VOIP to replace VM copper wires.

[RichardCoulter]

According to a VM technical guy, VM are to replace their copper wires and provide their phone service over VOIP.

Is VOIP as reliable and clear sounding as the current system?

Also, as they all come down the same wire, how will this benefit VM? Is it that they will be able to create more capacity by scrapping the bit that carries telephoney (which can't be utilised that much these days) and use the bit used for broadband instead?

---------- Post added at 14:45 ---------- Previous post was at 14:10 ----------

I posted this in mobile in error, so have asked admin to move it to landline telephones :)

[Hugh]

Moved

[Paul]

According to a VM technical guy, VM are to replace their copper wires and provide their phone service over VOIP.
Replace them with what ?

The two are not really connected, you can do VOIP down copper wires, as part of an ADSL internet connection.

[vm_tech]

I imagine there are a few of us staff on here who know varying levels of information regarding this. As nothing has been publically announced I would imagine you won't get much information from people in the know at this stage.

[Onramp]

I'm guessing they're not going to go to the effort of stripping the small side off all of the siamese cables on the plant...

... so they could use that copper to implement a G.Fast overlay - and then bond it at the CPE with the DOCSIS connection...

(I know this won't happen by the way, I would just find it entertaining for some sad reason).


Actually, one reason they wouldn't do this is to maintain the same product set in FTTP (no siamese cable) and FTTC areas.

[RichardCoulter]

I imagine there are a few of us staff on here who know varying levels of information regarding this. As nothing has been publically announced I would imagine you won't get much information from people in the know at this stage.

There was a report earlier this year that said that VOIP would only apply to FTTP installations, but yesterday's information seemed to suggest that this would be for everybody :shrug:

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/01/virgin-media-begins-deployment-voip-phone-alongside-broadband.html

[weesteev]

VOIP or Digital Voice (DV) as it is referred to in the industry, is coming to the whole VM network as a long term strategy to upgrade the phone platform form the legacy POTS service currently used. DV will be offered primarily in new build areas, project lightning expansion and areas of capacity issues where network upgrades aren't possible, it will then slowly roll out across the country as the only main phone line option. Realistically it will replace the POTS service in the long term as there are lots of benefits to the service over copper (space, power, maintenance, quality). The bit rate of the voice calls are wider than then current service so theoretically call quality will be better.

DV is already live on the network in a lot of places including Carlisle where the network build has been going on for some time.

HTH

[Brunel]

Due to be connected, hopefully before the present year end.

Have been unofficially informed by VM tech. that tel. service will not be installed, due to the phasing out of present POTS system.

No timescale before VOIP system will be activated.

[Pierre]

I don't think it's any great secret that VM is removing it's twisted pair copper network and introducing VOIP over it's HFC network.

It will free up duct capacity, it will free up massive amounts of space at it's head ends when they remove the old System X voice switches. It will reduce power costs.

wont be long before 21CV is rolled out.

[Brunel]

I would prefer to keep my present tel. No. but not with present supplier.

Is there anywhere I could transfer No. to on a temp basis until VM VOIP is enabled.

[Matthew]

You can transfer your number to services such as Vonage.

I haven't had a POTS line for a number of years been using VOIP for a while, got an 03 number so no sales calls or anything as its a brand new number. Even rings me on the mobile if I am not at home. The only downside to some VOIP services is if the power is down you have nothing, I know BT were rolling out voice via Fibre but a battery backup was provided so that the landline could still be used.

Makes sense to move away from copper, reduce maintenance costs on kit that probably has little use these days in places.

[Brunel]

Thanks, I have been looking at a few of the present VOIP providers.

https://www.yay.com/

[RichardCoulter]

At least under the present system, if power and/or the internet goes down (been happening a lot here) you still have a landline, so let's hope that VM also provide a battery for backup.

Not as much of a problem now that most have a mobile.

[Horizon]

...yes, times have moved on.

This has been a long time coming, we've talked about VOIP on here starting at least several years ago.

As my area was cabled up in 1991 and so the all the copper/coax wires are rapidly approaching being 30 years old now, I wonder if VM will bite the bullet and upgrade existing areas to FTTP too. Or, are they still going down the DOCSIS 3.1 route?

Or, perhaps they just blast all the stuff out of the street lamps instead??

[vm_tech]

The HFC networks will be staying....

[RichardCoulter]

Would there be any benefit for VM in making their TV service IPTV and putting all three services down their broadband?

[Matth]

Would there be any benefit for VM in making their TV service IPTV and putting all three services down their broadband?

If it was IPTV, it would have to be multicast - and I'd guess the overhead would quite likely be higher than for the existing multiplexed streams

[nodrogd]

Would there be any benefit for VM in making their TV service IPTV and putting all three services down their broadband?

Nope. Wouldn't think so. VM could make for more spectrum availability by making their TV service a "pull" rather than "push" system, where the node only supplies the channels that are requested by the boxes in the same way as OD operates now.

[Onramp]

If it was IPTV, it would have to be multicast - and I'd guess the overhead would quite likely be higher than for the existing multiplexed streams

I would imagine that it would be IPTV - but only the channels being watched on a given node would be present. For example, there might be only a few people on a given nodal area that are watching a particular channel, so it would be multicast. As soon as that number drops to zero, the channel is temporarily removed from the multicast stream to that node. Dynamic edge-QAM would reprovision the bandwith at that moment for broadband, providing a temporary speed boost.

Part of me thinks this might not happen quite how I'm imagining it however, because if you take it to an extreme, the variation in bandwith available at any one time on a single nodal area might be such that it becomes difficult to sell a certain fixed speed broadband package (as being that speed) since it varies so much depending on how many downstream channels are being used for multicast services. The worst case would be that everyone on the node is watching a different channel at the same time.

You would either have to overpromise and then allow the B/W to drop as more TV channels are assigned multicast bandwidth, or give more Internet bandwidth than advertised up front and reserve some for TV - but that's effectively what happens now by having fixed multiplexes.