O Canada! > Canadian > TekSavvy > [DSL] Why not test the matching speed waters w/ TELUS first?

said by kovy:

I don't remember when Bell started FTTN... 2007?

What makes Telus VDSL2 better then Bell?

said by TierX:

Bell's trials are very recent, I don't believe they are actually selling service to customers yet. TELUS finished up there FTTH trials a little over a year ago, and have been selling GPON service with internet, voice and iptv ever since.

AT&T, Bell, and Sasktel deployed first generation 48 port VDSL line cards (subsequent firmware updates make them technically able to support VDSL2). AT&T and Sasktel deployed the EVLT-F on the ALU 7330, this card uses the Conexant Accelity 2 chipset, it doesn't support ADSL2+ fallback, only has a limited launch power of 14.5dbm and doesn't support any of the neat VDSL2 modes like VDSL2 8B (reach similar to ADSL2+), 17A (100mbps down, 50mbps up), or 30A (100mbs symmetric). Bell is the odd ball and deployed the Ikanos VDSL lim on the Stinger, it has a virtually identical feature set to the EVLT-F, except the Ikanos VDSL LIM does support ADSL2+ fallback.

Both of these cards have similar downsides in that they have limited interoperability with VDSL2 chipsets from other vendors, they don't (and may never) support features like G.INP (or PhyR), SoS, SRA and only support launch power up to 14.5dbm. On the plus side, both of these cards support VDSL2 bonding, though I'll be surprised if BCM 6368 bonding cpe work (at least without new firmware).

The limited launch power of these earlier VDSL line cards mean rate reach will take a dive above 2500ft and will be inferior to ADSL2+ performance. This actually hurt AT&T as they expected far better rate reach performance, than what the EVLT-F actually gave in field trials, and resulted in less customers qualifying for UVerse than was originally expected.

TELUS did consider deploying the EVLT-F on the ALU 7330, but it would have been a messy roll out, as we have a large existing deployment of ADSL2+. Since the EVLT-F doesn't support ADSL2+, those customers would need new VDSL2 modems, and in some cases they wouldn't be able to qualify for IPTV anymore (due to the limited 14.5dbm launch power, their rate reach would be worse).

This brings us to ALU's next generation 48 port VDSL2 line card; the EVLT-K. This card supports all VDSL2 band plans except for 30A, supports G.INP, SRA, SoS, card-wide VDSL2 bonding (up to 8 ports in a bonding group) and ADSL2+ fallback. The card also has a 2.5gbps interface to the dslam if using the NT-E control card.

One of the most important features on the EVLT-K is it supports VDSL2 8B at up to 18.6dbm, so the rate reach on longer loops should be much better than the Ikanos VDSL2 LIM that Bell uses, or the EVLT-F that AT&T uses. CPE interoperability is also much better, all of our existing ADSL2+ cpe, and various VDSL2 modems (mainly BCM or Lantiq based) all trained up fine.

All of these reasons are why the EVLT-K is being widely deployed on TELUS's network, and is one of the reasons why TELUS's VDSL2 deployment is much better than Bell or AT&T's.

said by kovy:

And I can't find anything on Telus selling FTTH, unless Optik TV 15Mbps is FTTH? Bell Canada has been doing FTTN for quite a while... and should have FTTH in Quebec City by the end of 2010.

Bell uses Ikanos and 7330.

hmmm... I have notes here saying EVLT-F supports ADSL/ADSL2+/VDSL2...

But if EVLT-K is better for loop length... then that's the best advantage , but probably more costly?

said by TierX:

TELUS only advertises there DSL services on there website, GPON and ETTS (in > 200 apartment building's in AB & BC have this) are directly marketed to customers in available areas. Bell is using 7330's now, but not in any wide deployment, in fact they don't sell IPTV on it yet.

Yes, EVLT-F doesn't do ADSL2+ and even its ADSL interop is poor (it wouldn't even train against older Conexant ADSL cpe??). The EVLT-K also does VDSL2 17A, which allows for 100mbps down, 40-50mbps up, this is a mode intended for MDU's, which is great as we have a lot of 7330's deployed in MDU's.

The EVLT-K does cost more, but its such a better line card, I don't see why anyone would deploy the EVLT-F on the 7330, or the Ikanos VDSL LIM on the Stinger.