Has anyone realized copper is going away?

Again.

My town went total fibre trunk lines several years ago. House to trunk line is yet copper. DSL and phones operate without criticism, IMO.

The applicable legislation is the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Senate Bill S652 of the 104th Congress, which became Public Law 104-104, 110 Stat. 56. This is now codified in 47 USC. The applicable section is 47">http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode47/usc_sec_47_00000251----000-.html]47 USC

I was in the business for almost 40 uears, and wife is a manager of three AT&T central offices.

Fiber is replacing copper. Think FIOS with Verizon and U-Verse with AT&T. Fiber trunking is replacing copper T-1 - T-3. Verizon is investing 23 billion dollars to convert residential to fiber and AT&T is spending a like amount. When fiber has replaced copper to the home (FIOS and U-Verse), and residential distribution, copper will be pulled. Physically pulled as in removed, pulled off of the pole, and pulled from the ground. Do you honestly think they will just let billions of dollars in copper stay in the field and turn green?

Mark my words folks, I and the wife have been in this business too long. Watch the skys and be afraid. They will make it attractive enough to pull customers away from copper.

there's a thunderstorm coming, so I'll make this brief.
On Ask.com I searched verizon+fiber+copper and got several first-page hits on forums discussing Verizon's high-handed manner of putting fiber into homes. Much food for thought; thanks for the thread, coryphaeus.

Now, let's see if I can power down befo

Not quite as easy as popping in an AOL CD and be up and running.
=======================

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_FiOS
Pictures!

"I came to learn that Verizon was capable of offering fiber service at our location. Officially, they only claim to support those using Microsoft Windows and Mac OS/X with their service. In fact, with a little foreknowledge, you can have installed, activated, and use your FiOS service with an entirely free operating system such as GNU/Linux.

Verizon will run a fiber cable to your home or business, and have it terminate not on a D-mark, but rather on a special optical termination box. This box has both PSTN jacks and an ethernet jack. The ethernet jack they will normally run to a wireless/wired router that they also provide. The router they give you is generally preconfigured as a NAT, and as 192.168.1.x network.

First, of course, you can go in and explore your router. It has....." (see article)http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/liberating_verizon_fios_using_free_operating_systems

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=127999
"Seriously, say goodbye -- because if you ever want to go back to DSL, there's a good chance you can't.

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When Verizon connects the fiber line to your home during a FiOS installation, it is the company's standard practice that the technician cuts the copper connection from the street to your home. This leaves you with only a fiber line running into your house. Verizon says that customers prefer this over having a logjam of wires running through their property.

But what about those rare cases where someone only wants a cut-rate DSL connection and VOIP service. What happens when a formerly FiOS homeowner no longer wants to be a Verizon customer?

Though such a switch would probably be rare, there's a chance the copper line is gone for good....AceDSL says there have been instances where Verizon has reconnected a copper line so that AceDSL could reach a former FiOS customer. The company says about 25 percent of all FiOS installations it sees still have copper going to the home, even though Verizon's usual procedure is to disconnect it....(see article)"


Even if you have copper to the house you could still lose phone service in short order after a power outage in your area. Here's one town that is discussing that problem. Also note that communities are mostly helpless in what comes to their area since the regulation is on a federal and state level. It would be nice if the communities could force diesel UPS backup system on Verizon and maybe they can.

" Verizon currently delivers POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) primarily by copper pair. However, those copper pairs do not necessarily go back to the central office. In some parts of Town, for example in East Acton, there is a large box at the corner of Pope Road and Great Road, where fiber from the central office is converted to copper for the "last mile" serving many of the homes in the area. Power is applied to the copper pairs at the box which has battery backup, but no diesel UPS as we are accustomed to at the central office. In an extended power failure on Great Road, residents would lose telephone service even if the C.O. and their house still had power.

When Verizon brings you a fiber drop, either to provide FiOS cable TV service or to provide FiOS internet service, they will generally remove the copper drop unless it is also carrying some other service which currently is only provided by copper, such as ISDN, a burglar alarm, any business service, or DSL from a non-Verizon provider. However, they will still move your residential POTS service over to the FiOS terminal. From then on, even if you stop purchasing other FiOS services from Verizon, your residential POTS service will continue to be provided by fiber through the FiOS terminal. (see article)"
https://www.acton-ma.gov/boards/Cable_Advisory_Committee/verizonfios.asp




https://www.acton-ma.gov/boards/Cable_Advisory_Committee/verizonfios.asp
" Verizon currently delivers POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) primarily by copper pair. However, those copper pairs do not necessarily go back to the central office. In some parts of Town, for example in East Acton, there is a large box at the corner of Pope Road and Great Road, where fiber from the central office is converted to copper for the "last mile" serving many of the homes in the area. Power is applied to the copper pairs at the box which has battery backup, but no diesel UPS as we are accustomed to at the central office. In an extended power failure on Great Road, residents would lose telephone service even if the C.O. and their house still had power.

When Verizon brings you a fiber drop, either to provide FiOS cable TV service or to provide FiOS internet service, they will generally remove the copper drop unless it is also carrying some other service which currently is only provided by copper, such as ISDN, a burglar alarm, any business service, or DSL from a non-Verizon provider. However, they will still move your residential POTS service over to the FiOS terminal. From then on, even if you stop purchasing other FiOS services from Verizon, your residential POTS service will continue to be provided by fiber through the FiOS terminal. "