Technology Overview

BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY	DESCRIPTION	CAPACITY
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)	Connection over existing copper wire telephony facilities with an effective reach of 5 km from the telephone central office.	Typically up to 8 Mbps download speeds. Speeds decrease with distance (signal loss). Extending range requires repeaters or line conditioning.
Cable	Connection over coax cable facilities used by cable TV companies. Multiple users in a neighborhood share the same distribution cable.	High speeds typically up to 30 Mbps download possible with good distance range. Speed performance can degrade at time of high (shared) use.
Fixed Wireless	Connection using licensed radio frequencies between equipment located on a tower or building to equipment on the user premises.	Typically up to 10 Mbps download speeds over a range of 7 – 12 km. Higher speeds over 20 Mbps are becoming available by some ISPs. Requires line of sight and can be adversely affected by topology (e.g. hills and trees).
Mobile Wireless	Connection over existing mobile wireless networks, usually using a low-cost computer adapter (“stick”).	Typically up to 3 Mbps where 3G mobile wireless coverage is available. 4G (high-speed) can deliver up to 30 Mbps, but coverage is more limited.
Satellite	Connection using radio frequencies directly between user equipment and a satellite that connects back into the terrestrial Internet.	Similar speeds to DSL, but can be as high as 20 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload. Performance can be affected by weather conditions.
T1	Connection over existing copper facilities with T1 terminal equipment. No distance limitation, but line repeaters required.	1.544 Mbps for a single T1 circuit. Multiple circuits can be combined for higher speeds
Fiber	Fiber optic technology converts electrical signals into light that is carried through glass fibers contained in a fiber optic cable. No distance limitation.	Can support 100 Mbps or higher with high reliability. Limited but growing service availability.

BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY	BENEFITS	LIMITATIONS
DSL	Widely available Relatively low service price Low installation cost	Up to 25 Mbps, but typically less Speeds decrease with distance Effective distance of 5 km Costly to reach distant users with sufficient speeds
Cable	Widely available Relatively low service price Low installation cost High speeds up to 30 Mbps possible	Multiple users share cable capacity, which may limit speeds Costly to build out to sparsely populated areas
Fixed Wireless	Moderate capital costs for base infrastructure Cost per subscriber incurred when customers sign up	Can be adversely affected by topology Additional towers may be required for range or to overcome topology issues
Mobile Wireless	Broad existing coverage – driven by mobile users Low cost connection via computer adapter (“stick”)	Requires mobile service subscription Rural areas may be out of range 4G (high-speed) coverage more limited
Satellite	No infrastructure build required	Limited speed and latency issues Performance affected by weather High installation and service fees
T1	Can be offered over existing copper facilities	Multiple circuits required for high-speed High installation and service fees
Fiber	Very high bandwidth capacity High reliability Good evolution path for high speeds	Requires new builds with high capital costs Costly to build out to sparsely populated areas

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technologies provide Internet connections over existing telephone line offering speeds of up to 8 Mbps downstream. DSL is advantageous to telecom providers in that it allows them to offer higher speed connections over existing telephony infrastructure with relatively minimal network upgrades, making broadband more affordable for many businesses and households. There have been many improvements to DSL technologies to improve the speed available. In general, most forms of DSL service improvements support up to 10 Mbps.

Current DSL technology[1] can support close to 25 Mbps downstream speeds very close to the central office but speeds drop to 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream at a distance of 12,000 feet (3,660 meters). Very High Bit Rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL ) can support up to 30 Mbps, but most Internet service providers do not support this type of service.

One drawback of this technology is that speed capacity decreases the further away the user is from the point of network connection. Homes or businesses located more than five kilometres from the telephone company’s central office will receive slower speeds.

[1] ADSL2+

Cable broadband provides Internet access over existing cable network facilities. The cable facilities carry data, telephony, and video traffic within dedicated frequency bands within the same cable. Most cable networks support speeds comparable to DSL. However, the capacity of cable to carry data at higher speeds is much greater than DSL and without the distance limitations.

Cable operators are upgrading their cable networks by installing fiber optic cable closer to neighborhoods. These network improvements allow cable modem service to be able to support speeds up to 30 Mbps. One drawback of cable technologies is that this connection type is a shared service, meaning, as more people are on the network within a neighborhood, the speed available to each customer diminishes. This can also cause a drop in the available speeds during times of high usage.

Wireless broadband connects a home or business to the Internet using a radio link between the customer’s location and the service provider’s facility. Wireless technologies using longer-range directional equipment provide broadband service in remote or sparsely populated areas where DSL or cable modem service would be costly to provide or fiber network installations may be too capital intensive. Wireless broadband can be mobile or fixed.

