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Broadband Access
Actiontec cleans up the home network clutter
Universal DSL Gateway supports multiple broadband modes
by Sean Buckley
It’s hard to imagine a time when the idea of having an integrated modem with Wi-Fi wireless and other capabilities on one common network gateway device was a foreign concept.
Outside of an early adopter community that did not mind stitching together multiple devices (modem, wireless router, and a VoIP phone), the home network was far too complex for mainstream consumer users.
Actiontec believes that in order to make broadband home networking more of a mainstream reality you have to take the “clutter out of the home network.” Its Universal DSL Gateway does just that by integrating the functions of an ADSL2+/VDSL/VDSL2 modem, a 4-port Ethernet switch, 802.11b/g/n wireless router and firewall onto one device.
Serving as the central access point in the home network, the Universal DSL Gateway can accommodate the diverse last mile network architectures supported by traditional service providers: CO-based DSLAM, FTTx over any network protocol (ATM or PTM).
By incorporating advanced processing power, the gateway can support any number of services with QoS, including HDTV, standard TV, VoWi-Fi, media sharing and online gaming. Going forward, Actiontec believes the product could also be used for other services including home automation.
Traditional ILECs such as AT&T and Qwest continue to roll out both fiber-based FTTH and expanded ADSL2+, bonded DSL and VDSL-based services for consumers. With this range of services, service providers traditionally would require separate CPE devices to accommodate all of these emerging copper and fiber-based broadband modes.
Brian Henrichs, VP of business development for Actiontec, thinks that by having a universal gateway that can address various broadband and home networking technologies, it will help service providers take the guesswork out of what it can deploy to provide a competitive broadband offering.
"The telcos have to obviously keep up with the cable operators who are now starting to offer DOCSIS 3.0 services,” he said. “This platform helps eliminate some of those barriers that existed before in trying to decide if I need ADSL2+, do I need a VDSL platform or a bonded VDSL2 platform in order to deliver the speeds and service offerings.”
Bring your wires
If the gateway is the highway entry point, the home wires are the highway that video and other services will travel on to get the signal to the set top box and the television.
Not surprisingly, the preferred existing wire approach to deliver video varies by region.
In Europe, where there’s been a greater penetration of IPTV services, powerline and even WiFi have been the standard means of distributing video.
Alternatively, U.S. service providers have opted to either tap into the existing coax that’s present in most single family home and multi-dwelling units or rewire the homes with Cat 5 Ethernet cabling.
Outside of new homes where installing Cat 5 Ethernet cable would make sense, the cost and time to rewire existing homes has driven telcos to a ‘no new wires’ approach via Multimedia over Coax (MoCA) or HomePNA.
Both of the new Actiontec gateway models can accommodate either a HomePNA or a MoCA-based wiring environment. The GH684WG supports HPNA, while the GH684WG supports integrated MoCA that connect to the set top boxes.
“MoCA and HPNA seem to be the two common set top box coax network interfaces, which makes the whole premise distribution problem a bit easier,” Henrichs said. “Telcos seem to be a bit nervous about sending video over wireless and obviously Ethernet has its challenges so coax seems to be a pretty reliable media. We decided rather than using separate networking adapters we would just build it in and make it cost effective.”
Quality control
But once the video or other high bandwidth service starts traversing those wires, service providers will need to ensure video quality.
The new Gateways ensure quality on various levels.
On one level, the Gateways include IGMP multicast, advanced routing and QoS and VPN support.
Additionally, both gateways support standards-based TR-69 remote management to perform remote management, firmware upgrades, and overall monitoring. Bysupporting remote problem resolution, service providers can avoid rolling trucks—an increasingly expensive proposition given today’s current economic climate.
Ensuring wire quality will also be a key factor in delivering video. While coax and existing copper-based DSL technologies allow service providers to leverage existing wires they are prone to suffering degradation due to interference that can in turn degrade video quality.
As an added element to maintain video quality, Actiontec’s Universal Gateway leverages Broadcom’s PhyR impulse noise protection and physical layer retransmission technology.
Actiontec claims that the PhyR capability can yield a ten-fold improvement in impulse noise resilience and up to a 15 percent service reach improvement.
“PhyR is a lower latency way to deal with impulse noise protection rather than the old method which was to just dial up the interleaving and the forward error correction on DSL, but that resulted in a lot of buffer space on the product and adds a lot of latency in terms of pushing the data through,” Henrichs said. “PhyR is a quicker and faster retransmission method to provide better video performance on the platform.”
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