xDSL Revisited vol 2

Kind Readers,

Check the Archives?!? See the <Devious Hint> in one post?!? Well, if not then let me say it involved the leasing of burglar alarm lines in a local area to get the quality of service necessary for xDSL and putting equipment from the same vendor at each end.

Three firms have already caught on to this that I know of, in Iowa, Chicago and Boston. The one in Iowa has been *chopped off at the knees* by US West when they figured out what was going on and can not get more than the 200 lines originally contracted for. Last I heard they were not even connected yet. The telcos lack the talent to even connect the service though the lines terminate at the POP (Point of Presence) which is across the street from the Central Office (CO) and the company is waiting to show the telcos installers how to hook them up (it is a group of 200 network engineers.)

There is a way around this, the Telecommunications Reform Act, that makes the telcos contract with *qualified* entities to gain access to the CO and the switches. Always protective of their vanishing monopolies, the process is again arcane and difficult. A company in Washington, DC has done it successfully in partnership with a network provider and is providing a humane service to hospitals, doctors, etc. in that they offer RADSL video conferencing for the communication of the above to the deaf and hearing-impaired through sign language in real time. BRAVO!!!! Humanity wins!!!

It is a conundrum of sorts in that the areas that are the most likely to pay for and afford these services, suburbia, other than metropolitan, are often out of the three mile limit of the service. A driving force for fiber-to-the-curb proponents and the market could just drive it there. There are big enough bucks there that the telcos cannot ignore it or a subcontractor will lease the lines legally and do it on their own. Projections for returns in the next two and a half years go into the billions. Be aware, many different research groups have their own numbers and reasons to defend them that are self-serving.

There are many articles out there on xDSL and the research is variable in content. I have read some good articles by some respected authors who are just plain wrong, at times, and am trying to filter the content for you by only repeating information verified through at least three sources. Since I am still breathing, I do not preclude errors on my part!!! Fact is I said ADSL was Asynchronous and it is Asymmetric. OOPS!!!! The speeds are different in the two directions, sorry!

Most of the telcos have rolled back their availability dates from this summer (now) to year end or 1998. It is not the two standards that have stopped them; but the issue of cross-talk if too many xDSL lines are on the same copper trunk. Modems (they are not truly modems, but I have nothing else to call them) that handle both CAP and DMT are already in testing in the field by at least three companies. Third generation modems will be out by the end of summer.

The second ADSL Forum was in Boston in June and had a 150% increase in attendees. The vendors of equipment, understandably, are pushing for the telcos to adopt and purchase equipment. With two different *standards* fighting for acceptance, their is some resistance. The router folks are getting involved, Cisco and 3Com, so with the CO switch makers already on board, Nortel and Lucent, the momentum is building. So, stick a note in with your next phone bill.

There are also new technologies to help filter and extend some xDSL technologies beyond the three mile limit to about five and a half miles. Not a huge improvement, but in my neighborhood (I can hit the CO for two prefixes with a good throwing arm and a rock) it is the difference of 350% in a affluent suburban area. And, the *big* boys are integrating xDSL into their DLCs (Digital Loop Carriers), with some reluctance.

I am still looking for some relevant URLs to some of the newer vendors that are on board. My apologies for being remiss about my updates since March and the subject was introduced by an LG, but I gotta earn a living and I took my first vacation in over a decade. My sources are:

NetworkWorld
PC Week
Web Week, now Internet World
VAR Business
LAN Times
Computer Technology Review

And, others that I will put up next. Search the May issues on the first one for more links. I will try to see if I have left some out or if they link those other vendors I spoke of. I am just now able to bring you kind folks "up to speed" on this area and the third installment may even arrive tonight.

If you do nothing else, read it!!!!!!!!!!!!

A new technology was just introduced to ANSI and ISO and it is EXCITING if it can deliver.

As always, Peace,
Clarke