Text 9307, 76 rader
Skriven 2010-07-15 06:27:30 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
   Kommentar till text 9298 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Cellphone woes
======================
Replying to a message of Michiel van der Vlist to Bob Ackley:

 MvdV> Hello Bob,

 MvdV> On Tuesday July 13 2010 17:48, you wrote to me:

 BA>>>>   The cable in front of my house is probably a 50 pair cable,
 BA>>>> only two of which serve my place.

 MvdV>>> Sounds like an awful waste of copper...

 BA>> Why?

 MvdV> Assume it is a 50 pair cable server 25 residences, each having two
 MvdV> lines. Assume the residences are numbered 0 to 24 and they are
 MvdV> spaced evenly. The cable is 12 miles long, residence 24 is at the
 MvdV> end and residence 0 at the start.

 MvdV> Residence 12 is at the middle of the cable at 6 miles. The first six
 MvdV> miles of hsi two pairs are used, the last six miles are just
 MvdV> sitting there. Number 13 uses halkf a mile more, but this is
 MvdV> compensated by number 11 who takes half a mile less. As a a pair,
 MvdV> 11 and 13 use only half the copper. And that goes for the other 11
 MvdV> pairs who's numbeer add up to 24.

In a rural setting there may be a need to add subscribers.  In this area 
"developers" are subdividing and paving over farm fields just as fast as they
can, those new developments need phone services and in many cases that
service can be provided using the existing cable.

 MvdV> So you see, even if all the lines are taken, only half the copper in
 MvdV> the cable is in use. That may not have been an issue 30 years ago,
 MvdV> but with today's copper prices...

 BA>> The cable serves several different properties, it doesn't make
 BA>> sense to run individual 1 or 2 pair cable from the switch to each
 BA>> property in the service area.

 MvdV> Of course not. But there are ways to use the copper more
 MvdV> efficiently. One could put a few junction boxes along the way and
 MvdV> use thinner cable further awau from the swicth. Or one couls have a
 MvdV> "tapered" cable. One that has 50 pairs at the start but where ony a
 MvdV> few go all the eway to the end.

 MvdV> For a 12 mile cable the effort may wel pay off...

 BA>>>> It's about twelve miles from my house to the phone switch, which
 BA>>>> is in Malvern, IA. Dunno how the cable is actually routed.

 MvdV>>> That is a long cable. The Telco would probably have to place a
 MvdV>>> DSLAM nearer to your house to provide DSL.

 MvdV> Yeah, I know you are not ineterested....

 BA>> I don't look for Qwest to do anything to improve its landline
 BA>> infrastructure.  AAMOF Qwest has canned most of their outdoor
 BA>> maintenance crews and now contracts out those services -
 BA>> installations, maintenance, etc.

 MvdV> We see that tendency here too. Not just for the telecom, also for
 MvdV> the electricity, gas and water. Outdoor jobs are often
 MvdV> subcontracted  to specialised companies who may work for more than
 MvdV> one contractor.

The power company here - MidAmerican Energy (a division of the Berkshire
Hathaway conglomerate) still has their own maintenance crews.  What I find
(slightly) amusing is the fact that this *privately owned* power company 
provides electricity at about half the price of Nebraska's quasi-publicly owned
(owned by the taxpayers) power companies.  My monthly power bill runs around
US$40 in the summer and US$75 in the winter (I run a couple of electric space
heaters in the winter); in Nebraska it averaged about $80/month (and I didn't
run
space heaters in the winter, nor did I use the central air unit much).

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:300/3)