What's Behind Slow FiOS HD Deployment? - Engadget HD and Verizon discuss network crunch upgrades...
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What's Behind Slow FiOS HD Deployment?
Engadget HD and Verizon discuss network crunch upgrades...
(old news - 03:22PM Friday Oct 19 2007)
tags: satellite · Video · competition · business · bandwidth · cable · content · networking · HDTV · Verizon FIOS
Engadget HD yesterday posted a blurb stating there's a bottleneck in Verizon's QAM-based FiOSTV network. The website suggests this bottleneck is responsible for the telco's slow deployment of HD channels -- at least when compared to the dozens DirecTV recently unveiled. An explanation of the problem from the gadget blog (which appears to be largely taken from the AVS Forum):
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The problem lies in the the video hubs and central offices -- some of them can only support 103 QAM channels, which is considerably less than the 135 channels available between your local central office and your home. We have no idea why Verizon would build the core of its network this way, but we are lead to believe that a plan to upgrade is currently underway, and since it's Verizon's policy to deploy new HD channel nationally, everyone has to wait until the upgrades are completed.
Engadget's suggestion that the company wouldn't clarify what needed upgrading annoyed the guys at Verizon, who posted a retort over at their policy blog. According to Verizon's John Czwartacki, any limitations are "just a matter of adding new equipment to increase capacity." What equipment? Verizon doesn't say.

Plenty of discussion about Verizon's HD plans (or lack thereof) can be found in our FiOSTV forum.

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jammmin @ 19th Oct 03:19PM:
Poor planning

Yea, FIOS TV got caught with their pants down. They lack the capacity to add more HD channels.

Directv, Dishnetwork, Cablevision and even FTTN provider AT & T's Uverse has more HD than FIOS TV. Go figure.

Spending $23 Billion dollars on upgrades and they have already run out of roo. Piss poor planning on their part.
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amungus @ 19th Oct 03:21PM:
probably

They likely do need more equipment. I'd guess that massive amounts of video is needing massive amounts of storage... Since they seem to have enough bandwidth, but not enough switching (hubs? do they really mean switches...???), there's probably a need for more switching equipment too...

Awesome that they're really serious about video and using fiber. Too bad other telco's can't do what they are doing.
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djrobx @ 19th Oct 03:43PM:
Re: probably

Fios TV is the same as cable TV, it's just delivered on an all-fiber network up to the home instead of up to a neighborhood node (ONT is acting like a cable node). That's why they're using the same Motorola DVRs cable companies use, and even compatible with CableCARD technology and Series 3 TiVos.

Adhering to that standard has saved them a ton of work in using pre-existing hardware (as opposed to U-verse who has had to pioneer a new delivery system), but it also means they share the exact same bandwidth limitations as cable operators in terms of TV.

The article is referring to an additional limitation on Verizon's backend before it even gets delivered to the home. 32 QAM channels lost is huge. Lots of cable operators squish 3 HD channels into a 38mbps QAM256 channels, so that could be 96 HD channels!

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TurtleFan @ 19th Oct 04:13PM:
Re: probably

So am I understanding this story right? That we are now going too get at least 100+ QAM channels that you can tune on a capable TV, or PC based TV tuner? If so, that's ten times better than the locals 2-13 that we get now. The remaining 20 or so aren't worth watching...
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afiggatt @ 19th Oct 04:19PM:
Re: probably

The problem is not the 32 QAM channels they are missing out of the 135, but that the entire national SD and HD channel set is currently carried on 44 QAM channels in total. Out of 103 channel set, 40 are currently set aside for analog for the local stations and PEGs. That leaves up to 63 QAM channels. The newer COs and VHOs have reportedly been built out to 63 QAMs, but the earlier C0s and VHOs were equipped with 54 QAMs. I'm in an area with 54 QAM channels (Sterling, VA) with 44 QAM channels appear to be reserved for national channels (with 43 in use, but not all are anywhere near maxed out) and SD RSNs and 10 QAMs for the local SD, PEG, and HD channels.

