mid-band ethernet
Posted by Pat from Marlette, MI, US on September 22, 2007
If radio and electromagnetic interference cause a degradation of signal on traditional T1’s and DSL which use 1 or 2 pairs would bonding up to 8 pairs not increase and magnify this interference? Does the speed of the connection decrease as pairs are compromised? Most OSP network troubles are caused by the sheath of the cable being being compromised which in turn allows water to penetrate the cable and break down the insulation of the conductors.This being the case,does the Mid -Band Ethernet connection deal with this physical trouble ,which is far more prevalent and likely in the OSP networks of today, in the same manner as with induced noise?
It is certainly true that interference causes signal degradation, and that the speed of N lines is not simply N times the speed of one line.
There is in fact a significant difference in the potential speed of the first line added to a binder, and the potential speed of the 4th line added to a binder. However, there is relatively little difference between the speed of the 20th line added to a binder, and the 24th line added to a binder. So the incremental impact of adding another line decreases as there are more lines in a binder.
A potential question is how many active lines are there in the binder already, and what is running on them? It turns out the answer to the question varies widely, and very importantly, can't really be predicted at the outset. A crucial part of Mid-Band Ethernet deployment is planning, knowing what rates can be expected for a given customer. The last thing a carrier wants to do is sell a service and not be able to deliver it.
If you have detailed information on the binder make-up, what technologies are active at what speeds, how the cable is twisted and connected, etc., you can make very accurate predictions. However, that
is not possible in the real world. Instead, you must make conservative
estimates, assuming an environment with a lot of interference. When you perform such conservative planning, then you are already assuming a lot of electromagnetic interference, so additional lines have minimal additional impact. One of the most important aspects of our business is developing planning tools making this process as simple as possible for our carrier customers.
Mid-Band Ethernet also deals with other types of interference such as water, bad connectors, taps, etc. These problems generally affect individual lines but not all. With Mid-Band Ethernet, each line trains at its maximum rate, and supports a disparity of speeds within an aggregate group. So that when there are imperfections in some lines, it doesn't affect the other lines, and creates a group with optimal aggregate speed.
