Americas

  • United States
by Jennifer Jones

FTTP: The new DSL?

Feature
Sep 29, 20031 min
BroadbandRemote AccessWi-Fi

Fiber to the Premises and DSL are aimed at small businesses, remote offices and consumers, but they have their differences.

FTTP

  • Entirely new fiber infrastructures designed to bring carriers new revenue streams.
  • Avenue for new services by affording 10 to 100 times more bandwidth than DSL.
  • Applications possible: high-definition videoconferencing, PC backup, telecommuting, premises surveillance.

DSL

  • Extensions of copper infrastructures to offer basic broadband at low cost to carriers.
  • Little potential for new revenue but an incremental way to hold off cable competitors.
  • Applications possible: some voice and video, though mostly speed improvements over dial-up services.