Copper Phone Lines Vs Fiber Optic, Which Is Better?

[Rob Seastrom]

Most folks are not aware that the regulatory policy that might make
one prefer copper got its teeth seriously taken out of it (the line
sharing part) in 2002.  See _United States Telecom Association
v. FCC_.

You may not _like_ the regulatory framework under which Verizon got
the FiOS fiber plant built, but that ship sailed a decade ago.

Plenty of lobbying dollars behind sunsetting copper (mostly from
Verizon and AT&T) for several years now.  "For the long run" may be a
lot shorter than you think.

As for waiting being a better idea, we hams have a long history of
keeping old equipment around out of sentimental value and there's
nothing wrong with that...  but you should be aware that copper local
loops at this point are more akin to an AM station cobbled together out of
ARC-5s than Dad's Collins S-line equipment.

Anyway, that's my $0.02.  Richard should go with FiOS (or some other
PON solution if his iLEC wasn't Verizon) if he has it available.
About the worst thing I can say about it is that their IPv6 plan is
just sad (and ARIN handed out the very last IPv4 prefixes last week).
Cable is a distant second as a technology choice (and that's coming
from someone who works for a cable company!).

Losing the copper?  Meh.  You'll never miss it.

-r

w3qx at hatfield.com writes:

> It's regulatory policy.   Again it would surprise if there are not a
> few people on this list who are not only much more knowledgeable about
> that but also current.
>
> And it will be different for different people.  Personally, waiting is
> better for now, for the short run.  For Richard, maybe not.
>
> For the long run, as you know, copper will be sunset.
>
> (Which reminds me of John Maynard Keynes, but that's another topic.)
>
> William
>
>
> At 10:39 PM -0400 9/26/15, Rob Seastrom wrote:
>>OK, I'll bite...  is there something like Straight Key Night that I'll
>>lose out on if I don't have copper pairs to the house?  Steampunk points?
>>
>>-r
>>
>>w3qx at hatfield.com writes:
>>
>>>  Foolish to avoid FIOS?  Today?  No.  Not foolish at all.  As I'm sure
>>>  others here who know more than I will explain its not just technical
>>>  question copper v. fiber optic.
>>>
>>>
>>>  William W3QX
>>>
>>>  At 8:47 PM -0400 9/26/15, Richard Demaret wrote:
>>>>Greetings Everyone,
>>>>
>>>>  As all of you know Verizon has been pushing FIOS very hard for some
>>>>  time.
>>>>
>>>>I still have copper lines and want to keep them.
>>>>
>>>>Am I being foolish, or should I go to FIOS?
>>>>
>>>>Best Wishes
>>>>
>>>>Richard  KI4KXJ
>>>  [...]
>>>
>>  >  -30-
>
>  -30-