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Re: Autofill
artie505 #61077 03/07/22 02:10 AM
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Originally Posted by artie505
You'll probably know if it's fact or fiction, but I've read that when Bell Labs/AT&T first designed the phone systems still in use in much of the world, they specified three strand wire - one strand more than was/still is, actually, necessary for telephony - because they anticipated the eventual need for an additional strand.

The government has never been blessed with such foresight. frown

True! In a previous career I worked as a central office foreman for GTE. The extra strand in cables was often used when there were problems on either of the other two in the triad. I was in an old step-by-step office with mechanical switching and every phone connected by what started out as a single unique physical copper connection. That is how it started out, not what I found when I took the job. I saw copper wire junction boxes with more patches and jumpers than in the original cables after years of patching and field engineering. I was blessed by having a crew of well seasoned old hands that somehow managed to catch things together, even if it meant running a single jumper wire to another junction box blocks or even miles away, most (all?) of them are long retired and few of their replacements even know how to make reliable copper wire connections.

By-the-way, that wire system "still in use in the rest of the world" would be totally overwhelmed in the communications environment of today's "western" world. You may still have a copper pair running to your house, but unless you are in a deep rural area, that old step-by-step environment was long ago replaced by by a computer and fiber optic to neighborhood switching centers. Parts are no longer available for the old mechanical switches and copper is too expensive for new service connections.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Autofill
joemikeb #61517 05/18/22 08:42 AM
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I'm in the unusual position of having Fios service and no cell phone, so I've often thought about the possibility of my Fios going down and leaving me incommunicado (or, alternatively, walking around the neighborhood with my MBP looking for a hot spot), and this thread inspired me to finally call Verizon to see if I could perhaps switch just my phone service back to copper wire to eliminate my vulnerability.

Unfortunately, I was advised that it's impossible for me to revert to copper, but during the course of the conversation I was also advised of a change in Verizon's offerings (which I feel I should have been advised of 2 years ago) which has enabled me to reformat my plan with a monthly savings of $13 plus a so far indeterminate tax decrease while at the same time having my Internet service upgraded from 100/100 to 300/300...a giant win, even if not what I was looking for.

In view of that, dinner's on me next time you're in NY. smile laugh


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Autofill
artie505 #61522 05/18/22 03:51 PM
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I'm including myself in that free dinner as I started this thread which somehow morphed into another topic!

Originally Posted by artie505
I'm in the unusual position of having Fios service and no cell phone, so I've often thought about the possibility of my Fios going down and leaving me incommunicado (or, alternatively, walking around the neighborhood with my MBP looking for a hot spot), and this thread inspired me to finally call Verizon to see if I could perhaps switch just my phone service back to copper wire to eliminate my vulnerability.

Unfortunately, I was advised that it's impossible for me to revert to copper, but during the course of the conversation I was also advised of a change in Verizon's offerings (which I feel I should have been advised of 2 years ago) which has enabled me to reformat my plan with a monthly savings of $13 plus a so far indeterminate tax decrease while at the same time having my Internet service upgraded from 100/100 to 300/300...a giant win, even if not what I was looking for.

In view of that, dinner's on me next time you're in NY. smile laugh


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Re: Autofill
artie505 #61524 05/18/22 04:58 PM
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Originally Posted by artie505
Unfortunately, I was advised that it's impossible for me to revert to copper,

Copper and land-line[i] are becoming the [i]buggy whip of telecommunications and we have never had FIOS to the house available. The principal telephone provider in the area, AT&T, is installing antennae such as this one every few blocks. It is my understanding that when the system is turned on it will provide cellular connections to replace the existing copper telephone network, as well as internet and "cable" TV connectivity. The towers in turn are connected to the network via fiber optic. I will be surprised if they don't salvage the existing copper network soon after that. There is a lot of expensive and increasingly unused copper hanging from those poles.

If I am ever in New York, I will take you up on the offer of a meal! cool


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Autofill
joemikeb #61530 05/18/22 06:00 PM
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Originally Posted by plantsower
I'm including myself in that free dinner as I started this thread which somehow morphed into another topic!
Originally Posted by joemikeb
If I am ever in New York, I will take you up on the offer of a meal! cool
Looking forward to meeting both of you in person!


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Autofill
artie505 #61532 05/18/22 06:10 PM
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Originally Posted by artie505
Originally Posted by plantsower
I'm including myself in that free dinner as I started this thread which somehow morphed into another topic!
Originally Posted by joemikeb
If I am ever in New York, I will take you up on the offer of a meal! cool
Looking forward to meeting both of you in person!
smile


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