[LINK] Ever-lasting copper

[Nick Ross]

David,

Big 'state of the copper' article here:
http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/09/19/3851924.htm

Huge list of copper experiences from Telstra techs, experts and customers
here: http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/09/18/3851118.htm

Richard's referred-to paper on fibre in a mudslide here:
http://www.corningcable.com/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=7755

Another lightening strike article here:
http://www.fiberopticlink.com/Industry_Solutions/lightning.html

The latter two taken from here:
http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/02/21/3695094.htm

Bestest,

Nick



On 9 January 2014 07:24, David Boxall <david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au>wrote:

> Thanks Richard.
>
> On 8/01/2014 10:33 PM, Richard wrote:
> > Well, you could stop bothering to try to teach sense to idiots.
> >
> They're better organised than that. When I counter one line, they just
> come back with another.
>
> They won't learn; learning wouldn't further their cause. My concern is
> with the silent reader, who risks being misled.
>
> > But I have a real, current and close experience. Lightning. A lightning
> > strike in Wentworth Falls - one lightning strike - destroyed the
> > insulation in a cable run. I spent Monday afternoon with a Telstra tech,
> > starting at the termination point at my business and working back to
> > find where the damage ended.
> >
> > The result of this one lightning strike is that a 100-metre cable run
> > has been rendered useless. There is one good pair left, which happened
> > to belong to my neighbour. I just happened to be the first to complain -
> > and the result will be that Telstra has to trench new cable for the
> > whole run.
> >
> You're lucky you weren't on the 'phone at the time. I've already linked
> to <http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/phone.asp>. That successfully
> neutralised the backup battery objection. There used to be a warning in
> the paper 'phone book; is that still so?
>
> > The copper *network* could be maintained forever, but only with regular
> > maintenance and replacement. Some of that is that to keep copper in
> > pristine conditions, you have to provide it with an ideal environment.
> > That means doing things like giving it a pressurised environment (which
> > costs money).
> >
> I've heard repeatedly that the service life of copper cable is 30 to 50
> years, depending on environment. Why is that? What happens to the cable?
> My neighbour's report is interesting, but I need a more credible source.
>
> In my area, line noise and reliability degraded to the point that
> Telstra had to replace the cable. So what caused the degradation? If it
> was just joint failure, why replace the whole cable?
>
> > Optical fibre, on the other hand, is nowhere near as fussy. There is a
> > Corning study which I've linked to before here, in which a fibre cable
> > was retrieved after 20 years of flood-heat cycles, in which the glass
> > showed no measurable deterioration from when it was new.
> >
> If you could repost that link, I'd be grateful.
>
> > You might also think about this: Australia has zero copper-based
> > submarine cables still in service. On the other hand, I am not aware
> > that Australia has *ever* decommissioned a submarine fibre.
> >
> > RC
> >
> --
> David Boxall                         | ignorance more frequently
>                                      | begets confidence than does
> http://david.boxall.id.au            | knowledge
>                                      | --Charles Darwin (introduction
>                                      |  to 'The Descent of Man' 1871)
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