Copper. It's not going anywhere.
Vectoring, a technology that eliminates crosstalk on a broadband DSL line, can boost speeds on existing copper to up to 100 Mbps. And apparently service providers are really interested in testing it out, according to Telebyte, a Hauppauge, New York-based company that just launched the first gear capable of testing how well vectored VDSL2 lines can perform.
Michael Breneisen, president of Telebyte in an interview with GigaOM shared details about the company’s new gear, which vendors are champing at the bit to use to boost their DSL in order to prolong the use of those assets while laying fiber. There are miles and miles of copper networks that might never be economical to upgrade to fiber. He said the product has seen interest in Europe and the U.S. and says a telco such as AT&T could even use vectoring to upgrade it’s DSL product without investing in new wires or equipment.
We have covered some of the advancements in DSL technology in the last few years, so from a technology perspective Breneisen’s excitement makes sense. However, we have also covered a waning interest in DSL from major U.S. providers. Verizon sold off many of its DSL lines, and even AT&T doesn’t seem interested in upgrading — instead those players plan to sell wireless broadband. However, DSL is deployed around the world, and in the U.S., CenturyLink and Frontier have millions of old lines. Perhaps, this is way they can more easily get with the times and upgrade their lines.
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