Wireless services can be offered using both licensed spectrum and unlicensed devices. Wi-Fi networks typically use unlicensed spectrum. Wi-Fi networks use wireless technology from a fixed point and often require direct line-of-sight between the wireless transmitter and receiver. Wi-Fi networks can be designed for private access within a home or business, or be used for public Internet access at “hot spots” such as restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, airports, convention centers, and city parks. Using licensed spectrum, greater amounts of bandwidth can be delivered and often do not require direct line-of-sight.

In some communities, especially sparse, geographically diverse rural communities, small providers build out a wireless solution since wireless infrastructure is not as capital-intensive as building out fiber optic infrastructure.

Fixed wireless access uses radio frequency technologies to provide a high bandwidth connection between equipment located on a tower or building to equipment on the user’s premise. This technology has the advantage of relatively low cost for connecting users once the tower equipment is in place and the end-user installation costs are only incurred when the user subscribes to the service, i.e. there is no network build cost incurred in anticipation of potential subscribers, but only the installation of on-premise equipment once the service is purchased.

Fixed wireless systems typically have a range of 7-12 km from the transmission point, although advances continue to be made to extend the range. The effective range will also depend on the topology of the area. One drawback of fixed wireless technologies is the need for line-of-sight between the premise and tower equipment, so regions with difficult topologies (e.g. hills, trees, etc.) can cause issues with providing service or add to end-user installation costs (such as an on-premise tower).

Mobile wireless technologies evolved primarily for mobility access but have evolved to provide a high-speed access alternative not only for mobile users but also for fixed locations. As more and more people use mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets as their primary (or only) communication devices, mobile wireless technologies can be a viable alternative.

While mobile wireless can be available in many locations, users still need to be within range of mobile wireless towers and the level of service available may be limited depending on what is offered in that location (e.g. 4G and LTE).

Satellite is another form of wireless Internet, and is also useful for serving remote or sparsely populated areas. Typically, a consumer can expect to receive download speeds of up to 20 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 2 Mbps. These speeds are similar to DSL and slower than cable modem. Service can be disrupted in extreme weather conditions and are typically oversubscribed.

Satellite technology is also sometimes used to backhaul traffic aggregated by other technologies, such as fixed wireless, especially for remote communities. As this technology is inherently dependent on satellites in orbit the total capacity available to all users can be limited by the availability, capacity, and locations of the satellites themselves.

T1 technology, originally designed for inter-office trunk circuits, is another service offered over telephone wires but with special equipment at each end that offers a basic speed capacity of 1.544 Mbps. Multiple T1 connections can be combined to achieve higher speeds.

T1 has been available for many years and is essentially a legacy technology still available and in use, primarily by businesses, dating for times when few other high-speed connection choices were available. However, T1 was and continues to be a high cost connection relative to the speeds offered.

Fiber started to become the technology of choice for new network builds in the late 2000’s. Fiber optic technology converts electrical signals carrying data into light and sends the light through glass fibres about the diameter of a human hair. Fiber has the advantage of supporting speeds greater than other technologies. It also provides very high reliability and is not limited by issues faced by other technologies, such as distance, topology, electrical interference, etc. However, for both new and existing Internet providers introducing fiber requires essentially brand new network builds that generally have high capital costs.

Fiber optic technologies offer tremendous opportunities for extremely high speeds ultimately lowering the cost per megabit. In addition, based on research of direct user experience, fiber is seen as the most reliable technology in not giving connection problems.

Fiber all the way to the home or to the business, often referred to as “last mile” connectivity, is the best way to provide abundant broadband, but it often is the most capital-intensive to build. Therefore, providers generally focus on the high population, high demand areas first to get the largest return on investment. While fiber is becoming increasingly available it is still unavailable in many locations and especially in smaller rural communities.

Fiber is usually the technology of choice for “middle mile” networks that provide high-capacity, redundant backhaul connections, such as fiber rings, to which “last mile” providers can connect. Municipalities may choose to build, or contract to build, middle mile networks to lessen the capital cost barriers to retail (last mile) ISPs to enter their market while ensuring that there is a reliable, high-capacity backbone network in place.

