AT&T pair-bonding? Wait 'til next year

AT&T still has not begun its planned VDSL2 bonding trial, but the carrier told Telephony late last week it will do so in 2009. If you have been keeping track, it originally looked like AT&T would pursue this test as early as last year, yet many other carriers are not likely to pursue similar tests until sometime next year anyway. The idea of broadband bonding in general has definitely picked up steam in the last year, behind companies such as Mushroom Networks and Sharedband Networks, but many telcos have remained on the sidelines for now.

Bonded DSL has often been cited as a future option for carriers such as AT&T, Qwest Communications and others deploying fiber-to-the-node types of architecture with potential for last-mile bandwidth limitations. However, lack of customer premises equipment reportedly has been a factor in the failure of the bonded DSL opportunity to evolve at a faster pace. That being said, shortage of copper pairs also may be a factor. In addition, the availability of multiple DSL technologies may be causing carriers to carefully and continually review their deployment strategies for each flavor.

For more:
- Telephony has this report

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