g.fast

G.fast isn't so gee whiz compared to fiber, Verizon exec says

26 August 2017 by Steve Blum
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G.fast technology, which in theory allows telcos to push gigabit speeds over existing copper wire, isn’t a good substitute for fiber upgrades, according to Verizon’s director of network planning. Vincent O’Byrne, quoted in an article by Sean Buckley in FierceTelecom, said that even in multi-tenant office buildings or apartments, it’s more cost effective to install fiber all the way to the customer, than it is to bring fiber in or near a building and then use G.fast… More

G.fast field trial shows both speed and limits

18 March 2017 by Steve Blum
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Strictly for short tracks.

British Telecom – aka BT – is offering real world verification of the speed claims made regarding the G.fast standard, which is technology that’s designed to get fast, fiber-like broadband speeds out of copper wires. The results are encouraging and live up to reasonable expectations, if not all the marketing hype surrounding G.fast.

According to a story by Sean Buckley in FierceTelecom, BT has found that G.fast’s field test results reasonably match laboratory predictions…

The provider is seeing great interest from customers and favorable technical results from its G.fast

… More

Bell Labs test shows faster speeds on shorter copper

21 May 2016 by Steve Blum
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Next generation cable technology – DOCSIS 3.1 – can support symmetrical 10 Gbps speeds over hybrid fiber coax plant, according to a press release from Bell Labs, now known as Nokia Bell Labs. Nokia completed its purchase of Alcatel Lucent earlier this year and Bell Labs was part of the bargain.

Bell Labs is pitching its XG-Cable technology for integration into CableLabs’ DOCSIS 3.1 standard, which is undergoing field trials in a few U.S. markets.… More

G.fast means fiber speeds over copper, up to a point

12 December 2014 by Steve Blum
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The point where the infrastructure collapses.

A short range, high speed technology standard for broadband over copper phone lines has been approved by the International Telecommunications Union. The G.fast standard is intended to make fiber-class speeds possible over legacy lines, with a maximum distance of 400 meters between the customer and the nearest fiber node.

Practical distances, though, are much shorter. “Service rate performance targets” – total bandwidth which can be split between up and down loads – are…

500-1000 Mb/s for FTTB deployments at less than 100m, straight loops
500 Mb/s at 100m
200 Mb/s at 200m
150 Mb/s at 250m

Bell Labs has succeeded in pushing a gigabit over 70 meters of pristine plant and 500 Mbps over 100 meters of lousy copper, using its implementation of an earlier version of the G.fast… More

Bell Labs bridges a gigabit over a copper gap

6 July 2013 by Steve Blum
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The case for copper. Source: Alcatel-Lucent.

AT&T and Verizon should think twice about running away from older copper networks. Bell Labs has prototype technology that can already move half a gigabit through legacy wiring. Testing by parent company Alcatel-Lucent and Telekom Austria succeeded in pushing more half a gigabit over multiple legacy copper POTS pairs, using elements of the emerging G.fast standard and mixing in advanced vectoring technology – dubbed Vectoring 2.0 – developed by Bell Labs.… More