Was that specifically mentioned? Open access doesn't mean you can just switch around.
-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: Will you be subscribing to the new Disney+ R49 streaming package?
FTTH possibility - Is this basically a good deal?
- Thread starter MisterBigglesworth
- Start date
Yes, the standard Vodacom proposal is for an open access network. They do however require you to sign a 24 month contract. Presumably after the 24 month contract have expired, the network will be open access. Then keep in mind that Vodacom will own the network, so even though it may be open access, they can charge a line rental to any ISP that may want to deliver services over this "open access" network. Of course what this line rental may be isn't specified anywhere in any proposal, so it really is up to them what they may charge their competition to make use of the network. I'd take this whole open access thing with a large grain of salt.
[*]Will it be a true symmetrical connection
No, it's G-PON, so upload is 50% of download speed
[*]What latency can be expected?
Should be decent. They have good backhaul
[*]Number of people connected, contention ratio?
Also find out how many splits they are proposing per fibre. On a single fibre with G-PON you can get 2.5Gbps down, and 1.25 Gbps up. The router they install in your house can make use of 1Gbps down, and half of that up. BUT. that is only if there is no other traffic on the line. With G-PON, they can split that fibre up to 128 times. So, if you are split 128 ways, and everyone is on at the same time, you will max out at 20Mbps down, and 10Mbps up.
[*]Are we tied into Vodacom for bandwidth?
For the first 24 months at least.
[*]Month to month / contract?
24 Months at take up.
No, it's G-PON, so upload is 50% of download speed
[*]What latency can be expected?
Should be decent. They have good backhaul
[*]Number of people connected, contention ratio?
Also find out how many splits they are proposing per fibre. On a single fibre with G-PON you can get 2.5Gbps down, and 1.25 Gbps up. The router they install in your house can make use of 1Gbps down, and half of that up. BUT. that is only if there is no other traffic on the line. With G-PON, they can split that fibre up to 128 times. So, if you are split 128 ways, and everyone is on at the same time, you will max out at 20Mbps down, and 10Mbps up.
[*]Are we tied into Vodacom for bandwidth?
For the first 24 months at least.
[*]Month to month / contract?
24 Months at take up.
Last edited:
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
Nice info. Strange though. Pretty sure my place is G-PON as well and I'm pretty sure they're offering 1 gig to everyone (as an option at least). So that would imply they pulled in a dedicated fibre for each apartment? Doesn't seem likely to me...
Thing is that open access is different for fibre than it is for dsl. South Africa even though the pricing is abysmal has actually had it easy with IPC. It's that which enables you to just switch ISPs ad hoc. Most countries with LLU the ISP is the provider of both the traffic and the line so they physically connect to the line and you can't just switch between them. Unless the fibre network also uses IPC it won't be possible to just switch when you reach the cap.
Pretty sure it's only the last few meters for each apartment that's dedicated. The 1Gbps is based on the network being underutilised. So if nobody else is using it that's near the speed you would get. If all 100 other apartments are using it constantly then you'll get 10Mbps. Remember they can split it and then split it again multiple times.
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
Never actually signed up for gigabit so can't really know if it actually delivers gigabit. 100meg seems to deliver 100meg though. Maybe I'll have a shot at gigabit next time I'm there.
Though frankly anything is possible...this is a capped connection (daytime)...but there is no mechanism in place to check usage (like webpage etc). The techie reckoned thats the first time he's been asked how to check usage (lol)...and he'll have to get back to me on whether such a thing exists. Not entirely convinced there is even a cap...
I'm not really sure what your post was saying. It seemed to imply that a non-dedicated fibre would not provide 1Gbps if the main fibre was split up but I could have just understood that incorrectly.
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
No worries just me rambling. Just trying to understand how what dotvibe says fits in with the fibre I've got.
I'll boost it to gigabit next time I'm there & keep an eye on how it behaves...if it is indeed multiple apartments sharing a 2.5gbps link and I'm using 1gbps of it then I'd imagine it'll show up pretty fast in the stats.
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
Well the main link actually carries the same traffic that all the links it's split into carries. So if it's split into 10 others all of those links carries the same packets that are on the main link whether they are addressed to the destination or not. Packets are therefor duplicated and not routed to their destinations. It's thus not a matter of splitting a link also splitting its capacity. The capacity is only limited where the other users connected to the main link are also using it.
