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

Thu Mar 22 14:53:10 UTC 2012

On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Robert E. Seastrom <rs at seastrom.com> wrote:
> 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.

Hi Robert,

That depends on the cost of recovering it. We're not talking about
salvage operators pulling cable, we're talking about highly trained
[sic] Verizon installers.

The last 4 pairs in use on that 3000 count cable will tend to linger a
long, long time before you can go remove it. Mostly you'll recover
short runs of low-count cable like the fifty-foot two and six pair
cables from the street to the house: maybe $3 in scrap. How many
dollars worth of time will the installer bill Verizon for recovering
it?

Regards,
Bill Herrin

-- 
William D. Herrin ................ herrin at dirtside.com  bill at herrin.us
3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/>
Falls Church, VA 22042-3004