Subscriber analysis Subscriber demographics become more critical when a cable company becomes a phone company. One reason is that telephony subscriber characteristics directly affect the amount of distribution plant and hardware at the subscriber's location and at the headend. Changing plant and hardware is many times more difficult than changing a channel lineup. A consultant can help you identify the subscriber demographics that will most affect your telephony investment. Traffic behaviors Unlike broadcast video equipment, telephony or data equipment modules are installed based upon network usage.
Traffic engineering is the discipline that calculates the appropriate equipment quantities.
The task is complicated by the fact that there is a cumulative, nonlinear effect when several stages of equipment are involved during a call. In this area, depending solely on a vendor's recommendation or your own engineering can be risky. It may be tempting for a vendor to under-engineer a system to hold down costs. While the early stages of a service offering may present no problems, it would become necessary to re-configure the entire system as more subscribers sign up. Service degradation or interruptions may result.