Broadband Reports pointed me to a new and interesting product the other day. Turns out some telcos want to use existing coaxial cable in fiber-to-the-home deployments, avoiding more costly Cat-5 wiring. Yes, that's coaxial cable originally installed for cable television.
In a world of super high-speed connections, isn't it ironic that the time-tested technology that delivers your cable services is "discovered" by the telcos to be the best way to connect to your home devices? Cable operators have known for years that a hybrid-fiber-coax network (HFC) is the best and most efficient way to deliver voice, video and data services to customers' devices.
The development of DOCSIS 3.0 will dramatically increase the speed capability of hybrid-fiber-coax networks, or cable systems to well over 100 Mbps. Real-life tests are being conducted as we speak. Any perceived advantage of FTTP is melting away as cable operators continue to expand the technical capability of their future-proofed networks. Telco's use of the existing coaxial wiring in homes is a simple admission of that.
It also occurred to me that the product that uses the home coax wiring, the Coax Ethernet Adapter Kit, can solve a cable Internet speed-demon's whole-house needs. Today's common wireless technology can't keep up with DOCSIS 3.0's capabilities. Using their existing coax wiring, consumers could connect the $199 Coax Ethernet Adapter to their existing router and then to an available coax outlet. Another adapter connects from the coax outlet to a PC or other Ethernet-ready device. By the way, the Coax Ethernet Adapter clocks in at 270 Mbps and, because this technology operates in a different part of the spectrum than cable television, you can use it without interfering with your cable television services.
Of course, 802.11n technology could also be a high-speed wireless solution but the final specifications for it remains elusive, now expected in November. In any case, cable customers can be assured that they are connected to a network that is a technical marvel when it comes to speed, flexability and reliability.
The speed will be nice, but the 40gb cap that I'm sure will be implemented soon will means that we'll all pay ridiculous overage fees all the time because it will take no time at all to hit the stupid cap.
Posted by: nathan | Tuesday, June 03, 2008 at 09:20 PM
Looking forward to DOCSIS 3.0 here.
I would have to ask how this will effect Caps since this greater speed would hit quicker?
With this kind of speed more online DVD transfers would happen (Netflix)...
Posted by: ARGO | Tuesday, June 03, 2008 at 06:05 PM