“Customer satisfaction with the Information sector is improving, but none of these industries score higher than the national average,” says Claes Fornell, ACSI founder and chairman. “Limited competition combined with high consumer expectations for information services are a formula for relatively weak buyer satisfaction, despite the gains.”

Subscription TV: Customer Satisfaction Improves in a Low-Performing Industry
Subscription television service ends a three-year run of stagnating customer satisfaction with a 3 percent gain to an ACSI benchmark of 68. While the boost is good news for cable, satellite and fiber-optic television providers, the industry remains the third worst of the 43 industries covered in the ACSI.

Among TV service providers, those offering service via fiber optics or satellite earn the best marks for customer satisfaction. On average, fiber-optic/satellite service receives an ACSI score of 72 compared with 63 for cable service. Verizon (FiOS) stays in first place at 73 (-1 percent), with DIRECTV at 72 and AT&T (U-verse) at 71 close behind after strong gains of 6 percent and 4 percent, respectively. DISH Network rounds out the above-average group with a near-steady benchmark of 70 (+1 percent).

While most cable providers do better in 2013, all remain below the national ACSI average. Cox Communications leads at 65 (+3 percent), but is chased by a much-improved Charter Communications at 64 (+8 percent) and a modestly stronger Comcast at 63 (+3 percent). Time Warner Cable backslides, dropping 5 percent to an industry low of 60.

“While nearly 90 percent of households have some form of TV subscription, the industry is facing small, but growing, competition from Internet video streaming,” says ACSI director David VanAmburg. “The industry’s pattern of yearly price increases, coupled with sporadic reliability, keeps customer satisfaction low relative to other household services and vulnerable to new technologies that enter the market.”

Subscription TV customers give picture quality strong ratings for both HD and basic resolution, but find call center service to be lacking compared with most other industries.

Internet Service Providers Enter ACSI With Weak Customer Satisfaction
The ACSI’s coverage of telecommunications expands with inaugural measures for the Internet service provider (ISP) industry—a change that ensures comprehensive assessment of customer satisfaction with the video, voice and data services available to U.S. household consumers. ISPs debut with a customer satisfaction benchmark of 65—the lowest score among 43 ACSI industries.

“High monthly bills combined with problems across a broad spectrum of customer experience benchmarks—such as service reliability, data transfer speed and video-streaming quality—leaves customers less than satisfied with their ISP service,” says Fornell. “But in a market even less competitive than subscription TV, there is little incentive for companies to improve.”

Only Verizon’s FiOS and the aggregate of all other smaller ISPs break out of the 60s with identical ACSI scores of 71. Cox beats the average at 68, followed by AT&T U-verse and Charter at 65. The low end belongs to CenturyLink at 64, Time Warner Cable at 63 and Comcast at 62.

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Netadmin Systems’ OSS solution will automate the processes of Gigaclear’s broadband services utilizing all of the main features of NETadmin including network monitoring, service provisioning, customer management and ticket management.

“We are very proud of the trust that Gigaclear has given us. By using the NETadmin integrated end-customer portal, Gigaclear’s customers can perform self-diagnostics of their home network, thus reducing the volume of calls to customer service”, said Torbjorn Sandberg, CEO, Netadmin Systems.

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Built on a high-performance optical backbone, the Corning ONE Wireless Platform is designed to handle core cellular technologies and enable multiple applications, including wireless LAN, public safety and location-based services. In addition, Corning ONE Wireless Platform offers Wi-Fi support through its built-in Gigabit Ethernet and Power over Ethernet capability.

Fiber to the Edge
Corning ONE Wireless Platform leverages fiber-to-the-edge technology to deliver more bandwidth, more operators, more services, and more applications via fiber links to an integrated, modular single-input, single-output/multiple-input, multiple-output (SISO/MIMO) antenna. The platform’s remote antenna units offer upgradable expansion modules for MIMO in a single antenna, allowing for future additions of active spectrum.

With the launch of the Corning ONE Wireless Platform, Corning’s distributed antenna system portfolio expands beyond traditional DAS, supporting nearly every connectivity need from lower power, cost-effective deployments inherent in small office buildings to the massive bandwidth and coverage needs of public venues such as convention centers and stadiums. The Corning ONE Wireless Platform meets the demands of today and the future by providing optical bandwidth to the edge of the network.

