Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) currently face increased competition from Cable TV companies offering high speed Internet access and IP phones, as well as wireless carriers offering mobile phone and broadband service. Recent advances in the technology of transmitting broadband signals over copper wire pairs, generally referred to as “digital subscriber line” (DSL) has presented the opportunity for the LECs to offer new revenue generating services comparable to the Cable companies, in addition to reducing their operating costs. High speed Internet service is available through the deployment of ADSL and new versions of DSL with higher bandwidth allow the LECs to compete with the CATV companies without the need to completely replace their copper networks with more expensive technologies such as fiber to the home.
New DSL technologies, (e.g., ADSL2+ and VDSL2) allow for transmission of up to 100 Mbps over the standard telephone pairs, which is enough to provide high speed Internet Access and multiple channels of video. However, broadband transmissions are quickly attenuated when transmitted over the phone lines, and are only good for relatively short distances. Due to this attenuation of the new broadband signals over copper pairs, full service would be limited to subscribers who are less than a mile from the central office (CO). There exists a need to extend broadband service over existing copper networks over greater distances without replacing the existing copper network.
The use of optical fiber to extend range has been suggested. Services can be transmitted over optical fiber from a central exchange to new remote access nodes or digital loop carriers (DLCs) installed in neighborhood “pedestals” at distances of 1 to 2 or more miles from the CO. However this strategy would be expensive to implement, and require substantial modifications to existing networks.
Thus there is a need for an improved solution to extend the broadband service transmission range limits using the existing telephone infrastructure.