Mbps
2. 300Mbps
3. 1,000Mbps

Or maybe that's just what EirWhatever will be offering.

That is Eircom, as was revealed by Eircom Wholesale docs.

SIRO has been talking about their speeds starting at 200Mbps

eeguy

I though all they were doing was using the ESB to hang fibre on the existing poles, not transferring data over the power cables?

KOR101

Is it possible that fibre would be used on the main line, and then the actual break off electric line to the house could be used from there? Asking as a non-tech.......

bk

KOR101 wrote: »

Is it possible that fibre would be used on the main line, and then the actual break off electric line to the house could be used from there? Asking as a non-tech.......

Yes, it is possible, sort of like how Eircom could use G.FAST + FTTDp to cover the last 100 meters from the pole to the house.

However I haven't really heard about any technology like this being used anywhere else, so I doubt it, but still possible.

ED E

You'd have to break the line and fit a noise filter, it'd be a lot dimple to run a fibre core around the existing cable.