Alcatel-Lucent sets new world record broadband speed of 10 Gbps for transmission of data over traditional copper telephone lines

[Markmjb]

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/press/2014/alcatel-lucent-sets-new-world-record-broadband-speed-10-gbps-transmission-data-over-traditional

 

Bell Labs, the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), has set a new broadband speed record of 10 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) using traditional copper telephone lines and a prototype technology that demonstrates how existing copper access networks can be used to deliver 1Gbps symmetrical ultra-broadband access services.

 

Pro's :
- its a fast speed achieved through one of the oldest data-transfer cables people have today.

- has the potential of making internet faster on places that are too expensive for glass fiber internet.

Cons:

- Available in 2015.

- It's a copper cable so still a chance of attenuation (signal decrease over distance).

- It all depends on how cable companies would handle this technology. If you assume the technology would be available without problems right now:  

1) How much would the cable companies charge for this?

2) Would it make cable companies lazy and potentially halt progress in the land of internet speeds, because why would you keep replacing old cables with glass fiber, if the old cable can deliver reasonable speeds?

 

I'm not that much into the technology itself so feel free to comment and add

 

[UnknownEngineer]

I wonder how much bandwidth would be available to the end user, considering the length of the cable. And what about hardware on the ends, are those custom as-well, or is this all just a firmware update away.

EDIT: From what I could collect on a quick read you would need to be 70m from the source for 1Gb/s Up and down (simultaneous), I don't think this is a relevant discovery anymore.

Also I couldn't find how many copper wires were used, I will keep looking.

[mr moose]

But they keep telling us that copper is dead and will never be that fast?  Oh wait, they said the same about wifi, mobile data, the speed of the car, the speed of a train, going into space etc etc etc.

 

Why would anyone be surprised,  we are just on the cusp of such breakthroughs in technology.  If they can get 10Gb/s on copper then I should get at least 1Gb/s with the distance I am from the exchange. Plus it will probably be easier, cheaper and quicker to roll out than the NBN. 

[UnknownEngineer]

But they keep telling us that copper is dead and will never be that fast?  Oh wait, they said the same about wifi, mobile data, the speed of the car, the speed of a train, going into space etc etc etc.

 

Why would anyone be surprised,  we are just on the cusp of such breakthroughs in technology.  If they can get 10Gb/s on copper then I should get at least 1Gb/s with the distance I am from the exchange. Plus it will probably be easier, cheaper and quicker to roll out than the NBN. 

The were not able to get 10Gb/s themselves, they were able to get 1Gb/s over 70m, this is only relevant for those who cannot replace the infrastructure inside the building, the wire to the complex will still need to be fiber. 

[mr moose]

The were not able to get 10Gb/s themselves, they were able to get 1Gb/s over 70m, this is only relevant for those who cannot replace the infrastructure inside the building, the wire to the complex will still need to be fiber. 

but:

 

Bell Labs, the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), has set a new broadband speed record of 10 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) using traditional copper telephone lines

 

and:

During testing, Bell Labs showed that XG-FAST technology can deliver 1 Gbps symmetrical services over 70 meters (for the cable being tested)

 

 

Which is good In Aus because regardless of what government does what we are getting fibre to the node and most premises will be close enough for 1Gb/s.

[UnknownEngineer]

but:

 

and:

 

Which is good In Aus because regardless of what government does what we are getting fibre to the node and most premises will be close enough for 1Gb/s.

I assume that the 10Gb/s was one way, no traffic going out from the receiver. EDIT: this was for 30m only, and from what I saw split between Up an down.

 

I just don't see the point in keeping the last 70m of copper, considering the cost of running fiber up to the node it would make no difference. I also think that this will not drive the price of a high bandwidth connection down just by being able to reach these speeds at 70m.

This is still going to be relevant for only those who are lucky enough to fulfill all of the strict requirements, an improvement yes, but for a very specific scenario.  

[mr moose]

I assume that the 10Gb/s was one way, no traffic going out from the receiver. EDIT: this was for 30m only, and from what I saw split between Up an down.