A brief summary of how Internet technology has evolved …

In the past, broadband was loosely defined as any “always on” connection that offered speeds greater than dial-up services, i.e. more than 56 kbps. Another type of service with a long history and still in use today is T1 offering a basic speed capacity of 1.544 Mbps. T1 was originally developed as a technology used for interoffice trunks to provide economies for carrying telecommunications traffic between telephone central offices. Subsequently, T1 connections were made available to end-users, typically businesses and institutions, requiring high bandwidth capacity (speed) and multiple T1 connections can be combined to achieve higher speeds. However, T1 was and continues to be a high cost connection relative to the speeds offered.

In the 1990’s most incumbent telecom providers began to introduce Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technologies offerings speeds of up to 8 Mbps downstream. DSL was advantageous to telecom providers in that it allowed them to offer higher speed connections over existing telephony infrastructure with relatively minimal network upgrades, making broadband more affordable for many businesses as well as households. One drawback of this technology is that speed capacity decreases the further away the user is from the point of the network connection.

At around the same time many cable TV companies decided to enter the Internet market with a service carried over their existing cable networks. Cable networks were originally designed to carry “traffic” (video) in one direction and needed to be upgraded to carry data in both directions. Most cable networks support speeds comparable to DSL. However, the capacity of cable to carry data at higher speeds was much greater than DSL and without the distance limitations. Cable operators are upgrading their cable networks by installing fiber optic cable closer to neighborhoods.

While both DSL and cable technologies have continued to evolve, these have been, and continue to be, the predominant technologies in use in many rural communities today. However, with the distance limitations of DSL as well as the costs of deploying both DSL and cable many areas within communities have remained unserved with any form of broadband. Other technologies emerged with the potential to fill those service gaps and they are frequently used for this reason.

Fixed wireless technology can be a cost effective way to service difficult to reach areas since it does not require “wired” facilities to the end user or major network investments in anticipation of gaining subscribers. Satellite-based services also became available as an option for very difficult to reach areas where even fixed wireless has difficulty, for example in very hilly and densely treed areas that interfere with fixed wireless line of site. Satellite is generally a higher-priced service with limited capacity (speeds) and higher “latency” that limit its performance compared to terrestrial technologies, but it is a viable choice when other technologies are unavailable.

In the early 2000’s fiber technologies started to become the technology of choice for new networks and even upgrading existing networks. The capability of fiber to offer very high speeds over great distances and without interference or latency makes this a very desirable choice. Fiber service is becoming increasingly available, but as a more recent technology fiber network coverage still trails that of more established DSL and cable networks. As with these other terrestrial technologies, the investment in fiber networks has focused on addressing more densely populated areas first, leaving more remote and rural areas wanting.

New fiber networks can be costly to build right to the end-user premises. However, fiber technology is also used in a “hybrid” configuration to upgrade other technologies, such as DSL or cable networks, by using fiber to get closer to the end-users at collection points to provide higher capacity and overcome distance limitations.

Latency refers to the delay in data reception. Even small delays can affect the perceived quality in the performance of some applications, such as voice communication and video conferencing.

Popular Internet Applications – Bandwidth Requirements [1]

The figure provides an overview of ranges of download speed requirements for a number of different types of services. As can be seen, the speed (or bandwidth) requirements can vary, but the ongoing trend is toward increasing speed requirements. Real-time uses relate to applications that require responsive two-way communication for effective user performance. For example, high quality video conferencing not only requires high-speed connections to carry the large volume of data for the video signals, but also requires minimal delay (latency) for effective communication. Streaming media also requires sufficient speed for smooth play without delays and interruptions (e.g. pauses in play if the data cannot stream quickly enough). While file transfers do not require the same type of real-time performance, faster connections will download large files with less waiting.

Moving to a minimum download speed of 25 Mbps is also supported by user feedback on satisfaction with actual measured speeds regardless of technology or how they are using their Internet connections, as illustrated below:

Higher Speeds Mean Higher User Satisfaction [2]

In general, the majority of households[3] today have less than 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speed, and the availability and use of such speeds is typically lower in more rural communities compared to high-population urban areas. Achieving these speeds will ensure that the majority of users will have access to speeds that meet their needs, at least for the immediate future.

The patterns for business users are very similar to that of households. In addition, extensive research of Internet users has shown that the majority of businesses only maximize their online business practices – and the resulting benefits – from broadband when they are using over 3 Mbps upload speed, further reinforcing the need to strive for high-speed broadband where possible.

[1] CRTC Resource Center – from ” Communications Monitoring Report 2015: Telecommunications Sector” http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/policymonitoring/2015/cmr5.htm#a53

[2] Survey feedback from household users between 2014 and 2016 – Research by Strategic Networks Group, Inc.

[3] For the survey feedback 59% of households had less than 3 Mbps upload speed and 77% had less than 25 Mbps download speed.