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In Q1 - for 1st part - The new cable deployment costs of both FTTH and HFC networks depend on the number of homes served by the networks.
chetan2u cost per mile is given , but if no of homes increases - > miles increase ( The town will replace 300 miles of Outside Plant (OSP) cable that will serve approximately 2,500 homes.) - > total cost increase.
Am i thinking too much ?
­So the passage says that 300 miles would cater to 2500 homes, but we don't know if there is a strict relation between miles and home or if more homes could be accomodated in the same miles of cable.
Furthermore since some components of cost are broken down per mile, and some components (latter two) are broken per home, it seems as if there is no strict relation b/w homes and miles.
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chetan2u for Q3, 3rd point, how can we surely say that if the costs are not considered FTTH is the best option when in the last paragraph of details it is said that the community believes both can serve the purpose. I am confused.

Even I thought its supported but then with best in the option, I got confused.
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chetan2u for Q3, 3rd point, how can we surely say that if the costs are not considered FTTH is the best option when in the last paragraph of details it is said that the community believes both can serve the purpose. I am confused.

Even I thought its supported but then with best in the option, I got confused.
KarishmaB Bunuel ChiranjeevSingh GMATNinja I have the same doubt, please help :)
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kanikaa9 Nipunh

IMO,

"The town believes that either the FTTH or HFC architectures will be capable of serving the communities' data and television needs for the next 30 years."
-> Both options are capable of serving needs for 30 years, so it's equal. But what about the other factors to judge which option is the best?

In 2nd paragraph, "The advantages of this architecture include greater bandwidth capabilities, less signal loss, and slightly lower new-cable deployment
costs than the second option, Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC)."
-> Clearly, FTTH is better. If cost doesn't matter, you won't invest in the option that has inferior performance, right?


Hope it helps.
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kanikaa9 Nipunh

IMO,

"The town believes that either the FTTH or HFC architectures will be capable of serving the communities' data and television needs for the next 30 years."
-> Both options are capable of serving needs for 30 years, so it's equal. But what about the other factors to judge which option is the best?

In 2nd paragraph, "The advantages of this architecture include greater bandwidth capabilities, less signal loss, and slightly lower new-cable deployment
costs than the second option, Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC)."
-> Clearly, FTTH is better. If cost doesn't matter, you won't invest in the option that has inferior performance, right?


Hope it helps.
Hi tdew

I do agree that this hints at being better in some regards. But there can be other factors, that we are not given, on totality of which something could be infered as the best. If this choice would have said better, I probably would have agreed. But best option is a extreme imo.
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tdew
kanikaa9 Nipunh

IMO,

"The town believes that either the FTTH or HFC architectures will be capable of serving the communities' data and television needs for the next 30 years."
-> Both options are capable of serving needs for 30 years, so it's equal. But what about the other factors to judge which option is the best?

In 2nd paragraph, "The advantages of this architecture include greater bandwidth capabilities, less signal loss, and slightly lower new-cable deployment
costs than the second option, Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC)."
-> Clearly, FTTH is better. If cost doesn't matter, you won't invest in the option that has inferior performance, right?


Hope it helps.
Hi tdew

I do agree that this hints at being better in some regards. But there can be other factors, that we are not given, on totality of which something could be infered as the best. If this choice would have said better, I probably would have agreed. But best option is a extreme imo.

Hi Nipunh,

I think in this context, 'best' simply refers to the best option between the 2 available choices.
And we need to base our answer solely on the given info without speculating about unknown factors.
So, it's fair to say that this choice is best over the other, imo.
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In question 4 part 3,

It asks if cost is not considered , the FTTH option is best but in the tab 1- towards the end it says The town believes that either the FTTH or HFC architecture will be capable of serving the communities data. Then should'nt be the answer no?
chetan2u
Let us work on the paras. We can carry certain information on each tab and come back to relevant portion as per the requirement of the questions.

Discussions: It gives relative pros and cons of FTTH and HFC network architectures.
Initial cost: This gives us the cost related to to installation of each network per mile of OFC.
Cumulative cost: This gives the cumulative cost over 20 years.

Let us go to the questions..

(I) Mark Yes,if the option is true.

1. The new cable deployment costs of both FTTH and HFC networks depend on the number of homes served by the networks.
The important words are new cable deployment costs . These details are given in tab 2, Initial costs.
The new cable deployment costs depends on labour and material and has no Home component to it.
So, mark NO.

2. Labor expenses comprise the majority of the costs associated with the new cable deployment for HFC.
The answer again lies in the second tab, wherein we can see that labour costs is approx 16k out of 28k, that is more than 50%.
Mark YES

3. An HFC network installation involves a smaller installation cost per home than FTTH.
The answer again lies in the second tab, wherein we can see that HFC instl per home costs 125, while FTTH costs 748$ per home.
Mark YES


(II) According to the information provided, which of the following attributes is an advantage of HFC network architecture as compared with FTTH architecture?
We can go to tab 1 and tab 2

1. Lower new cable deployment costs: Tab 2 gives the cost for HFC as 28K as compared to 26k for FTTH. Not an advantage for HFC network arch.

2. Lower maintenance expenses: The third para in tab 1 talks of higher maintenance expenses. DIscard

3. Greater longevity of coaxial cable: The tab 1 gives info on the contrary.

4. 95% lower internal equipment deployment costs: Tab 2 gives HFC and FTTH costs under this head as 820 and 16118, and 820 is around 5% of 16118, so the statement is true and is an advantage of HFC over FTTH.

5. 90% lower customer installation costs:Tab 2 gives HFC and FTTH costs under this head as 125 and 748, but 125 is around 16% of 748, so the statement is not true although HFC does have lower customer installation than FTTH, but not lower by 90%.

Answer: 4


(III) Mark Supported, if statement is supported

1. If the town only considers cost over the first 10 years, the FTTH option is best.
The answer lies in the graph in tab 3. We can see the cumulative cost shown by blue dotted line is lower compared to black line against 10th year. So, HFC is better of the two and hence not supported.

2. If the town only considers cost over the first 20 years, the FTTH option is best.
One can easily go wrong here if one doesn't realize that the lines are giving the cumulative cost, that the total cost incurred given by the lines at any point includes sum of all costs in previous year till that year. In 20th year, the blue dotted line is higher than black. Hence, FTTH is less costly and economical over a period of 20 years. Hence, supported.

3. If cost is not considered, the FTTH option is best.
Tab 1 gives various advantages of FTTH over HFC in terms of durability, greater bandwidth capabilities and less signal loss.
Hence, supported­
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That part comes after it lists multiple reasons why HFC is worse that FTTH and why FTTH is overall the better option if cost is disregarded.
Azeem123
In question 4 part 3,

It asks if cost is not considered , the FTTH option is best but in the tab 1- towards the end it says The town believes that either the FTTH or HFC architecture will be capable of serving the communities data. Then should'nt be the answer no?

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