[telecom] August 2nd, 2022 - The Decommissioning of Copper Gets Real

The "nojitter" article is a paen to the all-mighty "MOTHER BELL" and her infinite wisdom: Ms. Munro's breathless boosterism includes these paragraphs:

Carriers have quietly tried to eliminate POTS lines, DSL, primary rate interfaces (PRIs), and private data services delivered over this old copper cable network. Carriers have been slowly attempting to discourage continued use of these services, by increasing pricing, not renewing contracts, ending maintenance and support, and requiring customers to move to VoIP (fiber) based services.

The subtle approach changed recently when Verizon Business sent a notice to all of its channel sales organizations that said all customers with a current VZB POTS line must completely migrate to a new product no later than April 30, 2022. Customers who don'dt migrate will be subject to disconnection on or after April 30, 2022. Verizon Business operates in about a dozen states. Though Verizon Business only mentions POTS lines, this announcement has big implications for everyone.

First, the obvious: VoIP is not equal to fiber. Phone companies love VoIP because it hides a multitude of sins, like the ongoing efforts to shuffle all trunk lines on to the Internet, thus externalizing the cost of maintaining them on to <anyone else>. The virtual-circuit, switched-with-links-in-tandem paradigm is now passé. What nobody wants to think about is the dramatic increases in fire and theft insurnce costs which the business owners are soon to be hit with, since their dedicted-pair phone lines are soon to be "as available" connections which are neither "always on," nor reliable.

Second, the all-too-obvious: "Carriers" haven't done anything "quietly." They have been trying, in ways both subtle and gross, to rid themselve of their well-paid, hard-working, loyal, and, yes, aging union workforce. It seems the old "Get in the truck" dedication and "hard work is its own reward" tradition is no longer fashionable, at least when the executives at the ilec's have to choose between their million-dollar bonuses or loyalty to the men and women who made them possible, and the union men who raised their familiess and paid their mortgages with notions of hard work, best-in-the-world service, and no-excuses "always on" service are soon to be museum displays.

Bill

In my area the the last two or more years the DSL and phone company have been actively forcing their network into failure by removing the rain tight covers off of any junction point when technicians make ANY repair or installation. They throw away the actual cover and replace it with an orange plastic bag and a zip tie or two. As the bags age and fall apart they are not replaced. They are doing this on all above ground connections.

From talking to the technicians (off the record) the goal is to make things bad enough that they can go crying to the local authorities and try to get them to pay for part or all of a fiber replacement of the "bad" cables.

It's not just copper Outside Plant being chopped. It's what it feeds: Line cards on ESS/DMS switches. At least for the 5E, the software licenses cost the LEC MANY dollars per month. And with many ports no longer used vs. cellular, it's a big hit.

If instead of POTS you have FTTH {"FIOS"} where it's now Just Bits, it's far cheaper. I've been told that all FIOS phone bits in the extended DC region are hauled to Reston VA where a few U's of rack space takes care of them.

There are services that don't easily convert. One is fire alarms, another elevator emergency phones. NFPA has approved cellular replacements for fire circuits, with some requirements.

In theory, there is a "POTS Replacement" market for cellular boxes that the existing elevator POTS phone plugs into directly. But I've found actual LTE/5G hardware to purchase as plentiful as polar bears in the Gobi desert; there are, however, hoards of companies wanting to rent you a "service" every month.

Very true. I have a basic AT&T POTS line and ADSL service. Any time I have to call the telco, they regularly put on a heavy sales pitch to switch to U-Verse and VOIP. My answer is always a polite but firm "no". I suspect it won't be long before they won't offer POTS and/or ADSL in my region; they already won't sell the traditional DSL to new subscribers.

POTS is going up by about $1.5/month each year, presumably to push subscribers off. It's now about $10/mo more than it cost me in 2015. $41/mo after taxes/fees, no long distance, no features, unlimited local calling. They no longer offer measured rate local calling in Ohio, or I'd be subscribed to that.

I think that Frontier here in Rochester NY (successor to the late lamented Rochester Tel) may have adopted a different method for encouraging POTs subscribers to bail in addition to or instead of drip drip drip rate increases. Residents in our neighborhood are having periodic loss of service which seems to be coming from the CO. Seems that they are eliminating equipment (line frames?) as people cancel service and consolidating subscriber lines on the remaining frames. Apparently this process frequently doesn't work correctly.