12-12-2017 Georg von Wagner

• Bandwidth of up to 100 Mbps possible
• The network expansion is reaching a total of 62 cities
• The next wave of FTTC commissioning will come on December 27

Deutsche Telekom's expansion program for vectoring-based Internet accesses is moving into its major year-end push. Today, an additional 39,000 households, in a total of 62 cities, will go online with bandwidth of 100 Mbps (download) and 40 Mbps (upload). The cities receiving the new service include Meissen (5,400 households), Herten (2,500 households) and Neutraubling (2,300 households). In addition, December 27 will bring the next wave of commissioning of FTTC infrastructure. It is now expected that the number of high-speed accesses in Germany will exceed 30 million by the end of the year.

The cities now receiving vectoring-based accesses are as follows: Ahrensbök, Allstedt, Arnsberg, Attendorn, Bad Bentheim, Bad Staffelstein, Bargteheide, Berlin, Bitterfeld, Dietmannsried, Dinkelscherben, Donaustauf, Dresden, Ergoldsbach, Eschenbach, Gablingen, Geilenkirchen, Gemünden, Gerstungen, Gieboldehausen, Gräfenroda, Grafenwöhr, Hamburg, Heidenau, Herrsching, Herten, Hirschberg, Jüchen-Otzenrath, Kalkar, Katlenburg, Kinding, Königswinter-Oberpleis, Kranenburg, Kreischa, Lamspringe, Landau, Liebenburg, Marienheide, Meissen, Mintraching, Neuenstein, Neutraubling, Nordendorf, Pfreimd, Premnitz, Rengsdorf, Sassnitz, Stade-Bützfleth, Stammham, Staufen, Sulzbach, Tambach-Dietharz, Tangstedt, Ulm, Unna-Hemmerde, Vechta, Waldbröl, Wallersdorf, Wallhausen, Wechmar and Winsen-Meissendorf.

How the fast network is getting to subscribers' homes

The copper lines running between local exchanges and street cabinets are being replaced with fiber-optic cables (FTTC = fiber to the cabinet), which can support considerably higher transmission speeds. The existing distribution cabinets – those large, gray roadside boxes – are being converted into multi-function cabinets, which are veritable mini-exchanges. In the multi-function cabinets, the light signal coming from the fiber-optic line is converted into an electrical signal, and then fed into the existing copper cable leading to the subscriber's access. Vectoring technology is used in order to make that copper-cable connection fast. By reducing electromagnetic interference ("crosstalk") in lines, vectoring is able to boost bandwidth significantly. As of the second half of 2018, "super-vectoring" will then be used, and this will enable bandwidths of up to 250 Mbit/s.