[Orcnet] Off Topic - Fiber Optic Cable (2)

[Keith Lofstrom]

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 03:28:33PM -0700, Keith Lofstrom wrote:

> On the outside, it is labelled "22300 feet Corning Optical Cable 12-05
> (phone symbol) 12 SME".  It has an oval cross section, about 10mm wide
> and 5mm thick.   It is quite stiff and springy; bending it to a 10cm
> diameter takes a lot of force, and it springs back straight. 
> 
> Inside the hard black outer casing are two thick fiberglass stiffeners
> about 1.5mm thick.  Between these is a blue sheath about 2mm in
> diameter.  Inside the sheath are the actual fibers; there are 12 of
> them in color coded plastic "insulation".  The fibers themselves
> appear to be around 0.1mm in diameter.  The blue inner sheath has
> some kind of clear oily goo in it.

It turns out that the fiber optic cable scrap I found was "transport
cable".  This carries lots of subscribers on the block to an even
larger bundle out of the neighborhood.  The cable provisioner connects
to one of the 12 fibers in the transport cable and bonds it to the
single fiber cable that goes to my house.  They did that a week ago,
the terminal equipment was installed today.  

I talked a lot with the installer while he worked today.  He informed me:

1)  That fiber runs all the way back to the Beaverton Central Office
(about 2 miles) with about 3 welds in it.  No switches between here
and there.

2)  This is single mode 8um core graded index fiber - the real good
stuff, the kind they push signals across oceans with.  He brags that
there are no electronics fast enough to saturate it - someday they
may be pushing terabit/second data through it. 
  ( Right now, I have the cheapest 5Mb down/2Mb up service, but
    I may go 15Mb/15Mb if this works out.  I do CAD tool VPNs
    over the connection, so the extra upload speed might be handy )

3) Verizon is provisioning for a long, long time, which is why
they are using such high grade stuff.  But then, maybe they thought
they were provisioning for a long time when they put in the copper
wires (which also run from here to the C.O.) back in 1958.  Meanwhile,
Qwest is upgrading their old copper - with new copper.  Fools.

4) He verified that the de-facto Verizon Acceptable Use Policy is
pretty much "run whatever you want" within the law.   This was the
main reason I moved away from Comcast.  They do block inbound port
80 connections (web server) but my server is offsite anyway.

They installed a Cyber Power CS36D12V battery backup unit on the
end of a long power cable.  The unit appears to make 48V for the
receiver, and draws 18 watts wallplug current.  Inside is a 12V,
7.2AHr sealed lead acid battery.  It looks very easy to replace. 
There is also an intriguing 3mm barrel jack on the side of the 
BBU with 13.7 volts on it;  I imagine this is in parallel with the
battery.  So, I may end up plugging a car battery into it, which I
can charge from my 1KW Honda if the power goes out a long time.

Other random notes: Comcast stock has dropped 30% in the last year
They are in trouble with the FCC.  Qwest is down 48%.  They tapped
your calls and are in trouble with everybody.  Verizon stock is
down 3%.  As long as they stay out of trouble, they stay.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs