DROP HARDENING. January 21, 2015

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1 DROP HARDENING January 21, 2015

2 SCTE LIVE LEARNING Monthly Professional Development service Generally Hot Topics or Topics of high interest to the industry Vendor Agnostic No product promotion Free to SCTE members Live sessions are recorded Members-only benefit

3 TODAY S SESSION Approximately 50 minutes discussion 10 minute Q&A at the end, however.. Ask questions anytime throughout the session Asking questions adds value and enhances learning opportunity for you and others

4 HOW TO ASK A QUESTION Select the Q&A tab Type in your question and submit

5 NOW LET S GET STARTED DROP HARDENING January 21, 2015

6 Rick Haube Director of Global Marketing PPC Broadband, Inc SCTE Member since 1982 Electrical Engineering Degree with continuing education in Optical Laser Design and Marketing Inventor and co-inventor of numerous US Patents within the Telecommunications Industry Sector

7 AGENDA DROP HARDENING Industry Advancements / Performance needs Drop plant component issues / Craft errors and the financial impact The root causes of drop related service calls Solutions, Case studies Before How to improve or Harden the drop plant After

INDUSTRY ADVANCEMENTS / PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS Capacity per subscriber is a key driver effecting: Frequency allocation changes Smaller nodes, RFoG and FTTx deployments Technology advancements may

8 INDUSTRY ADVANCEMENTS / PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS Capacity per subscriber is a key driver effecting: Frequency allocation changes Smaller nodes, RFoG and FTTx deployments Technology advancements may include: DOCSIS 3.1, 4K QAM, 192 MHz wide carriers, MoCA & WiFi Performance Requirements are not relaxing DOCSIS 3.1 will greatly increase the capacity performance using OFDM PHY with LDPC FEC. Thresholds for performance will increase slightly. Smaller nodes / More lambdas / More non-linear optical Noise / Low SNR s LTE in-band interference

9 PASSIVE PRODUCTS MAKE UP THE MAJORITY OF CONNECTIONS F-Connectors Filters Terminators Drop Amp Coaxial Cable MoCA filters Splitters F-81 splice adapters Pre-made coax jumpers HDMI cables And many more

10 DROP HARDENING REDUCES SERVICE CALLS Why are there so many service calls in the drop plant? Intermittent? Poor signal level? Subscriber error? What s the root cause? How to avoid Repeat Service Calls?

11 SERVICE CALLS Customer files a complaint The Service Call is generated Tech checks the levels at the tap. Levels OK! If 60% of CPE devices test OK, what was the root cause that generated the service call? Tech checks the levels at the CPE. Levels OK! The problem is gone! Tech exchanges CPE Device

12 AN ESTIMATED 70% OF CPE DEVICES RETURNED WORLDWIDE TEST OK 40% Defective units 60% Tested OK No Problem Found Note: screen and clean processes significantly reduce the amount sent back for contracted repair after they are returned from the field.

13 POLL QUESTION What percentage of CPE Equipment (modems and set-tops) returned to the warehouse test OK? 0-20% 21% - 40% 41% - 60% 61% - 80% Respond to the survey in the window on the right and click Submit

left loose Moisture migration Poor materials

Attenuation Reflections BER (bit error ratio)

14 DROP PLANT ISSUES AND ROOT CAUSES Cause Bandwidth Limitation Craft errors Connectors left loose Moisture migration Poor materials used Result Poor Return Loss Higher Attenuation Reflections BER (bit error ratio) MER (modulation error ratio) Impulse Noise RFI (Ingress / Egress) CPD Symptom Reflections SNR Ingress / Egress Modem Repairs Set Top Repairs Service Calls

15 DROP PLANT ISSUES AND ROOT CAUSES Are we looking at the Service call statistics? How do we track service calls? How should we track them? How can we identify the root cause? Analyzing the cumulative effects. PNM?

ROOT CAUSE OF DROP PLANT CONNECTORIZATION ISSUES

connections are less than finger-tight Over 50%

(subscriber installed) Moisture Damage Installed

installed on Coax correctly Craft errors, theft

16 ROOT CAUSE OF DROP PLANT CONNECTORIZATION ISSUES Loose connections Over 25% of all outdoor connections are less than finger-tight Over 50% of indoor connections are less than fingertight (subscriber installed) Moisture Damage Installed incorrectly, loose, or poor quality materials Not installed on Coax correctly Craft errors, theft of service, lack of training, and subscriber self installations

17 Operational Costs HOW MUCH DO THESE SERVICE CALLS COST? $60 million Customer errors and transport Average Allocation of Service Calls An example: 8,000,000 service calls Distr. Network, 9% other, 10% Drop Plant $243 million Tap to the Home, 38% CPE, 43% CPE $275 $80 service call cost

18 Operational Costs HOW MUCH DO THESE SERVICE CALLS COST? $60 million Customer errors and transport Average Allocation of Service Calls Distr. Network, 9% $44.8 million Connector Related 7% other, 10% $38.4 million Connector Related Tap to the Home, 38% 6% CPE, $80 service call cost

19 COAXIAL CABLE Current and future performance Current condition / Age / BW performance Does the signal level calculate to the distance? How is the shielding effectiveness for FCC requirements and LTE protection?