 

I just don't see the point in keeping the last 70m of copper, considering the cost of running fiber up to the node it would make no difference. I also think that this will not drive the price of a high bandwidth connection down just by being able to reach these speeds at 70m.

This is still going to be relevant for only those who are lucky enough to fulfill all of the strict requirements, an improvement yes, but for a very specific scenario.  

the 10Gb/s was using to pairs of copper, whether that's one way or not it doesn't say, regardless though, the way internet is going in Australia this still has the potential to give everyone much faster internet then they are currently or likely to get in the near future.

 

EDIT: also my point was more that this is just the beginning, who knows what distance and speed they will get to with more development.  Fibre for domestic dwellings within 1K of exchanges might become moot in 10 years time.

[ionbasa]

I can see this being used for fiber to the node, and then copper to the premises. What I don not understand is why would ISPs not just go FTTP in the first place. Basically seting up a main 10Gb Fiber to the node, and from there putting fiber to the premises at varying speeds for consumers

 

I realize that for now fiber can be pricey, but the advantages over standard Coax (DOCSIS) and ADSL/VDSL are stellar. 

[Jaybird]

holy crap that title exceeds the reasonable 20 character suggestion so mobile users know what they are clicking on. 

[landon418]

Even if it slows down over distance I would love to have that over 7mbs

[mr moose]

Even if it slows down over distance I would love to have that over 7mbs

the exciting thing is that even without improvements this tech (under test conditions) will give you 30-40Mb/s over 1.5K.

 

I remember when dsl first hit the market and we had 1mb/s top speed, then it climbed to 8Mb/s but we were told that was the maximum the copper lines can carry, then it went to 12 and some places on ADSL2+ are getting more than 33Mb/s on that same copper.  They have achieved 150Mb/s with VDSL2+ and this latest tech is pushing that further.  It is not unreasonable to assume that this tech could potentially give us copper users 100Mb/s with future developments.

[JAKEBAB]

Oh for god sakes why are people researching with old tech like copper imagine if they spent this time on something like fiber lol copper is inferior to fiber it degrades it is shit at distance and requires a ton of maintenance its worthless garbage!

[mr moose]

Oh for god sakes why are people researching with old tech like copper imagine if they spent this time on something like fiber lol copper is inferior to fiber it degrades it is shit at distance and requires a ton of maintenance its worthless garbage!

because $$$$$$

[Socky]

Stop trying to revive copper. Fiber is great <3

[GeathX]

the exciting thing is that even without improvements this tech (under test conditions) will give you 30-40Mb/s over 1.5K.

 

I remember when dsl first hit the market and we had 1mb/s top speed, then it climbed to 8Mb/s but we were told that was the maximum the copper lines can carry, then it went to 12 and some places on ADSL2+ are getting more than 33Mb/s on that same copper.  They have achieved 150Mb/s with VDSL2+ and this latest tech is pushing that further.  It is not unreasonable to assume that this tech could potentially give us copper users 100Mb/s with future developments.

 

 

This is all very good though, if they can get more life out of the copper network so be it. I just hope that any sections of the network that require fixing/replacing they don't put more copper there.

All these tests though to get copper to last longer, fibre is already at these speeds if not faster, with basically no drop off in range and using less power. Money spent trying to push copper could be used to develop better fibre manufacturing techniques. 

 

Won't there also be side effects of pushing the copper further and further? Surely the higher transmissions starts to degrade the copper over time.

[mr moose]

This is all very good though, if they can get more life out of the copper network so be it. I just hope that any sections of the network that require fixing/replacing they don't put more copper there.

All these tests though to get copper to last longer, fibre is already at these speeds if not faster, with basically no drop off in range and using less power. Money spent trying to push copper could be used to develop better fibre manufacturing techniques. 

 

Won't there also be side effects of pushing the copper further and further? Surely the higher transmissions starts to degrade the copper over time.

 

It really comes down to economics, what it costs to install fibre versus maintaining copper for a few years longer. It's all very well to have faster better fibre, but if the end cost to install is more and suitable speeds can be dragged out of copper for the interim then it makes financial sense to hang on a little bit longer.  This of course assumes that one the copper doesn't need replacing and two is actually cheaper than replacing with fibre.