Last edited:
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
I see that makes sense. Thanks for explaining
Still battling to reconcile how you can offer multiple gigabit links based on 2.5 gigabit link though? Obviously contention, but if you think about Telkom exchanges each individual line is traditionally far below the total exchange capacity. Here 1 gig isn't that far away for 2.5, so if even a single gigabit user fires up a download everyone's speed crashes
eddief1
Expert Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2008
- Messages
- 1,523
- Reaction score
- 301
Yebo and that's the difference between active ethernet and GPON. AE is dedicated, GPON is shared, AE uses a pure point to point principal, GPON uses broadcast downstream & TDMA for upstream
When you offering 100Mbps services then GPON is ok (2.5Gbps / 100 = 25 users before contention), but if you offering 1Gbps services over GPON then it's like 2.5 users before contention. Where as active ethernet is a completely dedicated fibre for each user, do what you wish with it.
The advantage of GPON though is less fibre in the outside plant and less space & power for the head end equipment...in every other way active ethernet trounces GPON.
Some info:
PON (Below bandwidth is shared between all users on that particular fibre after the optical splitters)
GPON = 2.5Gbps Down / 1.2Gbps UP
10G-PON = 10Gbps Down / 2.5Gbps UP
AE (Dedicated fibre for each user, no sharing of bandwidth)
Common optics are:
100Mbps
1Gbps
10Gbps
40Gbps
And then this is where it gets interesting...multiplexing!
You can multiplex on a dedicated fibre, so then you looking at a theoretical 40 channels of 40Gbps for a total of 1.2Tbps on a single fibre! Yum. Makes you wonder why anyone would go for GPON in the long run.
In the end the future of FTTH is multiplexing...one wavelength for each subscriber, no sharing, no security problems, all isolated on an optical level.
When you offering 100Mbps services then GPON is ok (2.5Gbps / 100 = 25 users before contention), but if you offering 1Gbps services over GPON then it's like 2.5 users before contention. Where as active ethernet is a completely dedicated fibre for each user, do what you wish with it.
The advantage of GPON though is less fibre in the outside plant and less space & power for the head end equipment...in every other way active ethernet trounces GPON.
Some info:
PON (Below bandwidth is shared between all users on that particular fibre after the optical splitters)
GPON = 2.5Gbps Down / 1.2Gbps UP
10G-PON = 10Gbps Down / 2.5Gbps UP
AE (Dedicated fibre for each user, no sharing of bandwidth)
Common optics are:
100Mbps
1Gbps
10Gbps
40Gbps
And then this is where it gets interesting...multiplexing!
You can multiplex on a dedicated fibre, so then you looking at a theoretical 40 channels of 40Gbps for a total of 1.2Tbps on a single fibre! Yum. Makes you wonder why anyone would go for GPON in the long run.
In the end the future of FTTH is multiplexing...one wavelength for each subscriber, no sharing, no security problems, all isolated on an optical level.
Last edited:
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
hehe...thanks eddie. Guess my instincts aren't that far off the mark knew something wasn't right there.
Bit of googling suggests that the "something not right there" part is my fault...its not GPON. Point to point ethernet as you say...
Cisco gear by the looks of it too.
Bit of googling suggests that the "something not right there" part is my fault...its not GPON. Point to point ethernet as you say...
Cisco gear by the looks of it too.
Captain Beer
Executive Member
Which estate is this?
eddief1
Expert Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2008
- Messages
- 1,523
- Reaction score
- 301
hehe...thanks eddie. Guess my instincts aren't that far off the mark knew something wasn't right there.
Bit of googling suggests that the "something not right there" part is my fault...its not GPON. Point to point ethernet as you say...
Cisco gear by the looks of it too.
That is good news, only problem is that a lot of providers in SA are using GPON, Including Telkom with their FTTH offering, hopefully they planning for 10G-PON in the future.
Essentially yes. Keep in mind though that they are also providing other speeds like 100Mbps and 10Mbps. Downloads would in any case not take as long though few download servers can offer them at those speeds. If push comes to shove they can also put the 1Gbps users on separate fibre with less contention.
MisterBigglesworth
Expert Member
Thanks all, this helps a great deal...big up to zeely, appreciated!!