A few OpenServe questions...

[KinsZA]

Hi

OpenServe is laying fiber in my area (They have done my road and two next to mine), so I have a few questons...

1) How does the OpenServe fiber light up process work, is it on a whole area at a time or roads at a time since fiber map still shows where they have laid as planned.

2) How does OpenServe fiber actually connect to the Telkom fiber, eg ADSL/VDSL goes home --->copper ----> exchange ----> Network

3) Does "Exchange Congestion" exist with OpenServe fiber (Basically related to point 2)

Thanks in advance

 

[Mr.Jax]

1) In my area, portions got 'lit' as it was completed; like a few suburb blocks at a time. Once you see a big black box on the telephone pole, getting lit is not that far off. FYI, since Telkom started with the fibre rollout, to me getting it installed took around 14 months.

2) OpenServe Fibre and Telkom Fibre is one and the same thing. In my area, the Fibre simply connected to the MSAN closest to me; so, all that really changed was the last mile; everything else stays the same I presume. I think this is not necessarily true for all areas.
So the Fibre route is probably HOME->FIBRE->MSAN/IMAX Exchange->backhaul

3) I'm sure it's possible, but improbable IMHO. I'd assume that the 'exchange point' would have to have Fibre as backhaul if Telkom wanted to provide at most 100Mbps to all customers which would imply adequate backhaul? But I'm sure its not as simple as that.

 

[Geoff.D]

Not easy to answer unless you are in the know of how they go about doing it.

1.

a. The laying of fibre is the same as copper cable. Once the cable is in it has to be spliced through and tested all the way back to a node ( Exchange).
b. The Exchange equipment needs to be installed, tested and connected to the data back bone network. ( This should ideally happen before or in parallel with the fibre roll out, But things go wong go wong go wong ....
c. Then comes the extension of the fibre from the distribution point close to you on to your property - This only happens when you order a connection. Some more fibre testing end to end and final commissioning.

Now to your other questions:

2. Back bone --> Exchange optic node --> distribution fibre ---. CPE ONT ---> Your router

3. Yes! "Exchange congestion" will still be an issue IF the network dimensioning of the optic node and back bone is insufficient for all the traffic carried. Those systemic problems will always exist, even though initially it may take a while for them to start surfacing.

It depends on what the design philosophy for the last mile components are. The fibre media is shared between x number of users. The technology design decides on whether there will be any "sharing of capacity" or will each user get an allocation dedicated only to that user. So last mile contention may be present.

Network contention is always a possibility.

 

[supersunbird]

1) I waited till it was dark purple and signed up with ISP of choice

2) I guess it is fibre cable from home to exchange

3) Havent experienced such

My 10mbps fibre is more responsive than the 10mbps ADLS was and the upload speed is great

 

[halfmoonforever]

RE: 3) will be more of an issue on copper (ADSL) than it would be on Fibre, even though it is technically possible to also happen.

The DSLAM's are where the congestion occurs. When fibre is installed, the entire backhaul / connection is fibre, so wouldn't be much of an issue at all. At least, IMO.

 

[Geoff.D]

RE: 3) will be more of an issue on copper (ADSL) than it would be on Fibre, even though it is technically possible to also happen.

The DSLAM's are where the congestion occurs. When fibre is installed, the entire backhaul / connection is fibre, so wouldn't be much of an issue at all. At least, IMO.

DSLAM is replaced with another piece of equipment doing basically the same thing . Converting the connectivity to and from the backbone technology to FTTH . If under dimensioned for the traffic it WILL also cause congestion ..

The more things change the more they stay the same.

 

[KinsZA]

Thanks for the answers guys.

One last question

It seems OpenServe has finished with the roads in my coverage area (No more holes, no more vans) except for where they first started laying fiber from which was next to the MSAN my VDSL connects to (Confirmed that is the start point by speaking to OpenServe guys when they were in my area). The past few mornings there has been a decently sized team and a decently sized hole dug right next to it (As in any closer and they would be digging under it)

Would this be the final phase in a roll out ?

 

[blowdart18]

RE: 3) will be more of an issue on copper (ADSL) than it would be on Fibre, even though it is technically possible to also happen.

The DSLAM's are where the congestion occurs. When fibre is installed, the entire backhaul / connection is fibre, so wouldn't be much of an issue at all. At least, IMO.

Well think of it this way, the average DSLAM cabinet could take aprox 800 users, go on an average of 4Mbps, we talking about a backhaul of 3.8Gbps

Let us take Fibre for an example, minimum back haul (10Mbps) = 8Gbps; maximum backhaul (100Mbps) = 80Gbps

3.8Gbps compared to 80Gbps - You definitely need to upgrade or you going to see contention.

Personally I think this is the problem the ISPs are facing now, look at the Cape Town crowd who are complaining about speed problems in the evening on both Fibre and ADSL.

 

[Gaz{M}]

DSLAM congestion is really only an issue where you have copper-based backhaul (e.g. ATM) in older areas or oversubscribed areas. There is in theory no reason to have congestion on Fibre, as all the GPON cards have multiple 10Gbps backhaul ports and GPON is a shared acces medium anyway (up to 128 users per GPON port). The congestion could appear in the regional aggregation or core networks, depending on how much bandwidth is allocated per user and the availability of Metro Ethernet nodes and services. Then also peak times will be congested, no matter what technology you use to access the network (Fibre, ADSL, LTE etc.).

So if there is congestion on fibre, it is most likely at a regional or international backbone level, not your local cabinet.

 

[LazyLion]

How Long.... from this



To this....

 

[KinsZA]

So the key is to keep an eye out for extra cabinets on roads and black boxes on poles.

 

[blowdart18]

DSLAM congestion is really only an issue where you have copper-based backhaul (e.g. ATM) in older areas or oversubscribed areas. There is in theory no reason to have congestion on Fibre, as all the GPON cards have multiple 10Gbps backhaul ports and GPON is a shared acces medium anyway (up to 128 users per GPON port). The congestion could appear in the regional aggregation or core networks, depending on how much bandwidth is allocated per user and the availability of Metro Ethernet nodes and services. Then also peak times will be congested, no matter what technology you use to access the network (Fibre, ADSL, LTE etc.).

So if there is congestion on fibre, it is most likely at a regional or international backbone level, not your local cabinet.

Your post got me thinking and I found something Mickey said back in 2014

All MSAN/ISAM units are linked back to the exchange via a 1GBps optic fibre link. Initially only 160Mbps is lit but it has some form of dynamic management system that increases this capacity as demand increases (no hands in network required).

Most exchanges linked into the core network with a 10Gbps metro-ethernet link. Telkom is busy moving all exchanges onto metro ethernet links. Those exchanges that are FTTH, MSAN, ISAM or ADSL2+ enabled are already on metro ethernet.

Granted this is based on ADSL but be interest to find out more on the subject now Fibre is on the scene ?

 

[MickeyD]

^that has been upped to minimum 10Gbps links...

 

[MickeyD]

It is not necessary for the fibre to pass through a MSAN or ISAM before it is connected at the "exchange" or "central office".

 

[MickeyD]

Plenty of splitters in the field, effectively replacing the need for MSANs/ISAMs...