To win in the increasingly competitive communications market, service providers are focused on attracting new customers with cheaper services, faster speeds, bundling services, and increased quality. Outside plant (OSP) testing so that your workforce can easily access results, helps your technicians focus on the problems and take corrective action to condition the network. This reduces customer acquisition costs and increases customer satisfaction. Demand is growing rapidly for next generation broadband services such as video on demand, broadband Internet access, and VoIP. That presents tremendous potential for profitable new business. But, it also puts pressure on your technicians and the outside plant to deliver the performance those new services require. To be ready to take advantage of new opportunities, your technicians need test equipment that can help them:
- Quickly qualify the facilities for ADSL, VDSL, HDSL, T1, and other special services
- Easily identify and locate possible problems to ensure reliable performance
- Install new services efficiently with fewer call-backs
- Verify connectivity and network performance to ensure that next generation services perform up to your customers’ expectations
Service providers are faced with significant technical challenges when they attempt to deliver triple-play services over copper F2 facilities. The greater the distance a signal must travel over copper, the lower the available bandwidth. Even advanced DSL protocols such as ADSL2+, which are capable of carrying triple-play bandwidths over shorter distances, encounter these limits. Some carriers have decided to “build around” such problems by constructing new fiber optic access facilities to every customer location. This solution is known as “fiber to the home,” or FTTH. Other carriers have decided on an alternative approach to deliver the triple-play goods without the cost of FTTH. The same services are being delivered using the “fiber to the neighborhood” approach. Studies show that most distribution (F2) loops are 4,000 feet or less. Over this distance, using the most advanced DSL protocols (ADSL2+ and VDSL), it is possible to deliver voice, data and video services over copper loop facilities. But pushing such large amounts of data through a twisted pair of copper wires demands top performance from the loop facilities. The quality of the F2 plant is more important than ever to guarantee the minimum speed necessary for simultaneous voice, data and video.
A high-speed service such as video on demand, which requires bandwidth of more than 16 Mbps, requires very “clean” copper. In addition, unlike data service, ADSL2+ and VDSL for video service requires sustained minimum speed. Where data communication protocols make it possible to resend dropped packets, video requires sustained communication continuity. This presents a significant challenge for service providers. Even at the reduced loop lengths made possible by FTTN, a significant percentage of F2 plant is not capable of supporting video transmission. Studies confirm that between 20 percent and 35 percent of F2 plants will not support the requirements of video using ADSL2+ and VDSL. Testing and conditioning the plant is an essential process for service providers intent on offering triple-play services.
Telecom service providers are also looking to minimize expenses through process improvements in their access network. One target area for increasing efficiencies is managing the workforce more efficiently. Tracking technician productivity, reducing repeat rates and avoiding double dispatches are all part of a good workforce management plan, which is enabled by the right technology, to help minimize expenses.
Workforce management requires constant evaluation of existing methods and procedures with an eye toward increasing efficiencies by implementing process improvements to get the most out of the current infrastructure. This means no double dispatches, no revisits, and providing the customer with the fastest turn up/r