 

In Australia this will likely be the case because an unknown number (some say more than 20%) of the pits that the copper is in are lined with asbestos and no-one wants to foot the bill for removing it.  There are 8 million pits total.  Thus if the copper can be left until pit remediation work is completed then it will likely be cheaper than fibre in the short term and slightly cheaper as a stop gap measure. .

 

Unless they start running extreme currents through the copper (they know what it can handle) there will be no degradation in the copper or it's conductivity.

[GeathX]

It really comes down to economics, what it costs to install fibre versus maintaining copper for a few years longer. It's all very well to have faster better fibre, but if the end cost to install is more and suitable speeds can be dragged out of copper for the interim then it makes financial sense to hang on a little bit longer.  This of course assumes that one the copper doesn't need replacing and two is actually cheaper than replacing with fibre.

 

In Australia this will likely be the case because an unknown number (some say more than 20%) of the pits that the copper is in are lined with asbestos and no-one wants to foot the bill for removing it.  There are 8 million pits total.  Thus if the copper can be left until pit remediation work is completed then it will likely be cheaper than fibre in the short term and slightly cheaper as a stop gap measure. .

 

Unless they start running extreme currents through the copper (they know what it can handle) there will be no degradation in the copper or it's conductivity.

 

Those pits though, doing some quick searches, out of the 8 million 10-20% are believed to contain asbestos but that only 300 000 are needed to be used for the NBN so around 60 000 need to be dealt with.

 

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/nbn-asbestos-clean-up-may-cost-telstra-50-million/story-fnda1bsz-1226656523186

 

Though seems that the pits might actually be redundant...

 

http://www.afr.com/p/business/sunday/multiports_may_make_nbn_asbestos_OTCzT0kkwTdKGkdaQsV8IK

 

If this by passes the cost of having to deal with asbestos affected pits, all the more reason to move away from copper.

Though all that stuff about the pits was from last year when fibre was the go. With the new government going with FttN does this matter really?

[landon418]

Besides, I live in a 12 house neighborhood, there isn't enough profit to be made if we had fiber. Yet less than 1/4 of a mile, there is a neighborhood that has 100s of houses with fiber.

[sof006]

They're looking to try and keep copper because it is very expensive to pull up the ground and place in fibre optic cabling along side or in place of copper so to be cost effective they're trying to keep copper for as long as possible. During all of this they will have more time to install fibre cabling for the future when 10Gbs isn't enough.

[mr moose]

Those pits though, doing some quick searches, out of the 8 million 10-20% are believed to contain asbestos but that only 300 000 are needed to be used for the NBN so around 60 000 need to be dealt with.

 

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/nbn-asbestos-clean-up-may-cost-telstra-50-million/story-fnda1bsz-1226656523186

 

Though seems that the pits might actually be redundant...

 

http://www.afr.com/p/business/sunday/multiports_may_make_nbn_asbestos_OTCzT0kkwTdKGkdaQsV8IK

 

If this by passes the cost of having to deal with asbestos affected pits, all the more reason to move away from copper.

Though all that stuff about the pits was from last year when fibre was the go. With the new government going with FttN does this matter really?

 

You may be right but I think it still matters, Because even though copper may still be good for this decade it's removal is inevitable, so I feel all this should be taken into consideration.

 

I also think the pit issue is still a problem not because we are going to be fttn but because if corning choose not to redesign their multiports (or they cant) then either the copper has to come out and we are forced into a more expensive full FTTH or we maybe stuck with something worse than fftn.   The number of pits they say contain asbestos is a estimation, 20% is what telstra said and so hat gets mentioned the most however I have read reports that say when most of the pits went in there was no documentation of the materials they used, Telstra have said they are reliant on people, workers and contractors to tell them when they discover asbestos in pits. 

 

Either way I see this development as a little bit of breathing space that may save us $$ finishing the already bodged up NBN or one of it's alternatives. 

[andrewgarnel]

Great to hear! Bell Labs has announced it set a record for broadband by transmitting data over traditional copper telephone lines at a speed of 10 gigabits per second.

Broadband