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> But it's time to switch to fiber optics! The PSTN has been hybrid fiber/copper for decades. The vast majority of inter-CO traffic is carried on fiber optic

> But it's time to switch to fiber optics! The PSTN has been hybrid fiber/copper for decades. The vast majority of inter-CO traffic is carried on fiber optic lines. Many POTS lines are carried on fiber optic carriers from the central office to a subscriber loop carrier or similar device and then only travel a short distance to the subscriber premises on copper lines.

zabzonk 2y ago
in the UK it is typically fibre to the box on the street, and then copper from that to the house. providers would love you to subscribe to fibre to the house (so they can charge you exorbitant prices for it), but really YAGNI for most people at least in my experience.
- sgt101 2y ago
  That used to be the case - but it's rapidly becoming standard to be directly connected to fibre. I believe that something like 60% of UK premises have a fibre connection available and I expect that all the providers will push folks off copper as fast as they can. Because copper is a pain in the arse compared to fibre (for the provider). For the consumer copper has one key positive that fibre just doesn't - it works in a power cut.
lxgr 2y ago
In Germany, in particular in the former East, fiber development inadvertently got in the way of fast home Internet access for many years: Many regions were built out with (at the time of the German reunification) state-of-the-art hybrid fiber/copper systems, with fiber extending even beyond the central office. Unfortunately, the technology used is incompatible with DSL, the access technology of choice of the former incumbent operator, so any landline deployed using it was ineligible for anything faster than dialup until they either built out a copper link to the central office, or upgraded the existing fiber to GPON (which didn't happen until very recently).
ale42 2y ago
> The PSTN has been hybrid fiber/copper for decades. Definitely, I was mainly thinking about those thousands of lines coming out from the CO...

zabzonk 2y ago

in the UK it is typically fibre to the box on the street, and then copper from that to the house. providers would love you to subscribe to fibre to the house (so they can charge you exorbitant prices for it), but really YAGNI for most people at least in my experience.

sgt101 2y ago
That used to be the case - but it's rapidly becoming standard to be directly connected to fibre. I believe that something like 60% of UK premises have a fibre connection available and I expect that all the providers will push folks off copper as fast as they can. Because copper is a pain in the arse compared to fibre (for the provider). For the consumer copper has one key positive that fibre just doesn't - it works in a power cut.

lxgr 2y ago

In Germany, in particular in the former East, fiber development inadvertently got in the way of fast home Internet access for many years: Many regions were built out with (at the time of the German reunification) state-of-the-art hybrid fiber/copper systems, with fiber extending even beyond the central office. Unfortunately, the technology used is incompatible with DSL, the access technology of choice of the former incumbent operator, so any landline deployed using it was ineligible for anything faster than dialup until they either built out a copper link to the central office, or upgraded the existing fiber to GPON (which didn't happen until very recently).

ale42 2y ago

> The PSTN has been hybrid fiber/copper for decades. Definitely, I was mainly thinking about those thousands of lines coming out from the CO...