Verizon, FiOS, and CLEC/UNE orders (was AT&T diversity)

Thu Mar 22 14:18:55 UTC 2012

Jimmy Hess <mysidia at gmail.com> writes:

> Seems like a waste for VZ not to reclaim it so it can be
> recycled/put to good use.

To put some numbers with this statement (which I agree with btw):

OSP cable is commonly available composed of 19 AWG, 22 AWG, 24 AWG,
and 26 AWG pairs.  19 and 26 are outliers; 19 is for low pair count
cables going extra long distances and 26 is only good for quite short
distances (CO/SLC to customer) but Superior Essex makes a 3000 pair
cable in #26 (22 and 24 max out at 900 and 1800 pair, at least on the
spec sheet I have handy).

Most of the cable out there is 22 or 24.  Solid #22 and #24
(uninsulated) copper wire weighs 1.95 and 1.23 pounds per 1000 feet
respectively.  That's without the insulation, and only one wire, not a
pair.

I found scrap pricing for "telco" (obviously the contaminant ratios
out there are different for different types of copper) at $1.20/pound,
which may or may not be current, but if you figure a single pair of
#24 is probably around 4 pounds per 1000 feet scrap weight...  if an
average loop is, say, 5000 feet, you can see where there is
substantial incentive to recycle all the 600 pair that you have lying
around.

-r