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Covering a six-county area that spans the entire southeastern region of Alabama, the Troy Cable network delivers high-capacity fiber-optic transport from the cities of Montgomery to Troy to Dothan, and all markets in between. The build-out was made possible through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

With Optelian’s solution in place, Troy Cable is able to quickly turn-up services across its Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and Business (FTTB) infrastructure. In an area of the state where only limited low-bandwidth network options were once available, the advanced Troy Cable network delivers a high-capacity solution to schools, universities, banks, hospitals, healthcare organizations and government and military installations. These industries and others continue to experience fast-growing demand for bandwidth.

“This 100 Gbps enhancement to our network delivers a major expansion throughout the region,” explains Conley Freeman, CTO of Troy Cable. “Never before has there been a contiguous network from Dothan to Montgomery. In delivering this critical inaugural connection, we wanted a high-capacity platform that would allow us to easily scale but still efficiently use our fiber. Optelian’s 100G solution has performed very well. We were able to provision it quickly, and it is an extremely compact, powerful and spectrally efficient solution.”

Future-Proofed Network
With Troy Cable’s new 100G-ready network in place, customers now have options for alternate disaster recovery, scalable off-site storage and the possibility of diverse network paths that didn’t exist before. Optelian has enabled Troy Cable to deliver a 10-fold increase in capacity for customers of its triple play services (data, voice and video). Offering 2.5G, 10G and now 100G wavelengths, Troy Cable now enjoys a solution that enables service providers to offer up to 10 full-rate 10G services on a 100 Gbps wavelength to accommodate expected future demand.

“For a region with minimal choice in the past, our network now delivers options and opportunity to small and medium-sized businesses and enterprises that previously had no access to broadband,” continues Freeman. “It might have been years before some areas of the state received service of this measure. We can now drop high-capacity circuits into areas and attract businesses into the region. We’re excited about the economic development options this opens up for our state.”

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“Pushable fiber is revolutionizing fiber delivery and this is the first enclosure designed specifically for this system,” said Johnny Hill, chief operating officer at Clearfield. “It is effective across the board in numerous applications and serves both as a universal demarc unit as well as the industry’s simplest fiber distribution hub.”

Easy Entry and Exit Access
FieldSmart FDP-KIS keeps fiber delivery and management simple. Large enough to house the fiber distribution ports required but small enough to easily mount in the most space-constrained environments, KIS enables ubiquitous access with an exit/entry point on every side of the unit, providing entry and exit access from any direction. Due to the Clearview Cassette’s self-contained fiber management, and Clearview Blue’s integrated slack storage, this simple enclosure design delivers the highest standards of fiber access and bend-radius protection. Used in conjunction with either standard OSP cable or optimized with FieldShield pushable fiber, FDP-KIS speeds deployment with a consistent fiber management design in demanding fiber application environments.

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Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest “Home Networking Devices” vendor market share and forecast report, which tracks residential gateways; broadband routers; HomePlug Powerline adapters; multimedia over coax (MoCA) set-top boxes (STBs), optical network terminals (ONTs), and coax-Ethernet adapters; and HPNA/G.hn adapters.

Home Networking Market Highlights

• The global home networking device market totaled $4.9 billion in the second half of 2012 (2H12), a 5 percent increase over the first half of 2012 (1H12)
• Sales of set-top boxes with embedded MoCA technology grew 23 percent in 2H12, while MoCA adapters, though still shipping in small amounts, soared 129 percent
• Broadband router revenue grew 6 percent in 2H12, thanks to shipments of higher-end WiFi routers in North America and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa)
• In the race for broadband router revenue market share, Actiontec saw the biggest jump, up 30 percent from 1H12
• North America is the home networking device revenue share leader, capturing 45 percent of global 2H12 revenue
• Infonetics expects MoCA STBs to account for 46 percent of home networking device sales by 2017

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3M Tower Dome Terminals offer solutions for fiber-to-the-antenna (FTTA) cabling configurations commonly used in advanced 3G and LTE/4G networks, including trunked fiber cables, power cables and hybrid cables. The terminals are used at the cell site where fiber and power feeder cables connect to the jumper cables leading to remote radio units (RRUs).

