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Fiber may be the future, but telephone companies still have to worry about today. While fiber investments make sense for many telcos, and are the best bet to fully future-proof your network for the long-term future, it may take creative thinking—and investing—and a mix of technologies to get the most out of your network in the here and now.
That’s where copper-bonding comes in. It’s the best way to preserve and leverage investments in existing network copper, while also getting more bandwidth and value out of that copper than you have ever gotten before. By bonding multiple pairs of copper, telcos can enhance their own T-1 capabilities, boost DSL performance, pave the way for Ethernet over copper, or deliver more bandwidth to wireless carriers for backhaul purposes just as their 3G cell sites are poised to generate more bandwidth-eating content, data and voice than ever before.
There are different ways of bonding copper. Using G.SHDSL is one method, but when bonded copper pairs are put into action, traffic interference between the bonded pairs can threaten service integrity and performance. That requires a solution like multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) technology to mitigate interference and allow the true performance potential of the bonded copper to shine through. Embarq Logistics’ copper-bonding ally Aktino provides MIMO over DMT, a MIMO-based copper-bonding solution which, in tests, has shown performance improvements of 200% to 300% over G.SHDSL at distances up to 15,000 feet and beyond. Aktino’s solution also allows asynchronous bandwidth transport, so that for an application like backhaul, all of the available bandwidth can be used upstream.
Fiber may be the ideal broadband solution, but while the biggest big-name telcos have cash to burn on fiber build-outs, the rest of the industry must be more cautious, frugal and picky about where and when to deploy new infrastructure. That doesn’t mean other telcos should do nothing. Competition from cable TV companies in the residential market and from an array of companies in the business and backhaul sectors requires quick action. Even if you take the costly fiber plunge, fiber could take too much time to deploy. Copper-bonding is as quick as it gets—bonding can be set up within one day.
As you consider whether or not to deploy fiber, first take another look at your copper. If you’ve got a lot of copper installed in multiple pairs, and not much fiber in the ground, copper-bonding is worth consideration. And it’s not a way of putting off the future either; it allows you to deal with the here and now while embracing your near-term future growth needs. Copper-bonding is a solution you can turn to for as long as there is copper in your network.