Goodbye to copper?

Mon Jun 22 21:15:53 EDT 2009

Much of the back bone is already fiber.  The copper is just the "last mile", basically the lines into the houses, on smaller streets and in rural markets. It will be decades before much of that last mile is replaced. Nor does it need to be in most cases. 

Now if the price of copper returns to the levels it saw last year, you may likely see new wiring switching to all fiber in the not to distant future.  But at the moment its still at half the cost it was, and gigabit ethernet is fast enough for most people building new houses and small office buildings.  

As for forcing customers to "switch", this is just telco propaganda to scare customers into higher priced plans they don't need.  Much like they used the "digital" tv switch to scare customers into high priced cable plans. They basically charge more for "digital" plans, even though it saves them billions to switch customers over. I'm not sure what level tech you over heard but many of the verizon fios techs don't know anything that isn't writen in their verizon books.  Much like the geek squad, they are pretty hit or miss on skill level. 

------Original Message------
From: Scott Ehrlich
Sender: discuss-bounces-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org
To: BLU
Subject: Goodbye to copper?
Sent: Jun 22, 2009 8:37 PM

I recently overheard a discussion from a FIOS tech saying at some
point in the near future the existing copper infrastructure is simply
so old it will be ripped out, apparently forcing existing landline
customers to switch to fiber...???   Didn't quite sound right, but
maybe the backbone infrastructure (poles/street) will be making way to
fiber?

Was this tech telling the truth, providing an assumption, or maybe
offering what he hopes might happen?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Thanks.
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