VDSL broadband in China helping it leapfrog outdated technology
Broadband in China is moving forward in a very different way than it is in the US according to this Wired story since Chinese cities are much more dense than US cities (and subscribers close to the switching station). "China is attempting (to) leapfrog their technology and skip over ADSL," says Pat Hurley, DSL analyst for market research firm TeleChoice,. "They are moving from what the United States looked like 30 years ago directly to what the U.S. will look like in another five years." China is expected to have 1 million VDSL lines by end of 2002 and 3 million by end of 2003.
Very high data rate DSL, known as VDSL, was originally developed to carry digital television signals in addition to standard Internet traffic, so it can pump data over a standard copper telephone wire at speeds up to 25 megabits per second. ADSL signals max out at 8 Mbps -- although most ADSL services average about 1.5 Mbps.
However, ADSL has a range advantage because the data signals can travel up to 5 kilometers from the telephone switching station over standard copper phone wires. VDSL traffic is limited to 1 kilometer.