telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

, a customer-premises equipment or customer-provided equipment (CPE) is any terminal and associated equipment located at a subscriber's premises and connected with a carrier's

telecommunication circuit A telecommunication circuit is a path in a telecommunications network used to transmit information. Circuits have evolved from generally being built on physical connections between individual hardware cables, as in an analog phone switch, to v ...

at the

demarcation point In telephony, the demarcation point is the point at which the public switched telephone network ends and connects with the customer's on-premises wiring. It is the dividing line which determines who is responsible for installation and mainte ...

("demarc"). The demarc is a point established in a building or complex to separate customer equipment from the equipment located in either the distribution infrastructure or central office of the

communications service provider A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many t ...

. CPE generally refers to devices such as telephones, routers,

network switch A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, Ethernet switch, and, by the IEEE, MAC bridge) is networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destinat ...

es,

residential gateway A residential gateway is a small consumer-grade gateway which bridges network access between connected local area network (LAN) hosts to a wide area network (WAN) (such as the Internet) via a modem, or directly connects to a WAN (as in EttH), ...

s (RG),

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also known as a cable converter box, cable box, receiver, or simply box, and historically television decoder or a converter, is an information appliance device that generally contains a Tuner (radio)#Television, TV tuner inpu ...

es, fixed mobile convergence products,

home network Home Network is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. Home Network broadcasts programs r ...

ing adapters and Internet access gateways that enable consumers to access providers' communication services and distribute them in a residence or enterprise with a

local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, campus, or building, and has its network equipment and interconnects locally managed. LANs facilitate the distribution of da ...

(LAN). A CPE can be an active equipment, as the ones mentioned above, or passive equipment such as

analog telephone adapter An analog telephone adapter (ATA) or FXS gateway is a device for connecting traditional analog telephones, fax machines, and similar customer-premises devices to a digital telephone system or a voice over IP telephone network. An ATA is often ...

s (ATA) or xDSL-splitters. This includes

key telephone system A business telephone system is a telephone system typically used in business environments, encompassing the range of technology from the key telephone system (KTS) to the private branch exchange (PBX). A business telephone system differs from ...

s and most

private branch exchange A business telephone system is a telephone system typically used in business environments, encompassing the range of technology from the key telephone system (KTS) to the private branch exchange (PBX). A business telephone system differs from ...

s. Excluded from the CPE category are

overvoltage In electrical engineering, overvoltage is the raising of voltage beyond the design limit of a circuit or circuit element. The conditions may be hazardous. Depending on its duration, the overvoltage event can be transient—a voltage spike—o ...

protection equipment and pay telephones. Other types of materials that are necessary for the delivery of the telecommunication service, but are not defined as equipment, such as manuals and cable packages, and cable adapters are instead referred to as CPE-peripherals. CPE can refer to devices purchased by the subscriber, or to those provided by the operator or service provider.

History

The two phrases, "customer-''premises'' equipment" and "customer-''provided'' equipment", reflect the history of this equipment. Under the

Bell System The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the AT&T Corporation, American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America fo ...

monopoly in the United States (post

Communications Act of 1934 The Communications Act of 1934 is a United States federal law signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 19, 1934, and codified as Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code, et seq. The act replaced the Federal Radio Commission w ...

), the Bell System owned the telephones, and one could not attach privately owned or supplied devices to the network, or to the station apparatus. Telephones were located on customers' premises, hence, customer-''premises'' equipment. In the U.S.

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) proceeding the Second Computer Inquiry, the FCC ruled that telecommunications carriers could no longer bundle CPE with telecommunications service, uncoupling the market power of the telecommunications service monopoly from the CPE market, and creating a competitive CPE market. With the gradual breakup of the Bell monopoly, starting with Hush-A-Phone v. United States

956 Year 956 ( CMLVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Summer – Emperor Constantine VII appoints Nikephoros Phokas to commander of the Byzantine field army (''Domestic o ...

which allowed some non-Bell owned equipment to be connected to the network (a process called

interconnection In telecommunications, interconnection is the physical linking of a carrier's network with equipment or facilities not belonging to that network. The term may refer to a connection between a carrier's facilities and the equipment belonging to its ...

), equipment on customers' premises became increasingly owned by customers. Indeed, subscribers were eventually permitted to purchase telephones – hence, customer-''provided'' equipment. In the pay-TV industry many operators and service providers offer subscribers a

with which to receive video services, in return for a monthly fee. As offerings have evolved to include multiple services oice and dataoperators have increasingly given consumers the opportunity to rent or buy additional devices like access

modem The Democratic Movement (, ; MoDem ) is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was establis ...

s, internet gateways and video extenders that enable them to access multiple services, and distribute them to a range of

consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...

devices in the home.

