Yes, but Verizon (and others) needs to develop a way to power phones indefinitely when the electric grid goes down, i.e., with one big generator at the central office or something else that works as well. What's going to happen the first time there is a fire in a location where no phones are working because the electric grid has been down for 72 hours and all of the "backup" batteries died after four or so hours?
Fred Holmes At 08:35 PM 3/26/2008, Eric S. Sande wrote: OK, I'll come clean. It absolutely sucks to maintain a twisted-pair >(not even coax) copper network Some, maybe a lot of it, is at or >near its end of service life. It makes absolutely no business sense >to continue to throw money at it, when the alternative is more >reliable, overcomes all of copper's distance and bandwidth limitations, >and allows for crushing the competition. > >Yes it's a huge risk, and telcos aren't generally known for taking >risks. But a fiber network just makes sense, long-term. > >It gives me relief in the three key areas that I mentioned in my previous >post. My labor costs go down because my maintenance requirements >go down. It's no fun to futz around with fifty year old copper either >up a pole or in a flooded manhole. You've got to pay some pretty >good people some pretty good money to be willing to do that. Fiber >has issues too, principally guaranteeing power at the nodes. > >But that issue belongs to cable also. > >I've mentioned the bandwith gain. More importantly I get distance. >Yes, DSL can go a lot faster than it does now, as you've mentioned. >But it is hardly universal because it's physically impossible to deliver >decent performance at great distance. Fiber, no problem. > >I could take the approach that another telco which I won't mention by >name, which is to build a network that only goes as far as the local >neighborhood POP and then transitions to copper. It's less of a >risk but it's less of a payoff, because that pesky copper is still a network >element. > >Did I mention the regulatory aspect? If I build it I own it, at this point in >time I'm not legally required to give away access to my fiber like I am to >the copper I installed and maintain at wholesale rates to other providers, >as I have to do at present. > >As a businessman, I have a responsibility to my shareholders to turn >a profit. I guarantee that I'm not twisting any arms here. If my price >is too high, well, you have options. The product is good. Better than >good. Better than the competition. > >Luckily the USA still rewards innovation and investment, although to >hear you tell it, frankly, it sounds like you think you should get these >neat toys for Eurosocialist prices. The next thing you'll want to do is >nationalize the network. > >That ALWAYS works well. ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
