Toronto -- After two years of research, Consultronics is proud to be the first company in the world to offer the technology that every telephone company has been waiting for: a single ended measurement method to determine the upstream and downstream connection rates that a local loop can support. This is significant because up until now telephone companies have had to rely on cable records and fundamental measurement parameters such as line capacitance and Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) in order to determine a cable’s length, the amount of noise that is present and makeup of the loop in order to “guess” at possible connection rates. The Consultronics method is more consistent, more accurate and does not require guesswork. Another advantage is that field technicians and cable repair crews can perform these tests while at the subscriber’s premise whereas until now only sophisticated centralized test systems could make tests. ILECs and CLECs in Texas and Canada have already had a chance to field trial the technology. Single ended measurements can be performed on loops as long as 18,000 feet. The portable CableSHARK has a high resolution LCD display. To perform the single ended rate prediction test for DMT based ADSL, the user needs only to connect a single CableSHARK to one end of the line. The other end of the line needs only an open or short circuit. No second test set, responder, DSLAM or ADSL modem is needed. The CableSHARK probes the line and, based on reflections and extrapolations, determines the cable’s frequency response. In addition, the power spectral density of noise and crosstalk noise are measured. The CableSHARK then automatically determines how many “bits” each ADSL DMT carrier can transport.Consultronics Ltd.