BTW, Verizon does not have more than 2 HD channels on a QAM256 channel. They also have on average only 7 to 9 SD channels per QAM256 channel, so they are not packing anywhere near as densely as many cable operators. Hence the better picture quality as each HD channel has 19.2 mb/s allocated to it, regardless.

The more reliable reports are that Verizon has been busy adding QAM channel capacity to the "older" COs to bring them up to 63 QAM channels or at least add a few more QAMs that can be used for national channels. That will provide the bandwidth for a modest number of new HD channels. Mercer County, NJ has 14 HD locals from Philly and NYC and 3 HD RSNs so they must use more than 10 QAMs for the locals.

Verizon has gotten approval from the FCC to shut down the 40 analog channels and go entirely digital. Recent reports are that may be done as soon as March, 2008. The hardware for those 40 analog channels will be replaced with hardware for up to 40 digital QAM channels. That will give them the bandwidth to add up to 80 HD channels even while waiting to upgrade the system to be able to use all 135 QAM channels. In hindsight, I'm sure Verizon management wish they have never bothered with providing analog channels, but 3+ years ago when they were presumably making the final decisions on the system, it must have been considered the safer course to get approval from the local government franchise boards.

yes, some of us Fios subscribers have been trying to figure out how they use their QAM line-up. :D
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amungus @ 19th Oct 04:38PM:
Re: probably

Wow! Being nowhere near Verizon's FiOS, that's all very interesting news to me :D

Cool that they were smart enough to use lots of existing hardware - had no idea they actually used "normal" moto boxes either!

So if I read all that correctly, they still pipe 'analog' signals out to coax in houses? I would bet that the reasoning was that there weren't as many HDTV's in use at the time. It's also convenient to just plug in a regular TV to ordinary coax and not even worry about an extra box to plug in, wire up, etc... Easy for the regular TV person with little technical experience who might get confused while hooking everything up...

If they went all digital, and kept HD at a reasonably good quality (sounds like they already do!), then there's no question they could be one of the best TV providers in existence.
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supernac @ 19th Oct 05:08PM:
What about the fiber!

I thought fiber was the answer to all problems!
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Lee GWB @ 19th Oct 05:14PM:
What Hardware?

John,
New Gpon ? Waiting for the IPTV Boxes? I suggest you get the billing fixed too.
Don't get me wrong I love my FIOS but your left hand hasn't a clue that you indeed have a right hand; Forget about knowing what the right hand is doing.
Lee
--
"I Don't feel Tardy"
"When Clinton Lied , All that was left was a stained dress.
When Bush lied ,all that was left was 3000 + less US Soldiers..
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jchuan83388 @ 19th Oct 05:36PM:
Re: What Hardware?

In the policy blog, I find it silly that he states Verizon does not want to telegraph moves to their competitors...that's usually a good idea when you're ahead of the game with a few tricks up your sleeve to stay ahead. It's a bad idea when you're company is falling behind in the HD deployment race...especially when having the most HD nationals available was one of the main selling points of the service just 12 months ago.
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Mike @ 19th Oct 05:48PM:
Re: What about the fiber!

Fiber is the answer.

Having a back-end consisting of women operators of the 1920s era manually switch your feed when you change the channel is not.
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afiggatt @ 19th Oct 05:58PM:
Re: probably

said by amungus :

So if I read all that correctly, they still pipe 'analog' signals out to coax in houses? I would bet that the reasoning was that there weren't as many HDTV's in use at the time. It's also convenient to just plug in a regular TV to ordinary coax and not even worry about an extra box to plug in, wire up, etc... Easy for the regular TV person with little technical experience who might get confused while hooking everything up.
Fios TV is effectively all digital. All the channels you get with their SD or HD STB or DVR are digital on QAM256 channels. What they did was also provide for up to 40 analog channels to be piped to the home through the ONT (Optical Network Terminal) in the channel 2 to 49 block. You can hook up a TV with an analog NTSC cable ready tuner and get those channels. But these are local channels ONLY - local broadcast and PEG along with several throw-ins such as WGN and a weather channel. ALL the national SD and HD channels are digital only and encrypted so you need a STB or DVR or a TV/STB with a cable card to get those channels.

