CURE FOR A SPLITTER HEADACHE

A small piece of gear is causing big headaches for DSL providers. The splitter that separates the high and low frequency signals to their respective positions at the DSLAM and public network sports DC-based blocking caps on the high frequency end, effectively blocking network testing.

To overcome the problem, mPhase Technologies has developed a line of intelligent POTS splitters — called iPOTS — and a universal bypass that clear a path for test signals to be transmitted from one end of the system to the other.

The iPOTS is activated by a 17 KHz tone from the test head that causes the signal to bypass the splitter's DC blocking caps and go from the DSLAM onto the loop. “If you're doing a new deployment, you can buy the iPOTS1, which has the integrated splitter and switching capacity in one unit,” said Stephen Yadre, mPhase's DSL component line product manager. “If you have an existing deployment, where you have the splitters and don't have the ability to do your test access properly, you can buy the universal bypass and add that in the central office with your legacy splitters.”

The testing capability provides DSL providers a window to see exactly how much bandwidth is going through their network. In some cases, where there's additional bandwidth — up to 1.5 Mb/s per second — it can be upsold to existing customers.

“There may be customers that can achieve 768 kilobits or 1.5 megabits, and they are leaving money on the table,” said Peter Gasparini, mPhase's sales and marketing director for DSL Components. “They can send a signal to the DSL test head which in turn sends a signal to the iPOTS and opens the line for full spectrum testing to decide whether or not they can upsell the customer.
— Jim Barthold
www.mphase.com