Design Features:

• The plug-and-play External Cable Assembly Module (ECAM) system, exclusive to 3M, enables fast, craft-friendly installation and sealing. The system allows cables to be prepared for installation on the ground at the cell site and/or factory. On the tower, the ECAM plugs containing the cables simply snap into the terminal ports, so the tower hand spends less time in the air performing cumbersome tasks, such as sealing and strain-relieving cable ports.
• The IP68-rated terminals (with integrated fixed O-ring) provide a highly reliable, weather-tight seal and reduce the chance of installation error, helping to protect network reliability.
• A tool-less dome latching mechanism allows quick sealing and re-entry for easy changes and maintenance.
• Designed to enhance performance and signal integrity, the terminals separately manage fiber and power cables and accommodate standard fiber bend radius specifications.
• The terminal’s modular design allows the addition of optional surge protectors or power terminal blocks, enhancing system flexibility. The product family can accommodate up to 12 RRUs.
• The terminal’s small, sturdy mounting bracket and low-profile design help reduce tower loading and further simplify installation.

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The new VDSL chipset provides broadband equipment vendors with the flexibility to produce routers and gateways that support advanced carrier services with fewer components than any other available chipset. All ITU-T standard frequency band plans (Profile 8, 12, 17 and 30MHz) are supported from a single hardware CPE design, and systems can be engineered for the widest possible range of customer premises network functionality.

XWAY VRX300 Highlights and Benefits

• The chipset embodies the Lantiq AnyWAN system architecture, which pairs the company’s advanced XWAY GRX300 Communication Processor with the XWAY VRX318 VDSL Transceiver chip.
• This ITU-T standard compliant VDSL Vectoring and Pair Bonding chip enables carriers to deliver up to 150 Mbits and 200 Mbits performance, respectively, while PHY Layer Retransmission achieves highest possible media content Quality of Service (QoS).
• High-performance dual-core CPU combined with Packet Hardware Acceleration architecture achieves industry leading CoreMark™ score, with integrated VoIP engine, Gigabit Ethernet switch and Energy Efficient Gigabit Ethernet Phy’s.
• The embedded carrier-grade 802.11n Wi-Fi subsystem with offloading capability allows minimum load on the main CPU while Lantiq’s powerful and unique Beamforming technology provides longest reach for entire home Wi-Fi coverage independent of the Wi-Fi client used.

“Maximum bandwidth over existing copper infrastructure is a mainstay of service carrier’s network strategies through the mid-term future. We significantly increase the performance in future networks by adding our VRX300 VDSL solution to our already proven AnyWAN concept,” said Dirk Wieberneit, senior vice president and general manager of Lantiq’s customer premises equipment (CPE) business unit. “Lantiq delivers valued system solutions with unique innovations to help our customers to maximize their success. Implementing Lantiq solutions enables customers optimizing development costs and shortening their time-to-market by offering a single base design approach and our Universal Gateway (UGW) Software architecture.”

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• Public libraries reported an average of 16.4 computers in 2012, up from 14.2 computers two years earlier. Sixty-five percent of libraries report insufficient public computers to meet demand, down from 76 percent the previous year.
• Thirteen percent of libraries added or replaced computers with BTOP funds in 2012, and 12 percent plan to add or replace computers with such funds in 2013.
• Nearly one-third of libraries report offering connection speeds greater than 10 Mbps in 2012,up from 18 percent two years earlier. Forty-one percent of libraries report insufficient Internet connection speeds, down from 45 percent the previous year.

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DukeNet offers advanced data and high-capacity bandwidth services to enterprise, data center, government and carrier customers via an 8,000 mile fiber-optic network capable of delivering 100 Gbps services. Its network connects over 3,000 cell sites and passes more than 50,000 businesses.

DukeNet is using a range of Telco Systems demarcation and aggregation switches to provide mobile operators with LTE and 2G/3G convergence backhaul solutions. Telco Systems’ solution allows DukeNet to monitor, manage and guarantee SLAs using end-to-end OAM and enhanced Hierarchal QoS (HQoS) across multi-vendor environments.

“Telco Systems’ MEF CE 2.0-compliant end-to-end Ethernet solution enables us to rapidly connect and offer new services while assuring performance against stringent SLAs, which are vital to our mobile operator and enterprise clients’ business operations,” stated David Herran, DukeNet vice president, network architecture and technology planning. “Our customers expect us to deliver reliable, secure and cost-effective Carrier Ethernet and IP services. Telco Systems’ Carrier Ethernet solution with advanced OAM and simplified management allows us the flexibility to provide solutions for diverse sets of deployments and deliver on our SLAs.”

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