Cable digging is increasingly
unpopular in cities, and regulated by local authorities who often restrict digging of roads to avoid disruption – costs are often prohibitive, especially if a river or railway is in the way.
Using copper telephone lines only provides 2Mbps access per pair – too slow for power users requesting Ethernet at 10/100Mbps or ATM services at 155 or 622Mbps. Cable Modems and xDSL are often not reliable on all installations, depending on the age and condition of the copper cables.