However the SD and HD locals are also provided in the clear (ie unencrypted), so you can get those with a digital TV or STB with a QAM tuner without an extra fee for a STB.

As Fios TV is a relatively new service, it is likely the vast majority of Fios subscribers are using the Fios STB/DVRs for their main TVs, so the analog channels are irrelevant to those setups. There are probably some with a kitchen or bedroom TV getting the analog channels. Verizon will be providing the minimal Motorola DCT 700 STB as a small cheap STB as an option for the analog sets. Once the DCT 700s have been provided and Verizon has regulatory approval to kill analog, it appears they will undertake an aggressive schedule to do so. This has been all discussed in the Fios TV forum, but maybe it is useful to rehash it here for those who have not kept up on the discussions.
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BosstonesOwn @ 19th Oct 06:05PM:
Re: probably

Not really , they invested heavily on the wrong segment at the moment. They will fix the switch capacity issues soon ;)

Edited: Wrong link.

They are starting to add more channels in the co on the older equipment. I have heard that the older ONT's were why they didn't use more channels. Before they were given to them they had that limitation , so they bought with in specs of the ONT and then the ONT company revised the ONT , while Verizon was left holding the bag with the older equipment.
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tmc8080 @ 19th Oct 09:25PM:
budget priorites..

I think the problem is that Verizon did not budget for HD upgrades. They fought like hell to avoid doing cablecard upgrades which are coming soon. Instead, they'll throw out bones such as FIOS widgets (most of which the customer doesn't want) to try stalling for time.
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ashworth @ 19th Oct 11:07PM:
Re: Poor planning

Do you really know what you're talking about ?? Fios has all the capacity necessary for 100's of HD channels.... cable and sat have capacity issues...as with anything, you need the proper equipment to deploy anything.
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UncleDirtNap @ 29th Oct 11:24AM:
Re: probably

"Fios TV is the same as cable TV, it's just delivered on an all-fiber network up to the home instead of up to a neighborhood node (ONT is acting like a cable node)."

Don't think I can buy that. I've seen FIOS TV regular and HD and Comcast's on similar HD plasma TVs and the FIOS channels are noticeably cleaner, sharper and brighter.

Don't know the details about such things but the guy with Comcast says he was told the difference is the result of Comcast having to compress their signals while Verizon FIOS doesn't.

He's already planning to switch the moment FIOS TV is available to him.
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anon @ 29th Oct 04:19PM:
Re: Poor planning

Do you have any idea what you are saying? Are you really mentioning AT & T's Uverse? I guess you haven't been following their process of storming their way to homes. You can't watch TV, especially HD, with a copper base. Ain't gonna happen. And the technology is garbage. Be thankful Fios has stirred the pot and gotten that fat dumb and happy cable companies off their laurels. Satellite did a good first dance, but the depth and breadth of new technology being pushed by Verizon is going to make life better for all consumers. Like them or not, at least they are stepping to the plate so the US can experience what Korea and Japan see every day.

BTW - 20Mbs upload kicks tail. About time people opened up the upstream speed. Hope to see other providers follow suit.
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djrobx @ 30th Oct 07:55PM:
Re: probably

Then how do you explain "digital cable" equipment like TiVo Series 3 working and Motorola 3416's working?

FIOS TV saves 2 QAM channels vs. cable due to not having internet data on the same line. That's it. There clearly IS a bandwidth crunch, that's what's creating the HDTV channels limitation that created this news article to begin with. 135 QAM channels @ 6mhz = 800mhz. Cable TV is pretty much the same (some markets have been upgraded for more capacity than others)

The technology is what it is. I don't doubt Fios has a superior picture to your cable. Maybe the cable company just doesn't give a crap about quality?
--
Laser eye surgery rocks! I love frickin' laser beams.
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