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David Thompson of ZyXEL intends to sell millions of bonded gateways and is pricing to make it so: he'll happily sell double-speed bonded gateways to telcos for about $30 more than a regular gateway. That provides 80 megabits a very short distance with the 12 megahertz VDSL2 and 25 megabits thousands of feet further than a single line. Bonding has been included in DSL standards for a decade, but numerous practical problems have meant very few actual customers. Gateway and modem processors now typically have enough processing power to keep up with two lines. ZyXEL needs only a single VDSL chip for two 12 megahertz connections, further reducing cost. I doubt the incremental bill of materials is more than $3-5. On the other end, DSLAM ports are also coming down in price, often to about $30. 

     Doubling speed now costs less than $100/home, including the extra DSLAM port, the bonded modem, and the extra labor for connection. That's about $2/month over 48 months, plus a few dimes per month (at most) for the additional bandwidth itself. There's plenty of unused copper almost everywhere as wireless replaces landlines. Any telco who chooses to offer double speeds has no technical obstacles. 

     Most telcos do not and will not offer double speeds, unfortunately, unless required by regulators. Nearly every telco has fired so many engineers and field staff they are afraid to complicate their networks with any non-standard component. The crucial exception is carriers selling IPTV, who now can offer TV to many more customers.

      AT&T has about 5 million homes passed by U-Verse that can't buy TV because they are too far for the minimum 25 megabit service. That's why AT&T has been promising customers bonding since 2007 and becoming increasingly frustrated with unfulfilled promises from manufacturers. When they choose vendors, the volume could be huge. 

ZyXEL Announces Pair-Bonded VDSL2 Gateway 
New gateway offers universal DSL access, comprehensive home networking and IPv6 support 


June 7, 2011, Anaheim, CA – ZyXEL Communications, a leading provider of secure broadband networking, Internet connectivity and routing products, today announced the launch of its pair-bonded VDSL2 gateway, P-873HNUP. Featuring the most advanced VDSL2 technology and IPv6 support, the P-873HNUP offers service providers a comprehensive Internet access and home networking solution. Designed to increase both bandwidth and loop length, the solution enables operators and carriers to flexibly and cost-efficiently upgrade their existing xDSL infrastructure, allowing them to achieve higher performance and expandability, while developing more services.

The ZyXEL P-873HNUP pair-bonded VDSL2 gateway supports up to 12x profiles for different data rates. By using auto-detection for bonding and non-bonding network environments, the product provides universal DSL access with VDSL2 and ADSL2+ fallback, as well as PTM/ATM mode support. A dedicated gigabit Ethernet WAN (Wide Area Network) port for FTTH (Fiber to the Home) deployments is included. The product features multiple home networking options, including: a built-in HPNA3.1 coax adapter, ideal for provisioning IPTV service; 802.11n wireless support; and a 4-Port switch for a complete and convenient home networking experience. In addition, a unified USB port offers support for printers, NAS (Network Attached Storage) or Z-Wave Wireless Device Controllers for a variety of Smart Home Applications. The P-873HNUP lets service providers remotely manage and configure devices and provision new services using built-in TR069 features, reducing cost and improving customer satisfaction.

The gateway can support IPv6/IPv4 Dual Stack and IPv6 Rapid Deployment (RD), offering two options for easing the transition from IPv4 to IPv6. ZyXEL received its first IPv6 Ready Logo Certification in 2004. Additional VDSL2 Integrated Access Devices (IADs) and CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) products received the “Phase II IPv6 Ready” Golden Logo in 2010. Today, ZyXEL is well positioned to provide IPv6 products and solutions to service providers worldwide.

The arrival of IPv6 and its impact on triple play services, such as high-speed Internet access, voice and audio streaming, HDTV/Internet TV and interactive gaming, make VDSL2 an ideal xDSL broadband networking technology that provides higher downstream/upstream speeds to overcome last-mile bottlenecks. Internet packages with higher bandwidth and advanced services offer providers and carriers more ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) for business continuity and growth. In addition, bandwidth optimization and value-added features are significant considerations for infrastructure investment, particularly for DSL operators that face aggressive competition from cable operators and fiber operators. 

ZyXEL’s pair-bonded solution also supports Smart Home applications, such as home energy management, home automation and LTE (Long-Term-Evolution) femtocell applications, enabling operators to deploy digital applications that meet their customers’ needs. 

Availability

jacobs@zyxel.com