20 POLL QUESTION Existing drop coax (including jumpers) is replaced or repaired to resolve a service call: 0-5% of the time 6% - 10% of the time 11% - 15% of the time Greater than 16% of the time Respond to the survey in the window on the right and click Submit

21 PASSIVE COMPONENTS (SPLITTERS, F-81 S TERMINATORS) Current installed products are a growing concern with Docsis and MoCA. Many of these components are hidden from the daily calls and may have hidden issues in performance. MoCA signal transport. BW concerns Tap Port Terminations and Drop Savers improve noise performance Cable EQ s and Cable simulators will groom signal levels to optimum levels.

22 DROP AMPLIFIERS Drop Amp selection is critical to network performance. Signal levels must be analyzed to use the gain wisely and not cover other errors Active or passive returns (return path noise amplification) Bandwidth and drop amplifier location is critical Is MoCA installed? Is there a by-pass port for the Docsis device

F CONNECTORS As many as 40 connectors in every home Loose connectors and moisture migration into connection points are the largest root cause in this area Loose connectors

23 F CONNECTORS As many as 40 connectors in every home Loose connectors and moisture migration into connection points are the largest root cause in this area Loose connectors resulting in loss of ground create a significant reflection and ingress / egress In this state the PNM tools such as Scout Flux / Spectra can easily pin point the location.

24 DEFINING A COMMON TECHNICAL ISSUE CAUSED BY LOOSE CONNECTORS Poor impedance match Increased insertion loss High ingress QAM Constellation Diagram High egress High BER (bit error ratio) and MER (modulation error ratio) QAM Constellation Diagram

25 ALL WE NEED TO DO IS TIGHTEN THE CONNECTORS THAT ARE OUT THERE IN THE NETWORK! Re-locates equipment installed in the home conducts self installs...and even prepares / preps coaxial cable for self-install connectors at times.

26 POLL QUESTION When a service call issue is corrected, loose or poorly installed connectors within the home are the root cause of the problem: 0-5% of the time 6% - 10% of the time 11% - 15% of the time Greater than 16% of the time Respond to the survey in the window on the right and click Submit

loose). PNM may find these homes to address the root cause.

27 LTE INTERFERENCE LTE Interference in caused by ingress. Quality components will eliminate most connectivity issues (even when loose). PNM may find these homes to address the root cause. This CATV Space is reserved for LTE carriers finding their way into our networks via a single loose F-connector.

28 HARDENING SOLUTIONS FOR THE COMMON F CONNECTOR Outdoor connectors should be tightened to a torque spec (30 in lbs) 27% of all outdoor connectors are less than fingertight Technicians frequently finger tighten only The TRUTH about indoor connections Subscribers install them from self-install kits Wrenches are not used as they might damage the customer premise equipment An average of 50% of all indoor connections are less than finger tight creating various issues Consider torque enhancing grips and continuity connectors.

29 HDMI CABLES - HOW IMPORTANT ARE THE HDMI CABLES BEING DEPLOYED? Do we track HDMI Service calls? Do we know the level of performance they are capable of? Shielding, Holding retention, contact structure? Will the installed base of cables support growing bit rates?

Pin contact is critical for the Data transfer required to produce quality video. 2.

30 FACT #1 FAILURES ARE AN OPERATIONAL BURDEN AND INCREASE SUBSCRIBER CHURN 1. HDMI standards do not address holding retention a. Catastrophic failures are common due to lateral movement or partial removal from the port. Moving the equipment, vertical installations. b. Pin contact is critical for the Data transfer required to produce quality video. 2. Not all models sold are compatible with current and near future HDTV formats. Where s Pin 19? Pin # 19 (hot plug detect) is critical to the operation and is recessed so that other connections are made before voltage is applied.

FACT #2 THE HDMI INSTALLED BASE There s a significant amount of HDMI s installed today that will not support the growing bit rate requirement of the source equipment.

