VDSL2 modems coming soon

Stuart Corner
Monday, 17 December 2007 05:53

Business IT - Technology

Barring any major issues with the draft, the final version of the CPE standard should be signed of by the CA board at its meeting in March and then go the ACMA, Brooks said. "Once the CPE standard is finalised customers will be able to upgrade to VDSL2 modems and use these with ADSL2 in preparation for the introduction of VDLSL2 services, so long as they throttle back to the lower speeds, which most of them are expected to do.

The Australian standard is identical to the international VDSL2 standard as far as VDSL2 is concerned. Where it differs is mainly in relation to electrical safety requirements. However manufacturers are very familiar with conforming to these aspects of Comms Alliance standards so should be able to bring equipment onto the market shortly after the standard is finalised. Brooks noted that after CA has signed off on the final standard vendors would be able to start putting equipment through certification.

VDLS2 has been standardized as ITU G.993.2, an enhancement to G.993.1 (VDSL). Its performance deteriorates quickly from a theoretical maximum of 250Mbps at 'source' to 100Mbps at 0.5 km and 50 Mbps 1km, but degrades at a much slower rate from there. From 1.6 km its performance is equal to ADSL2+. This long-range performance is its main advantage over VDSL which can be used effectively only on short lines.