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DSL providers love to spin tales about mass-market DSL deployment in which millions of U.S. households enjoy the benefits of broadband. But those visions run the risk of becoming fantasies if network operators don't step up their efforts to quickly and seamlessly deliver DSL to the home.
"It's not the technology, but the execution" that's at issue, according to Ken Hoexter, emerging broadband service provider analyst with Merrill Lynch. And although competitive carriers celebrated a victory when the FCC last fall ordered incumbent carriers to begin sharing their copper facilities, that ruling has presented some operational challenges.
At the top of the list: line testing and provisioning. For line sharing to work, a splitter must be installed in the central office. Depending on the architecture of the splitter and which entity controls the splitter (either the incumbent or the competitive carrier), line testing can be affected. While the FCC requires that the incumbents provide the CLECs with the ability to test the line, adding a new piece of gear in the central office puts a wrench in most carrier testing scenarios.
Details such as whether the splitter is inside or outside the ILEC cage in the central office or whether it is placed in front of or behind the testing platform makes an enormous difference in the testing process.
"The ILECs say that they want to control the loop to the voice switch, but we have to have test access," says Jane Wasson, product marketing manager at Santa Clara, Calif.-based Turnstone Systems Inc., a maker of loop management and test gear for central offices.
Because of potential testing snags created by line sharing, Turnstone has developed a high-density splitter platform targeted at a line-sharing environment. The SX500 Smart Splitter combines the splitter with integrated test access on all sides so carriers can remotely test DSL lines.
Turnstone Product Manager Rick Suehring says the SX500 will provide flexibility for the CLEC because the competitive provider typically selects the splitter platform even if the ILEC decides to deploy it. "Today they are deploying two boxes. This will allow for improved provisioning time," Suehring says.
The company also hopes to sell the SX500 gear to incumbents, many of which are only using their existing POTS testing technology to test lines, a system that doesn't allow them to qualify DSL lines.
Teradyne Inc., known for its telco voice line test gear, entered the DSL test system arena last June. In September, the company reported it had more than $20 million in back orders for its Celerity ADSL qualification system. Clearly the largest promoter of Celerity is British Telecommunications, which trialed the technology and in September placed a $10 million order.
Key to Teradyne's Celerity system is that it uses the existing narrowband measurements to provide a single-ended loop qualification test. Because it uses narrowband measurements, it can identify network problems such as bridged taps and load coils, which can impede DSL performance. And because Celerity uses the existing switch's low-frequency test bus, it is not affected by the addition of a splitter in the central office.
But Teradyne executives believe Celerity's real appeal is its accuracy. The company says most testing techniques disqualify good lines because they assume long lines are less likely to support DSL. During Teradyne's trial with partner BT Labs, the company tested one million lines. With the existing test system, 180,000 of those lines were disqualified for DSL service. However, using the Celerity system, only 130,000 lines were disqualified. The company estimates that by using Celerity, a DSL provider could increase the number of good lines provisioned by 15 percent to 30 percent and reduce false positives by about 15 percent.
Those statistics have attracted the attention of a few incumbent U.S. carriers. According to Chris Barton, Celerity product manager for Teradyne's Broadband Test Division, a U.S. ILEC is testing Celerity to identify bridged taps and the impact they have on a line.
But Barton acknowledges that the company faces a bit of an uphill battle with some of the incumbents. Huge DSL implementation costs are draining budgets and many incumbents believe they can make do by using their existing records to find bridged taps and load coils.
"The bundled wholesale providers latch onto the value of Celerity because they have experienced problems in rollouts. They see a tool like this and realize how this automated testing of massive lines is far beyond what they are doing," Barton says. "But the giants [ILECs] are a harder sell."
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