3 ms·

The 'obvious' thing to do in AT&T's shoes is to design a small $10 solar powered 'copper line simulator'. It would sit outside customers homes and provide copp

The 'obvious' thing to do in AT&T's shoes is to design a small $10 solar powered 'copper line simulator'. It would sit outside customers homes and provide copper line services bridged to the mobile networks (many, for redundancy, and even starlink for even more redundancy). 4G voice only chipsets come in under $2 now. Then they can shut down all their copper networks easily paying for the transition.

throwAGIway 2y ago
Wow, sounds like a product idea. It could even provide an ADSL-4G/5G bridge. Is anybody selling this?
- londons_explore 2y ago
  ADSL would need a much bigger solar panel and battery considering most people use ADSL 24x7. I believe the power requirements for ADSL modems are much higher too.
- BenjiWiebe 2y ago
  Who in their right mind would prefer simulated-ADSL-over-(4|5)G to actual (4|5)G?! You'd get the worst of both worlds. Also for us (not AT&T country) we want to keep our landline because it has extremely low downtime and never drops the signal because the phone got held 5 degrees away from the perfect angle in front of the correct window...
  - throwAGIway 2y ago
    Individually it doesn't make much sense. On the other hand, in some parts of the world (I live in Europe and it's normal around here) the operator owns the modem and the last mile infrastructure - so perhaps they would do it if the cost of replacing all the customer side modems and cabling + installing the antennas in that area would be larger than installing this simulated ADSL station. Also - you can't just switch 1000s of people in a dense small area to individual modems and expect good performance. There needs to be aggregation. Presumably the last mile station would always have the perfect angle to the base station(s) - perhaps even radio priority.
asadotzler 2y ago
That's gonna work great except for the covered rural areas where the forests block the sun from efficient solar and where there are no mobile network services for miles. There are tens of thousands of families living with those conditions. This is the reason the copper network still matters. It's the only thing available for many. I'm 11 miles from the Googleplex and there's no cell, no cable, no fiber and PG&E is out 12 days a year during summer and winter. AT&T's landline is our only assured connection to the outside world and they even plant generators up the road during the winter to keep it alive during power outages. Our neighborhood's only other connection, a WISP that relies on radios mounted a couple hundred feet up tall redwoods, is unreliable during these widespread power outages. We've got AT&T copper and HAM and that's how we reach the sheriff in emergencies, like the raging wildfires of the last few decades. And we've got it good for being in one of the wealthiest counties in the state with nearby population centers. The rural north and big parts of the central valley don't even have the WISPs and often can't drive 5 minutes to a signal like we can. "Just drop a $10 kit" is either magical or lazy thinking.
ianburrell 2y ago
AT&T has been giving mobile adapters for years. They cost more like $90. The problem is that there are customers outside of mobile range. Mobile is also less reliable than landlines and that matters for people in rural areas with flaky mobile service.
figassis 2y ago
Interesting solution. I wonder if it has any gotchas that would make customers more angry if something fails in a way that would not happen with pure copper. Anyway, I think this is a great solution and they should totally hire you.

throwAGIway 2y ago

Wow, sounds like a product idea. It could even provide an ADSL-4G/5G bridge. Is anybody selling this?

londons_explore 2y ago
ADSL would need a much bigger solar panel and battery considering most people use ADSL 24x7. I believe the power requirements for ADSL modems are much higher too.
BenjiWiebe 2y ago
Who in their right mind would prefer simulated-ADSL-over-(4|5)G to actual (4|5)G?! You'd get the worst of both worlds. Also for us (not AT&T country) we want to keep our landline because it has extremely low downtime and never drops the signal because the phone got held 5 degrees away from the perfect angle in front of the correct window...
- throwAGIway 2y ago
  Individually it doesn't make much sense. On the other hand, in some parts of the world (I live in Europe and it's normal around here) the operator owns the modem and the last mile infrastructure - so perhaps they would do it if the cost of replacing all the customer side modems and cabling + installing the antennas in that area would be larger than installing this simulated ADSL station. Also - you can't just switch 1000s of people in a dense small area to individual modems and expect good performance. There needs to be aggregation. Presumably the last mile station would always have the perfect angle to the base station(s) - perhaps even radio priority.

asadotzler 2y ago

That's gonna work great except for the covered rural areas where the forests block the sun from efficient solar and where there are no mobile network services for miles. There are tens of thousands of families living with those conditions. This is the reason the copper network still matters. It's the only thing available for many. I'm 11 miles from the Googleplex and there's no cell, no cable, no fiber and PG&E is out 12 days a year during summer and winter. AT&T's landline is our only assured connection to the outside world and they even plant generators up the road during the winter to keep it alive during power outages. Our neighborhood's only other connection, a WISP that relies on radios mounted a couple hundred feet up tall redwoods, is unreliable during these widespread power outages. We've got AT&T copper and HAM and that's how we reach the sheriff in emergencies, like the raging wildfires of the last few decades. And we've got it good for being in one of the wealthiest counties in the state with nearby population centers. The rural north and big parts of the central valley don't even have the WISPs and often can't drive 5 minutes to a signal like we can. "Just drop a $10 kit" is either magical or lazy thinking.

ianburrell 2y ago

AT&T has been giving mobile adapters for years. They cost more like $90. The problem is that there are customers outside of mobile range. Mobile is also less reliable than landlines and that matters for people in rural areas with flaky mobile service.

figassis 2y ago

Interesting solution. I wonder if it has any gotchas that would make customers more angry if something fails in a way that would not happen with pure copper. Anyway, I think this is a great solution and they should totally hire you.