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You can put tens of thousands of copper lines communications in just a single optical cable. An optical cable is extremely small, in fact, most of the cable is

You can put tens of thousands of copper lines communications in just a single optical cable. An optical cable is extremely small, in fact, most of the cable is just mechanical reinforcement. Tens of thousands of copper fibers does not only means lots of cables with lots of devices that could fail, with lots of interference. It means that if something goes wrong, it it very hard to identify the problem or even to have the space to access the problematic cable. It also means that what used to take a dedicated culvert now could be done with a single cable. So infrastructure prices go extremely low as you only need to bury a small pipe and you gain a lot of space in old infrastructure. Copper actually rust if exposed to elements. For it not rusting you need to use things that actually degrade or pollute the environment a lot. An optical line is as inert as it could be, does not degrade over time, does not have EM interference. You already have all the necessary optical line infrastructure under roads or in powerlines. The only thing you have to update are the optoelectronics terminals and repeaters.

abalashov 9y ago
A few counterpoints: - While infrastructure does vary, "tens of thousands" of pairs hasn't been a common scenario in a long time thanks to multiplexing. Drag the pairs from each household back to a box with a few SLC96s, send it out the back on a few T1s running over a few pairs, or just one — framed over HDSL. Or multiplexed onto a DS1 signal that is in turn a channel on some much larger TDM aggregate over fibre, like an OC-3 or 12. - EM interference is still occasionally an issue with copper, but only on the lastest of the last mile. Otherwise, overall local loop transmission has been digital for a long time. Nothing goes back to the central office as an analog signal, at least not in environments that the telecom industry considers "metro" (90% of the country). There is some truth to what you say, but there's a lot of 80s-type telephone folklore mixed in as well. :-)
vvanders 9y ago
Yes, there's some advantages however some services don't work(alarms, etc) on fiber.
- jessaustin 9y ago
  Yes the wired alarm business refuses to leave the 1970s. Unfortunately sometimes regulations force us to pay through the nose for their outdated shit.
- PeterisP 9y ago
  Yes, the hardware for those services needs to be updated to work through another channel. For example, in my area all the alarms are set up to connect over the cellular network.
fencepost 9y ago
Sure you can get tens of thousands of connections, but there aren't tens of thousands of customers along the rural roads where this will really hit. For some of the areas there may not be tens of thousands of people in that entire half of the state.
Dylan16807 9y ago
But this rule has nothing to do with upgrading copper to fiber. It's about letting copper degrade to nothing.

abalashov 9y ago

A few counterpoints: - While infrastructure does vary, "tens of thousands" of pairs hasn't been a common scenario in a long time thanks to multiplexing. Drag the pairs from each household back to a box with a few SLC96s, send it out the back on a few T1s running over a few pairs, or just one — framed over HDSL. Or multiplexed onto a DS1 signal that is in turn a channel on some much larger TDM aggregate over fibre, like an OC-3 or 12. - EM interference is still occasionally an issue with copper, but only on the lastest of the last mile. Otherwise, overall local loop transmission has been digital for a long time. Nothing goes back to the central office as an analog signal, at least not in environments that the telecom industry considers "metro" (90% of the country). There is some truth to what you say, but there's a lot of 80s-type telephone folklore mixed in as well. :-)

vvanders 9y ago

Yes, there's some advantages however some services don't work(alarms, etc) on fiber.

jessaustin 9y ago
Yes the wired alarm business refuses to leave the 1970s. Unfortunately sometimes regulations force us to pay through the nose for their outdated shit.
PeterisP 9y ago
Yes, the hardware for those services needs to be updated to work through another channel. For example, in my area all the alarms are set up to connect over the cellular network.

fencepost 9y ago

Sure you can get tens of thousands of connections, but there aren't tens of thousands of customers along the rural roads where this will really hit. For some of the areas there may not be tens of thousands of people in that entire half of the state.

Dylan16807 9y ago

But this rule has nothing to do with upgrading copper to fiber. It's about letting copper degrade to nothing.