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big_e
join:2011-03-05

big_e

Member

Cost and power consumption could be an issue.

A 10GBase-T network card still costs around $400 dollars and this is for a network standard that has been established for years and has been mass produced. The key cost of this the sheer complexity and power consumption needed to do signal processing to push 10 Gigabit down 4 pairs of copper wire rated to carry 250 Mhz. Originally it took over 13 watts per port. Now years later they have been able to get it down to the low single digits.

Now think of the amount of signal processing to push 10 gigabit down a single pair of telephone wire designed originally for voice only. I think it would be an order of magnitude higher than 10GBase-T. If the cost is going to be initially over 1,000 for each transceiver, and it will need 20 watts per port there isn't going to be a very large cost advantage compared to going fiber all the way.