Currently Fiber ISPs install ONT Boxes along with residential gateways at Fiber customer’s home. PMC Sierra’s MSP7160 combines the functionality of two boxes into one and decreases the number of elements in the network. It has WiFi, 2 USB ports, GPON wide area access port and voice processing capabilities built into it.
Why don’t cable companies do this?
Imagine a “triple-play” box, that took the inbound coax, and was:
The cable companies would only need one box, and they could remotely, instantly, turn on services the user doesn’t already have when desired.
No splitters and the resulting stronger signal would be side benefits.
Sure, the box itself would cost a bit more, but I’d bet that increase wouldn’t be as much in quantity as the labor and other support issues cost having multiple different boxes for each service.
Some home gateways have better firmware than others; at least a separate box can be replaced with something that works. Let’s hope the vendors don’t screw this up too badly.
A good reason this isn’t done with FIOS is that wifi in the basement is useless. It doesn’t penetrate upwards at all. Since you have to have a wifi box out of the basement and fiber terminates in the basement, you always end up with two boxes minimum.
Triple play box is also pointless since most homes install multiple, different cables boxes. We have two HD DVR and two SD. Peter must be single.
FIOS design is very nice. OTN in the basement where the fiber terminates. Use MOCA on existing coax to get upstairs. Put the MOCA/wifi box next to the computer and get Ethernet out. Plug into home Ethernet at this point also. MOCA/wifi box does VOIP QOS and deals with QOS on MOCA for VOD.
What you really want is SDV in the OTN. And then drop the idiotic QAM encryption in the home and let me record the signals I am paying to receive. SDV and no QAM encryption would make even Tivo happy. SDV in the OTN will prevent you from accessing channels you don’t pay to receive and remove the rational reasons for encryption. Of course we will still have the irrational reasons.