31 FACT #2 THE HDMI INSTALLED BASE There s a significant amount of HDMI s installed today that will not support the growing bit rate requirement of the source equipment. Consumer purchased and operator supplied There s a growing number of HDTV s that will handshake with the newer source equipment requiring higher bit rate transfers. Consumer purchased. A significant number of installed HDMI cables will not support the transfer rate creating service calls Service calls

32 CASE STUDY Objective Improve DOCSIS performance via Passive devices without changing the level of human error thus only by using better quality product. Results Improved SNR, Reduced impulse noise, reduced Ingress/Egress..Reduced Service Calls

33 IDENTIFIED INADEQUATE PASSIVE OUTDOOR CONNECTIONS Tight Connectors Less than finger tight (loose) 724, 82% 163, 18%

34 MEAN OPINION SCORE VOIP QUALITY

35 CODE WORD ERROR RATE

36 IMPROVEMENTS DOCUMENTED Before After

37 MODEM FLAPPING / TIME OUT (SERVICE CALLS ARE GENERATED BY THESE) Date % > 10 flaps 7/14/ % 7/15/ % 7/18/ % 7/19/ % 7/20/ % 7/21/ % 7/22/ % 7/23/ % 7/24/ % 7/27/ % 7/28/ % 8/2/ % 45.0% 40.0% 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% % > 10 flaps 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% 7/14/2011 7/15/2011 7/16/2011 7/17/2011 7/18/2011 7/19/2011 7/20/2011 7/21/2011 7/22/2011 7/23/2011 7/24/2011 7/25/2011 7/26/2011 7/27/2011 7/28/2011 7/29/2011 7/30/2011 7/31/2011 8/1/2011 8/2/2011 % > 10 flaps

38 UP STREAM POWER REDUCTION IMPROVEMENT IN MODEM PERFORMANCE Loose connections with no ground continuity result in an impedance mismatch. This poor return loss respectively creates higher insertion loss. By correcting this issue with continuity connectors, the insertion loss is lowered thus the return path TX power is lowered as well. This also suggests that the lower insertion loss provides carrier levels further above the threshold of service call generation % 18.00% 16.00% 14.00% 12.00% 10.00% 8.00% 6.00% 4.00% 2.00% 0.00% % USPWR > 53 dbm 7/14/2011 7/15/2011 7/16/2011 7/17/2011 7/18/2011 7/19/2011 7/20/2011 7/21/2011 7/22/2011 7/23/2011 7/24/2011 7/25/2011 7/26/2011 7/27/2011 7/28/2011 7/29/2011 7/30/2011 7/31/2011 8/1/2011 8/2/2011

39 STEPS TO HARDEN THE DROP PLANT Identify the root cause PNM or Scout can direct you to the root causes for most trunk and drop plant issues. Correlation processes are underway between the trouble call codes and the location based PNM systems. Patterns today clearly point to the root causes of service calls and poor performance related to moisture migration, damaged coax and loose connectors to name a few. Root cause determination leads to product and process improvements.

STEPS TO HARDEN THE DROP PLANT Use quality components planned for future performance requirements Upgrade devices with bandwidth limitations.

40 STEPS TO HARDEN THE DROP PLANT Use quality components planned for future performance requirements Upgrade devices with bandwidth limitations. Electrical and Mechanical performance specifications should be verified by quality to ensure network criteria is met. Improve noise performance through the termination of unused ports. Moisture proof 75 ohm terminators to electrically terminate the port at the tap with drop savers for the coax drop is advised.

41 STEPS TO HARDEN THE DROP PLANT Improving the quality of passive devices and the reduction of craft errors results in reduced service calls, reduced churn, and lower operational spending. Take it to the Bank

42 HOW TO ASK A QUESTION Select the Q&A tab Type in your question and submit

43 THANK YOU TO OUR SPEAKER Rick Haube PPC Broadband Inc

44 REMINDER This session has been recorded Will be available on SCTE s Member s Only Site within 2-3 days To access previously recorded sessions login to: with your member ID#, then scroll to the bottom of the page and select SCTE Live Learning Archives for a menu of previously recorded Live Learning sessions

45 LIVELEARNING ARCHIVES Free for SCTE Members Under Resources/LiveLearning Archives Topics include: Advanced Advertising Broadband Premises Business Services DOCSIS Emergency Alert System (EAS) Energy Ethernet Fiber Transport HFC Systems Home Networking IP OCAP PacketCable Routing Service Management Standards Video VoIP Wireless Technology

46 NEXT MONTH Register for the next SCTE Live Learning webinar Contending with Multiple Wireless Technologies in the Connected Home February 18, :00 p.m. Eastern Under Professional Development/Live Learning Available today at the conclusion of this presentation

47 LIVELEARNING REGISTRATION Register for the SCTE LiveLearning Series Under Professional Development/ LiveLearning Webinars Available today at the conclusion of this presentation Third Wednesday of the month at 2 PM Eastern

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