Ethernet over Copper Is The New Telephone Line

Twisted pair copper has been the standard way to connect telephone service for over 100 years. Guess what the latest in telephone line technology is? Why, it’s twisted pair copper!

You might see this as an example of “everything old is new again,” but this technology is a twist on the old twisted pair. While analog signals defined telephony in its first century, digital will rule the next century. What remains the same is the actual physical copper wireline.

Why does this make sense in an age of fiber optic communications? It’s a matter of economics. If we were made out of money, the thing to do would be to rip up all that copper in the ground and replace it with unlimited bandwidth glass fibers. But we’re not made of money and it turns out that voice-grade copper line has far more capability that we ever thought possible.

When we think of the copper phone wires that come into our homes and businesses, we think of telephone handsets for talking and 56 Kbps modems for our computers. That was last century’s technology. By switching from analog to digital transmission, you can have business grade telephone service and broadband up to 20 Mbps on those same copper phone lines.

How is this different from DSL? DSL is actually a hybrid of analog telephony with digital data sharing the same line at frequencies beyond the range of human hearing. It’s a way for residential and small business users to add broadband Internet service to their existing phone line. As a "best effort" information service, DSL was designed to optimize cost and has some well known performance and availability issues.

This is something different. It is based on Ethernet over Copper technology that bonds multiple dry copper pair to deliver a highly reliable and solid bandwidth all-digital signal to business locations only. It’s not a residential service. It’s intended for businesses that require a robust voice and data service similar to what they may be getting from an Integrated T1 line.

TelePacific, a major competitive carrier serving California and Nevada, calls their service SmartVoice. It’s an enterprise VoIP telephone service using SIP signaling. This voice service is combined with either dedicated broadband Internet access or MPLS network service. You would choose broadband to have both telephone and Internet brought in on the same line. You’d choose MPLS to link multiple business locations for both telephone and data exchange.

TelePacific maintains high voice quality by dynamically integrating the voice and data traffic on the line. Lower grade VoIP services simply use a broadband line for both telephone and computers. When data traffic gets high, voice quality suffers and calls can even be dropped. Dynamic line service actively manages packet priority so that telephone calls have priority and get the bandwidth they need for best operation. The remaining line bandwidth is assigned to data transmission. You are far less likely to notice or be annoyed by small variation in data rates than garbled and broken conversations. Once a phone call is finished, the bandwidth it had been using is reassigned automatically to the bandwidth pool for data. That’s the dynamic aspect to the technology.

What advantages does Ethernet over Copper have over the older Integrated T1 line service? Lower cost is one big advantage. EoC is lower in cost and offers more bandwidth options. You can typically get 1 to 20 Mbps bandwidth with EoC. T1 lines are fixed at 1.5 Mbps, although they can be bonded to deliver higher speeds.

Is Ethernet over Copper voice or data service the best cost/performance option for your company? You may be missing out on a major cost savings, so check Ethernet over Copper prices and availability now.



Photo of Thomas Edison courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Case For Telecom Copper

There is a move afoot by some of the largest telephone companies to decommission or get rid of their copper wire assets. Some of this is an attempt to foil competition. Some is simply a technology upgrade as fiber optic cables move in to replace century-old twisted pair copper bundles. Should the FCC embrace the retirement of the copper assets already in the ground and strung on poles, or is this copper a national treasure that needs to be preserved?

It may seem odd to think of copper as a national treasure. We tend to think of gold and silver when it comes to treasure. But this copper has very high value. You might say it is worth its weight in gold. That value, above the intrinsic value of the metal, is the from the time, effort and cost of stringing the copper wire from user to provider. The telephone companies, protected by a mandated monopoly for nearly a century, are the ones that made this investment and reaped the rewards. But that government monopoly was, in a sense, an investment by all of us to get that copper installed.

Now, in the 21st century, there are copper wire telecom cables running into nearly every home and business. They range from a couple of twisted pair for residences to dozens of pairs in large binder cables running into the back rooms of businesses. The fact that all this copper is in place and all conforms to a set of standards offers the opportunity to press it into service for more than just plain old analog telephony.

Indeed, the telephone companies themselves were first to use two copper pair to deliver T1 line and ISDN PRI services. T1 is most often used to provided dedicated broadband Internet access or point to point connections between two business locations. ISDN PRI carries 23 separate telephone conversations plus Caller ID and is popular for PBX telephone systems.

In recent years, competitive service providers have entered the telecom marketplace to compete with the incumbent local phone companies. The incumbents have an advantage in that they are the legal owners of the copper that runs from their offices to the residence or building being serviced. That’s called the local loop or last mile connection. Competitors have to lease the local loop from the incumbent telco. Of course, they could choose to bring in their own copper cables, but that would be cost prohibitive.

Savvy competitors have also figured out how to just lease the copper wires themselves, with no signals at all from the phone company. They then use newer terminal equipment to send non-traditonal format digital signals down the line. The most popular of these is Ethernet over Copper service. EoC offers higher bandwidths at lower costs than traditional telco services such as T1 or DS3.

Perhaps this is what’s stuck in the incumbent telephone company’s craw. Some meet the competition head to head and offer their own Ethernet over Copper services. Others figure the way to get rid of the competition is to get rid of the copper.

That’s just plain wrong. Until the government has enough stimulus money to fund universal fiber optic service the way that universal telephone service was mandated, taking copper options off the market only hurts the business community. It’s an especially bad move during a time of economic recession when most companies need the highest bandwidth they can get at the lowest cost. In another hundred years, hopefully a fraction of that, the entire interconnection infrastructure will have been upgraded to fiber optics or perhaps something even more advanced. But until that time there is no justification for retiring perfectly good copper wiring that has already been bought and paid for. Better to list it in a register of historic technologies and make sure that it is protected from degradation until no longer needed.

Could your company benefit from lower cost copper or fiber bandwidth options? Check prices and availability for your location. You may be surprised by how much you can save.