3 ms·

Here in Chicago, fiber is either tied to the 100+ year old L tracks or run through the more recent L tunnels. The L has a system length of just a tad over 100

Here in Chicago, fiber is either tied to the 100+ year old L tracks or run through the more recent L tunnels. The L has a system length of just a tad over 100 miles and covers a good part of the city. Makes perfect sense to run everything through there. The only downside I see is that its within easy each of vandals in some locations, especially where the L tracks start descending into tunnels. There was an article not too long ago about how some parts of India still rely on telegraph for any sort of communication and the government's plan to modernize it all. I'm a little surprised no one has figured out a DSL-like technology to use existing telegraph lines for high speed data. According to wikipedia the German postoffice had a 50 baud link working in 1933 using teleprinters. Even a 512kb link would be of use, assuming we can beat those speeds by 10x 80 years later.

VLM 11y ago
Something to think about WRT India is the telegraph wiring was designed for non-electrified areas, it works fine with one giant chemical battery in the main office, basically all the keys and sounders are in electrical series. Old fashioned copper gravity batteries instead of modern power supplies and things like that. Some rural areas of India are only 80% electrified. I suspect power could be an issue. In the US, power companies love pulling in fiber with their cables, both for internal SCADA control and resale. No point sending out two cabling crews along two paths... so places that tend to have power tend to have fiber connectivity. It might be similar in India. So no fiber because its a rural area with no power lines and eventually they'll get both at the same time.
- digi_owl 11y ago
  You have something similar with POTS. There the phones are powered from the switches, complete with x days of UPS mandated by law (thus even if your area lose power, you can still call for help). But this is expensive to maintain for the telcos (all that copper wiring etc) so increasingly they want to replace it all with mobile networks.

VLM 11y ago

Something to think about WRT India is the telegraph wiring was designed for non-electrified areas, it works fine with one giant chemical battery in the main office, basically all the keys and sounders are in electrical series. Old fashioned copper gravity batteries instead of modern power supplies and things like that. Some rural areas of India are only 80% electrified. I suspect power could be an issue. In the US, power companies love pulling in fiber with their cables, both for internal SCADA control and resale. No point sending out two cabling crews along two paths... so places that tend to have power tend to have fiber connectivity. It might be similar in India. So no fiber because its a rural area with no power lines and eventually they'll get both at the same time.

digi_owl 11y ago
You have something similar with POTS. There the phones are powered from the switches, complete with x days of UPS mandated by law (thus even if your area lose power, you can still call for help). But this is expensive to maintain for the telcos (all that copper wiring etc) so increasingly they want to replace it all with mobile networks.