Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO | How far? Physically how far can cable run (at full speed) from its fiber source? If it is less than 5(?) miles, then in many areas cable is just not going to work.
Whoever gets the government money they should be prevented from having a cap. | |
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 | | Re: How far? DOCSIS signal timing requirements put a limit of about 100 miles from the CMTS to the modem.
The bigger problems with and cable system is signal balancing and bandwidth capacity. As long as the signal is amplified properly within that 100 miles and the active modems don't saturate the bandwidth capacity, full speed shouldn't be a problem. | |
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 | Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO | Re: How far? I did not know that it would do 100 miles (theoretically). Even though I am just a couple of miles from our head end they cannot keep the signal amplified properly, balanced, or clean (whichever is the correct term). About once a year we go through about a two month cycle of getting our signal good enough to not have 20% packet loss. In fairness once that is cleared up we have relatively few issues. This is why I have a hard time believing that they will be able to do it at a distance of even twenty miles from the head end( a fairly common distance in rural areas). I am not sure that on any one line (direction) that there will be enough people (within range) for bandwidth saturation to be a real issue (assuming say 20Mbps speeds on D3). | |
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iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 | You're thinking copper. Fiber is what makes up national backbones. There is a limit to how far it can travel, but sure as heck isn't 5 miles. You can string that crap for a LONG ways. | |
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| Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO | Re: How far? iansltx
For D3 at some point it has to become copper (coax). I guess my point was that it MAY be cheaper to just run straight fiber in rural areas rather than put in a node (fiber to coax) every 10(?) miles (when that 10 miles would only serve 20(?) homes). | |
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| | iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| Re: How far? I believe the other poster was talking about fiber runs. As to coax, honestly there's no ROI on any wired system in such a rural area, unless someone pays for the wire in the ground first, which might as well be fiber since the coax certainly won't be there. In the end wireless is probably a much better option. $300 for a subscriber unit is a whole lot cheaper than running a few thousand feet of coax or fiber. | |
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| | | Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
1 edit | Re: How far? From my original post: "Physically how far can cable run (at full speed) from its fiber source?"
So if he did mean fiber he misunderstood my question.
The premise of the mother thread is about D3 in rural areas.
There are a lot of areas where wireless is just not an option either. Hills and trees make wireless unusable, these are features that virtually define rural areas. | |
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| | | | iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 | Re: How far? They don't call 'round here the "hill country" for nothing. As far as trees go, 900MHz equipment and/or a pole mount arae still less expensive than running cable of some kind, unfortunately. | |
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| | | | | Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO | Re: How far? iansltx
These are the type communities I am talking about.
»www.roadsidethoughts.com/sd/ideal-nearby.htm
While trees are not an issue there (essentially there are none), the hills and buttes are an issue.
Oh, I was in Fredericksburg the summer of 86. I guess hilly is a relative term, relatively flat. | |
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| | | | | | iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 | Re: How far? *shrugs* All I'm saying is cabling is expensive. Might be economical to do low density RADSL2+ installs... | |
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| | | | | | | Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
1 edit | Re: How far? Could not find much on RADSL2+. Assuming it is a dsl variation, I would guess that it suffers from the same signal degradation problem at range(over say 5 miles).
Any solution you look at is going to be expensive. I do remember that that Japanese had a new satellite(maybe a year ago?) that was supposed to call for 10Mbps(?) bidirectional with reasonable latency. After the initial splash I did not hear much about it. | |
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| | | | | | | | iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 | Re: How far? ADSL2+ gives decent speeds, albeit with the five mile or so restriction. Then again, an 8 or 12 port DSLAM every five miles fed by NxT1 or T3 circuits...or maybe fiber...is cheaper than running any sort of cable to every home. | |
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| | | | | | | | | Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO | Re: How far? I am not so sure about that. You are still going to have to run new line to most of those homes(most of them only have one line running to them). This is why I think (long term) that fiber(FTTH?) may be the cheapest solution. Pretty much any way you look at it, you are going to end up running a new line (of some sort) to each home. Initial cost is certainly a concern but so is maintenance. Judging from my personal experience, I suspect the maintenance issues with cable will eat it alive. | |
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