[BC] Verizon T1 and batteries

[Dana Puopolo]

Here in Los Angeles, AT&T is building out U-verse voice, TV and Internet
service. This uses fiber from the phone central office to a box (called a
V-Rad-- Video Ready Access Device) located somewhere in the neighborhood. From
there the conventional copper phone wiring goes to the various homes, stores,
etc. Each V-Rad has a battery back up that will run a voice service for a day
or so-and each V-Rad also has a plug on the outside to hook up a generator.
Here's a picture of one: 

http://utalk.att.com/t5/Equipment/How-far-from-the-VRAD/m-p/123383

Since copper goes to the house, voice service should continue to operate in a
power failure for some length of time. This idea has plusses and minuses.
Using the existing copper to the home saves them a BUNDLE on installs, and
also allows for the V-Rad to power the voice phone located there (assuming
that it's corded of course!). The downside is that you have these big, ugly
metal boxes on pads everywhere (and a few have caught fire due to defective
batteries) and that copper pairs only allow for so much bandwidth and distance
(a V-Rad's maximum effective loop length is about 3500 feet-but any bridged
tap cuts this down further). There's a V-Rad about 500 feet from me and though
all the houses across my street can get 100 mbps U-verse, my side can't yet.
This is because the utilities come in from behind the buildings here;
therefore I'm on the next block which has no V-Rad yet-and (they say) won't
for at least another year.

-D

From: "Leon D. Zetekoff" <wa4zlw at arrl.net>

On 4/29/2010 12:27 PM, RichardBJohnson at comcast.net wrote:
> Many areas are now served, not by a central office, but by basically a
mini-cell. Telephone coming/going to those areas have local transcriber boxes
mounted on the poles. If power is out in the neighborhood, you get no
telephone as a bonus. Furthermore, even FIOS requires some active connectors
(optical switches) which, if the power is lost, you have no service as well.
>