Fibre and copper fact or fiction?? Microwave as interim for UFB2...??

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Fibre and copper fact or fiction?? Microwave as interim for UFB2...??

LWJCarroll

138 posts

Master Geek

#208293 5-Feb-2017 16:39

After the welcome UFB2 announcement and that Central Otago is in on this now there has been a couple of articles in the local The News newspaper in which our new Mayor doesn't want to have to wait in Alexandra till 2020 for fibre etc.. he is proposing to check out alternate techs like microwave etc... personally I want to get fibre and earlier if possible...

There has been one quoted comment from Central Otago Health Services Ltd Chief executive officer Karen Penno " said Dunstan Hospital was already connected to Southern District Health Board by fibre but any plan to remove copper wire from the local exchange would improve overall speed"

This didn't sound correct to me but I am not a tech geek in this area so dont really know if what she is saying is correct or not.... I havent noticed a big push on the forums here for areas with fibre installs to have the copper wires removed as part of the area process to improve the data speeds over the fibre...??

So my queries are..

1/ Is the Mayor correct in thinking that a microwave type network is faster and quicker to install as an interim measure..??

2/ Is it correct that removing the old copper wires from the exchange once fibre is installed is going to increase the data transfer rates over the fibre connections??

Comments/Info/Tech...????

Regards

Laurie

quickymart

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#1715795 5-Feb-2017 17:03

I doubt it to both comments. Is VDSL totally unacceptable while you're waiting for fibre (assuming it's available)?

JeremyNzl

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#1715796 5-Feb-2017 17:16

Microwave can only pass on what its fed with, and is a line of sight service,

It also ties up portions of the radio specktrum, and can be both licensed and unlicensed W.hist it is a good tech in remote areas, see W.I.S.P in rural U.S.A and even remote parts of N.Z. Its really not suitable for servicing 1000+ people with fibre like speeds, It is a fantastic service however if you had a handfull of Hightraffic business that needed 200Mb links, Cromwell has a new wisp provider in town, Sadly I cannot remember who provides it.

Fibre also needs to be able to provide the bandwidth to the transmission point. This can be costly due to remoteness and has to be levied against the users of the service.

Wisp internets primary use has been to get adsl1 or faster speeds to a remote community that might have had a conklin or no service. Again any speed and bandwith can be provided at a cost, It's not a suitable competitor for a wired adsl2 + serivce

I presently use ubiquiti consumer spec microwave gear to repeat a 50mb vdsl2 link from one property we can get it , my location where 10mb downis the maximum. its 1 1.1km and a 3km link approx 5k investment plus my labour to seup. I am lucky enough to have access to a hill for a solar repeater. It works but if 100 other people tried the same thing it would flood the open speckrum.

The 4g service provided from cell phone towers is the best balance between cost/service and location.

If the fiber at Dunstan hospital is terminated at Clyde the presense of copper also in the exchange has no bearing on service provided, As the exchange will have been Fiber fed for a long time. $$ have only been provided by government for connecting the School and Hospital

I commend Tim our Mayor for making this an important issue. but it comes down to resources and competition nationally with other towns. If you feel strongly about this topic which I believe you. Lobbying our local M.P with public and council support might be the only way.

Jeremy

sbiddle

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#1715799 5-Feb-2017 17:27

Microwave is a point to point link, normally using licenced frequencies. It is not a way of distributing Internet to hundreds or thousands of premises.

Copper is not yet being removed or decommissioned as part of UFB installs (except where both aren't supported for a lead-in) and there are no plans to decommission the copper network at this point. Speeds of fibre are in no way related to copper.

Behodar

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#1715800 5-Feb-2017 17:28

Ignoring microwave, I'd just like to point out that 2020 is the fibre completion date for Alexandra, not the start date. Although detailed timeframes aren't yet available, you probably won't need to wait the full four years unless your street is one of the last.

Rikkitic

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#1715805 5-Feb-2017 18:14

sbiddle:

Microwave is a point to point link, normally using licenced frequencies. It is not a way of distributing Internet to hundreds or thousands of premises.

Copper is not yet being removed or decommissioned as part of UFB installs (except where both aren't supported for a lead-in) and there are no plans to decommission the copper network at this point. Speeds of fibre are in no way related to copper.

