Nokia Siemens boosts VDSL2 with bonding

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 09 September 2009 15:22

IT Industry - Strategy

Nokia Siemens Networks has demonstrated VDSL2 with download speeds of 25Mbps at a distance of up to 1500 metres from the local exchange by bonding two copper pairs, claiming it to be "a milestone in the industry." However the gains over ADSL2+ seem marginal.

The demonstration took place at Broadband World Forum in Paris this week with Nokia Siemens claiming it to be the first ever conducted outside the ideal conditions of a lab and sayin it could be implemented through a simple software upgrade, improving time to market, and reducing the cost of implementation, resulting in maximum protection to customers with previous investments in VDSL2.

"Restricted reach has put limits on the business opportunity of VDSL2. By doubling the reach with minimum complexity in terms of upgrading, our technology demonstration shows carriers a potential to extend their VDSL2 offering to millions of new customers," said Eduard Scheiterer, head of broadband access at Nokia Siemens Networks.

VDSL2 cannot at present be used in Australia over Telstra copper, much to the chagrin of ISP EFTel whch has made much of its plans to launch VDSL2 services from its DSLAMs. However the gains claimed by Nokia Siemens seem marginal.

According to distance v bandwidth chart for ADSL2+ on the web site of ISP Internode , (and based on information from telecoms consultancy Consultel) ADSL2+ can deliver 20Mbps at 1.5km. Certainly as an Internode customer more than 1km as the crow flies from the local exchange we regularly get in excess of 20Mbps.
And according to Wikipedia, VDLS2, unbonded, has no advantage over ADSL2+ at 1.6kms. "VDSL2 deteriorates quickly from a theoretical maximum of 250 Mbps at 'source' to 100Mbps at 0.5km and 50Mbps at 1km but degrades at a much slower rate from there...Starting from 1.6km its performance is equal to ADSL2+.