Technology evolution

Hybrid devices

The growth of multiple system operators, offering triple or quad-play services, required the development of hybrid CPE to make it easy for subscribers to access voice, video and data services. The development of this technology was led by

Pay TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

operators looking for a way to deliver video services via both traditional broadcast and broadband IP networks. Spain's Telefonica was the first operator to launch a hybrid broadcast and broadband TV service in 2003 with its Movistar TV DTT/

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

offering, while Polish satellite operator ' n' was the first to offer its subscribers a Three-way hybrid (or Tri-brid) broadcast and broadband TV service, which launched in 2009

Set-back box

The term set-back box is used in the digital TV industry to describe a piece of consumer hardware that enables them to access both linear broadcast and internet-based video content, plus a range of interactive services like

Electronic Programme Guide Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information fo ...

s (EPG), Pay Per View (PPV) and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

(VOD) as well as internet browsing, and view them on a large screen television set. Unlike standard set-top boxes, which sit on top of or below the TV, a set-back box has a smaller form factor to enable it to be mounted to the rear of the display panel flat panel TV, hiding it from view.

Residential gateway

is a networking device used to connect devices in the home to the Internet or other

wide area network A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits. Businesses, as well as schools and government entities, use ...

(WAN). It is an umbrella term, used to cover multi-function networking appliances used in homes, which may combine a

DSL modem A digital subscriber line (DSL) modem is a device used to connect a computer or Router (computing), router to a telephone line which provides the digital subscriber line (DSL) service for connection to the Internet, which is often called ''DSL ...

cable modem A cable modem is a type of network bridge that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC), radio frequency over glass (RFoG) and coaxial cable infrastructure. Cable modems are pri ...

, a

, a consumer-grade router, and a

wireless access point In Computer networking device, computer networking, a wireless access point (WAP) (also just access point (AP)) is a networking hardware device that allows other Wi-Fi devices to connect to a wired network or wireless network. As a standalone ...

. In the past, such functions were provided by separate devices, but in recent years

technological convergence Technological convergence is the tendency for technologies that were originally unrelated to become more closely integrated and even unified as they develop and advance. For example, watches, telephones, television, computers, and social media ...

has enabled multiple functions to be merged into a single device. One of the first home gateway devices to be launched was selected by Telecom Italia to enable the operator to offer triple play services in 2002: Along with a SIP VoIP handset for making voice calls, it enabled subscribers to access voice, video and data services over a 10MB symmetrical

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over Copper wire, copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem ...

fiber Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often inco ...

connection.

Virtual gateway

The virtual gateway concept enables consumers to access video and data services and distribute them around their homes using software rather than hardware. The first virtual gateway was introduced in 2010 by Advanced Digital Broadcast at the IBC exhibition in Amsterdam. The ADB Virtual Gateway uses software that resides within the middleware and is based on open standards, including DLNA home networking and the DTCP-IP standard, to ensure that all content, including paid-for encrypted content like

services, can only be accessed by secure CE devices.Newswires , VideoNet
. V-net.tv. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.

Broadband

A subscriber unit, or SU is a broadband radio that is installed at a business or residential location to connect to an access point to send/receive high speed data wired or wirelessly. Devices commonly referred to as a subscriber unit include

s, access gateways, home networking adapters and mobile phones. Example brands and vendors include SpeedTouch, DrayTek, Ubee Interactive,

2Wire 2Wire, Inc. was a computer hardware manufacturer active from 1998 to 2010 that provided telecommunications companies with home networking hardware, software, service platforms, and remote Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) management systems. The ...

and Efficient Networks.

WAN

CPE may also refer to any devices that terminate a WAN circuit, such as an

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. ...

E-carrier The E-carrier is a member of the series of carrier systems developed for digital transmission of many simultaneous telephone calls by time-division multiplexing. The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) ori ...

T-carrier The T-carrier is a member of the series of carrier systems developed by AT&T Bell Laboratories for digital transmission of multiplexed telephone calls. The first version, the Transmission System 1 (T1), was introduced in 1962 in the Bell Syst ...

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

, or

metro Ethernet A metropolitan-area Ethernet, Ethernet MAN, carrier Ethernet or metro Ethernet network is a metropolitan area network (MAN) that is based on Ethernet standards. It is commonly used to connect subscribers to a larger service network or for intern ...

. This includes any customer-owned hardware at the customer's site: routers,

firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spre ...

es, PBXs,

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

gateways, sometimes CSU/DSU and

s. Application areas: * Connected home *

Over-the-top Media Services An over-the-top media service (also known as over-the-top television, or simply OTT) is a digital distribution service of video and audio delivered directly to viewers via the public Internet, rather than through an over-the-air, cable, satel ...

Broadband In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...

Voice over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

* Fixed–mobile convergence MC*

MPLS Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a routing technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one node to the next based on labels rather than network addresses. Whereas network addresses identify endpoints, the labels identi ...

(CPE device is used interchangeably with customer edge router)

Other uses

*Cellular carriers may sometimes internally refer to cellular phones a customer has purchased without a subsidy or from a third party as "customer provided equipment." *It is also notable that the

fully qualified domain name A fully qualified domain name (FQDN), sometimes also called an absolute domain name, is a domain name that specifies its exact location in the tree hierarchy of the Domain Name System (DNS). It specifies all domain levels, including the top-level ...

and the PTR record of DSL and cable lines connected to a residence will often contain 'cpe'.

References

Sources

*{{FS1037C Computer network technology Telephony equipment