This is a completely off-topic question from someone completely ignorant of the technology, but I just have to ask: Since fibre uses light to carry the signal, and light has a lot more bandwidth than microwave, could lasers on towers not be used in some fashion to distribute Internet? Does the light have to be confined to an optical cable?

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DarkShadow

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#1715809 5-Feb-2017 18:39

Rikkitic:

sbiddle:

Microwave is a point to point link, normally using licenced frequencies. It is not a way of distributing Internet to hundreds or thousands of premises.

Copper is not yet being removed or decommissioned as part of UFB installs (except where both aren't supported for a lead-in) and there are no plans to decommission the copper network at this point. Speeds of fibre are in no way related to copper.

This is a completely off-topic question from someone completely ignorant of the technology, but I just have to ask: Since fibre uses light to carry the signal, and light has a lot more bandwidth than microwave, could lasers on towers not be used in some fashion to distribute Internet? Does the light have to be confined to an optical cable?

Yes, it has been done. See FSO, Li-Fi.

Drawback compared to radio is it's line of sight, and can be affected by atmospheric conditions.

michaelmurfy

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#1715812 5-Feb-2017 18:53

Rikkitic:

This is a completely off-topic question from someone completely ignorant of the technology, but I just have to ask: Since fibre uses light to carry the signal, and light has a lot more bandwidth than microwave, could lasers on towers not be used in some fashion to distribute Internet? Does the light have to be confined to an optical cable?

It is possible (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-space_optical_communication) however it is an older technology now.

Edit: sorry was reading Wikipedia so was beaten to it :)

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Jase2985

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#1715815 5-Feb-2017 19:48

radio waves can go through things light waves cant so likely to be a lot more susceptible to interference, think rain or fog.

Rikkitic

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#1715819 5-Feb-2017 20:09

Maybe X-rays? A bit like the Eye of Sauron.

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DarkShadow

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#1715877 5-Feb-2017 21:32

Rikkitic:

Maybe X-rays? A bit like the Eye of Sauron.

what could possibly go wrong.jpg

LWJCarroll

138 posts

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#1716073 6-Feb-2017 14:54

Rikkitic:

sbiddle:

Microwave is a point to point link, normally using licenced frequencies. It is not a way of distributing Internet to hundreds or thousands of premises.

Copper is not yet being removed or decommissioned as part of UFB installs (except where both aren't supported for a lead-in) and there are no plans to decommission the copper network at this point. Speeds of fibre are in no way related to copper.

This is a completely off-topic question from someone completely ignorant of the technology, but I just have to ask: Since fibre uses light to carry the signal, and light has a lot more bandwidth than microwave, could lasers on towers not be used in some fashion to distribute Internet? Does the light have to be confined to an optical cable?

That was a bit harsh... its actually on topic due to this being our local Mayors (1/) reaction to the recent announcement on UFB2 here in Central Otago.....to look at alternatives as an interim set up till we get the UFB2 fibre here in town/s also the other thing was related to a tech type comment I didn't think was factual ie pulling out copper lines makes fibre faster.(2/) .. I didn't think it was true but needed to check here in case there was some oddball type of tech issue at the cabinets etc....I wasn't being ignorant just wanted to get the correct info of the tech bods here...

Thanks for the informative responses from others...

Laurie

RunningMan

8963 posts

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#1716075 6-Feb-2017 15:03

LWJCarroll:[snip]That was a bit harsh... its actually on topic due to this being our local Mayors...

I think you'll find @Rikkitic is referring to his own question being a bit OT, not your Mayor.

Rikkitic

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#1716090 6-Feb-2017 15:21

LWJCarroll:

That was a bit harsh... its actually on topic due to this being our local Mayors (1/) reaction to the recent announcement on UFB2 here in Central Otago.....to look at alternatives as an interim set up till we get the UFB2 fibre here in town/s also the other thing was related to a tech type comment I didn't think was factual ie pulling out copper lines makes fibre faster.(2/) .. I didn't think it was true but needed to check here in case there was some oddball type of tech issue at the cabinets etc....I wasn't being ignorant just wanted to get the correct info of the tech bods here...

Thanks for the informative responses from others...

Laurie

Apologies if I created a wrong impression. I wasn't commenting on the topic at all, just introducing my OT question. Sorry if that came across wrong.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos