Fiber to the premises in NZ: trial running through July 2007?

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freitasm

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Topic # 9189 28-Aug-2006 09:18

We have a long wait apparently (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=6587):

"Participants will get to trial a high speed Next Generation Broadband (NGB) service with expected peak downstream speeds of up to 30 Mbps (megabits per second), which is dependant on some external factors. There will be no monthly fees for this NGB service for the duration of the trial - with the only cost to the customer being a $49.95 activation fee. The trial will run until 31 July 2007."

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chiefie

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Reply # 44838 28-Aug-2006 09:40

I don't claim to have all knowledge in this area, but i got few things that kept me wondering quite a bit...

Next Generation Broadband (NGB) how is that different from TelstraClear's cable service? other than physical wiring connection that NGB is fiber to the premises, where TCL's coaxial? I mean TCL can potentially turn up the speed to match NGB, I'm sure.

As well, with Telecom's NG stuff, like VoIP using NGB connection, or TVoIP or, TV on demand, how are those applications be different from what TelstraClear has/is/will be offering for numbers of years?

Frankly though, I don't think this NGB thing will win me over even if it is in Christchurch, somehow i will only see it rollout to new subdivision, i doubt that Telecom will wire up the existing houses to this service.

Not saying that NGB will be flop, however i will watch this space, in late 2007, and compare their services to what TelstraClear will be offer at then too. At the moment, TCL has my broadband and tv and mobile data business, hope i can port my homeline number over to TCL too (but not high priority).

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Reply # 44839 28-Aug-2006 09:48

When talking about FTTP (fiber to the premises) I was expecting speeds of up to 100Mbps. Seriously though, in the USA, Verizon can deploy this to any household within coverage in a matter of days. The service is already deployed in other parts of the world. Why wait until July 2007 for the end of this trial, and most likely find out then that another technology is "just around the corner" (mobile broadband anyone?).

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chiefie

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Reply # 44843 28-Aug-2006 10:01

I agree, by then WiMax or even the mobile broadband technology would have been greatly improved... and maybe then mobile broadband speed be hitting MAX of 15Mbps at best, it still better than 25Mbps are fixed premises... I'd rather be mobile with good-great speed, than fixed to a jack with great speed...

From what you said about FTTP, and Verizon able to offer this in matter of weeks, well then I seriously cannot understand why Telecom would take this long to get it out? Could it be to do with LLU's regulation to set in 2007/2008? So NGB is not subjected to LLU Regulation?

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juha

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Reply # 44848 28-Aug-2006 11:04

What kind of trial is this that started in September 2004 but never seems to have taken off?

Telecom is hoping to have three or four households using the trial service in the next few weeks. The exact dates and the number of trial participants is dependent on when they move in to their new homes. The company says up to to 30 household will be using the service by Christmas 2006 and exponentially from there. Fibre has been laid to approximately 450 sites in Mission Heights.

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Reply # 44857 28-Aug-2006 15:27

@Juha: The link you posted says that it is in the "early in the planning and development stages"
I know of other large scale projects like this that have taken a number of years to get from the inital "let's do this" idea to the "Ok we're ready to trial it" stages. Getting fibre onto people's premises isn't the easiest of tasks.

@freitasm: I suspect they will use a PON technology, thus why it's not a direct 100M link to the home. You basically end up with a last-mile shared BW in the downstream direction (towards the end customer)

@chiefie: Good questions. I am fairly sure PON/fibre technologies are a lot better than Coax but I don't know why exactly. Time to do a bit of research on that one! I'm fairly sure the answer will be bandwidth, security and QoS capabilities.

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Reply # 44874 28-Aug-2006 20:22

freitasm: When talking about FTTP (fiber to the premises) I was expecting speeds of up to 100Mbps. Seriously though, in the USA, Verizon can deploy this to any household within coverage in a matter of days. The service is already deployed in other parts of the world. Why wait until July 2007 for the end of this trial, and most likely find out then that another technology is "just around the corner" (mobile broadband anyone?).

I did an analysis of this a few months ago.... it greatly helps that Verizon are able to hang fibre from the poles (no need to bury, greatly reduces the cost). But it was still pricey - 6 hours of technician time, a mandatory UPS, a metal box on the outside of the house, a Linksys router, etc, etc. I costed it at about US$1500 for the install, not including the network costs (this journo was in Boston).

A 15mbps service - flat rate - was US$49.95. Add unlimited voice calling (voip) for $24.95.

With Xtra backhaul at a minimum of 33kbps, imagine what happens when everyone gets a 100Mbps connection :-)

juha

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Reply # 44875 28-Aug-2006 20:26

antoniosk: I did an analysis of this a few months ago.... it greatly helps that Verizon are able to hang fibre from the poles (no need to bury, greatly reduces the cost). But it was still pricey - 6 hours of technician time, a mandatory UPS, a metal box on the outside of the house, a Linksys router, etc, etc. I costed it at about US$1500 for the install, not including the network costs (this journo was in Boston).

A 15mbps service - flat rate - was US$49.95. Add unlimited voice calling (voip) for $24.95.

Interesting. I gather that just the CPE for Wired Country cost almost NZ$1,500 each.

With Xtra backhaul at a minimum of 33kbps, imagine what happens when everyone gets a 100Mbps connection :-)

I thought the minimum was 10k up, 5k down...

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Reply # 44878 28-Aug-2006 20:43

Errm, the other way round of course.

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Reply # 44886 28-Aug-2006 21:33

Sounds like a fantastic service - but laying all that fibre is going to take a while, I'd think. It'll be interesting if Telecom will take on TCL directly with this. It's cheaper to run cable on poles in Wellington and Christchurch, but they face competition from TCL. OTOH, Auckland is free from any quadruple-play competition and a much larger market, but presumably it'll be a higher install cost burying cable. And would TCL counter by burying cable if Telecom decide to go ahead in Auckland?

Speaking of quadruple-play - presumably Telecom will want to provide some sort of TV service??? Would be a huge waste if it were only used for ~~porn~~ internet and video-calling.

Other interesting point is backhaul capacity - especially international. ISPs now can't deliver international traffic quickly enough for broadband connections now. It's nice having 30Mbps for NZ, but let's face facts, as NZ is a small country the whole point of having a quick internet connection is being able to connect quickly to international sites. Oops, I'm sounding like a TCL ad... apologies.