Bell Labs Pushes Copper Line to 10 Gbps

Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs has managed to set a new world record for data transmission over copper lines. In a statement, Bell Labs said it used two pairs of 98.4 foot (30 meter) long standard phone cables to achieve 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) speed in its laboratory. The prototype technology is called XG-FAST, and it is also demonstrating how existing copper networks can handle 1 gigabit-per-second speeds up and down. XG-FAST is a version of the G.fast technology standard that is under final review by the International Telecommunication Union. The team developed kit that uses a wider frequency range of up to 500 MHz to transmit data, rather than the 106 MHz range used by G.fast. G.fast is expected to become available in the marketplace sometime next year, using a frequency range for data transmission of 106 MHz. This can accommodate broadband speeds as high as 700 Mbps over a distance of 100 meters. G.fast/phase 2, using a frequency range of 212 MHz, can deliver 1.25 Gbps in one direction, over 70 meters. Researchers at Bell Labs suggest that the technology could eventually be adapted to offer 1 Gbps in real-world uses and by using the new technology, the utilization of copper wires could reduce the amount of expensive fibre optic cable needed to boost internet speeds in cities.

"Cost and time-to-market are the two of the biggest factors in bringing fibre to the home," Keith Russell, senior marketing manager for Alcatel-Lucent's Fixed Networks, said. "If you can imagine being an operator that is deploying and all fibre network they have to put new infrastructure into every unit. And as you put fibre into neighbourhoods there's a high cost to that, but when you get to the curb and try to get across their property-maybe digging up the lawn or going under the driveway-there is a lot of cost to that too. Even avoiding that last little bit by using copper deployment can save an operator a lot of time and money."

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