UTEL recently announced it redesigned its last-mile copper cable test equipment “to enable operators to retrospectively fit it to existing fiber-to-the-cabinet installations,” the company explained. “The innovative design, which condenses UTEL’s test heads [pictured] and access switches into a compact space, means operators can now pass on the benefits of the solution to end users receiving superfast broadband from older cabinets, rather than just using it in new cabinets.”
The copper cable test device “pinpoints any faults on the line and provides detailed information on what the problem is,” UTEL added, “enabling engineers to be dispatched straight to the affected part of the network. This reduces the time it takes to find and fix faults that are causing service interruptions or slow speeds.”
Frank Kaufhold, UTEL’s managing director, noted, “With our latest product, our aim is simple. Operators are well aware of the benefits last-mile copper testing technology brings, but having to build it into the design of new cabinets was limiting. So we wanted to condense everything down in order for it to be added at any time in a cabinet’s lifespan.”
A European operator that has significant fiber-to-the-cabinet infrastructure requested that the new, compact equipment be developed. “Unlike single-ended, double-ended or metallic line tests (selt, delt, melt), it does not rely on an active modem at the customer end of the network,” UTEL said. “It can also detect and isolate faults on the copper line from the network operator’s contact center without the need for skilled engineers to interpret the data.”
