1. High Level Telecom Architecture
ONT
Shared Fiber
SAI
Fiber To The Home (FTTH)
Shared fiber
Optical Network Terminal (ONT) converts light to analog voice and Ethernet data
Consumer responsible for battery
What if consumers don’t want fiber?
OLT
Gateway
Passive Optical Splitter
Home Run Copper
Battery
Central Office
MDF
DS1 R
MUX
Digital Loop Carrier (DLC)
Housed in Remote Terminal (RT) outside plant cabinets
AC power with battery backup & generator hook-up
SONET
RT Site
DLC
SAI
Home Run Copper
Batteries
Class 5 Switch
Central Office (CO)
“home run” copper connects customers directly to CO
No Batteries in outside plant … phone “just works”
SAI
Home Run Copper
Batteries & Generators
Lots of great copper … it must be protected!

2. Outside Plant Cable Topology - DLC
F2 Aerial Cable
Remote Terminal
SAI/FDI
F1/F2 x-connect
Drop to House
DLC
Batteries
F2 Buried Cable
Feeder (F1 Cable)
F1 Cable to CO is being retired as we speak
From Central Office
Losing Feeder cable to SAI cuts-off direct access to customers from Central Office

3. Outside Plant Cable Topology - FTTH
Passive Fiber Splitter
Copper and Fiber Must Both be Maintained as part of “One Network”
F2 Aerial Cable
SAI/FDI
F1/F2 x-connect
Drop to House (aerial or buried)
To Central Office
Feeder (F1 Cable)
When this copper is retired, it is essentially gone
Bandwidth is good …
but allowing this copper to disappear is wrong and dangerous

4. Key Take Aways Provision of Broadband must not negate
Fiber and Copper together provide best of all worlds
Bandwidth
Ubiquity
Reliability
All maintenance systems must be kept in operation
All “one network” with different last mile technologies
“Feeder” copper is already being retired
What is going to happen to your feeder and drop with FTTH?
Already being removed for “aesthetic” reasons!
Provision of Broadband must not negate
National Security and Emergency Preparedness