‘Reliability’ is the new hot thing in broadband networks

• Operators need to focus on not just enhancing speed but also “reliability” across the cloud, the backbone as well as legacy equipment in the home, according to Rogers’ exec Damian Poltz
• Old amplifiers and line extenders can limit service reliability, says GCI
• Rogers and GCI are undertaking mid-split and high-split upgrades, respectively, to accommodate more upstream traffic

SCTE CABLE-TEC EXPO, ATLANTA – As broadband operators pursue network upgrades, it’s not only about bringing faster speeds to customers. Reliability of the network is now pretty important too, according to Damian Poltz, SVP of wireline networks at Rogers Communications.

Speed of course is “still a very important segmentation tool” for operators, he said at an SCTE Cable-Tec Expo panel. But in Rogers’ perspective, the broadband market is shifting to “really start to focus” on reliability, as customers say they value an interruption-free connection the most. And it doesn’t stop there.

“Reliability to the customer is actually extremely broad, much more broad than certainly some of our telco competitors would like to have us believe,” Poltz said. “It’s not just about having a passive network in the last 100 or 200 meters of the plant.”

In his view, network reliability “starts from the cloud” and goes into the core and the backbone. It’s also about “how we deal with data,” he said. Moreover, there’s “lots of legacy equipment” in the home operators must address.

“We can improve reliability across the board in all those factors today,” Poltz said. “But additionally to that, we need to show customers that we’re actually more reliable or that we are delivering this.”

Erik Kuhlmann, senior director of engineering and architecture at GCI, noted challenges not just in network reliability but scalability as well. Working on network upgrades is easier said than done in Alaska, which has a shorter construction window of around six to seven months per year.

“Most of you here [can upgrade] 360 modes in a couple of months. For us it’s a bit more challenging, because we’ve got to run crews in, we’ve got to work very diligently, overlapping maintenance windows, working throughout the day,” he explained.

“There’s a lot of challenges in bringing equipment upgrades to bear, especially when you’re talking about such a massive upgrade to your plant at 

one time.”

Node segmentation, or when operators deploy more nodes within a service area to provide higher bandwidth per home and business, is one method GCI’s employing to help manage overall bandwidth capability.

“As we look at our legacy network and the amount of amplifiers and cascades in our network, we have great opportunity to reduce those devices,” Kuhlmann said. Amplifiers and line extenders in particular can be “limiting factors of service reliability,” he added.

GCI is trying to drive those legacy devices out of its network “by moving [distributed access architecture] nodes closer to our customers” and “segmenting as much as we can.”

Prepping for DOCSIS 4.0

The focus on reliability doesn’t mean speed is on the back burner. GCI is also working on high-split deployments, or extending the upstream bandwidth pipe to 204 MHz. Charter is another company that’s undertaking high-split upgrades.

Consumers are now using more services that require more upstream data such as video chatting, as CableLabs has noted. OpenVault has projected average monthly data consumption in the U.S. to reach or surpass 700 GB by the end of 2024. So, it’s no surprise operators are thinking about how to accommodate that demand.

“You throw on top of high-speed deployments the future of DOCSIS 4.0 and you’re just talking about huge leaps and bounds increases,” said Kulhmann.

Rogers meanwhile is doing mid-split upgrades, Poltz said, which allocates upstream spectrum to around 85 MHz. It’s also the method Comcast’s using to prepare for DOCSIS 4.0.

The benefit of mid-split is that “it immediately relieves congestion across the entire footprint,” he added, and the band is “very nicely matched to customer utilization ratio of downstream to upstream.”

“It also improves reliability significantly because you’re really cleaning up the plant,” Poltz concluded.