Most people struggle with change even if it is for the better, especially old telephone people like me. I thought it would be interesting to talk through some of those changes and the impact on the industry. We’ve gone from having one phone if you were rich to having phones throughout the home to enabling small businesses, work-at-home businesses, and the Internet.

Not all the changes were successful but we learned from the failures too. It’s been a great opportunity for those who would embrace the changes and a tough time for those who didn’t.

In my opinion, the era of change for the phone industry began in the early 1960s. We were changing from lead sheath cables to plastic sheath. We were changing from fixed count terminals direct outside plant (DPO) to ready access plant. We were changing from pulp and paper insulation to Plastic Insulated Conductors (PIC). We changed from air-core PIC
to filled PIC. We were changing from twisted splices to mechanical connectors.

We were changing from black 500 telephones to the Princess telephone available in all colors of the rainbow. We were changing from pulse dialing to touch-pad dialing. We were changing from the step switch to the cross-bar switch.

With the changes came many challenges and new business opportunities. Plastic sheath required a new method of splice closure. The auxiliary sleeve was used so lead sleeves could be used for cable splices. Two-part cast iron splice cases replaced the lead sleeve with the auxiliary sleeve.

It took years for the old splicer to switch from twisting cable pairs to using the mechanical connectors. It took years to adapt to the splice case opposed to the lead sleeve.

Not All Changes Were Good
Many changes over the years were not for the better. The best example was ready access plant instead of fixed-count terminals. Ready access allowed unskilled hands in the plant. Installation and installation repair technicians were not trained in splicing, and because of this activity in terminals and pedestals good plant went bad.

When the terminals and pedestals were first installed, binder ties were placed to identify groups, and bonds were placed across the terminal or pedestal. After a period of repeated activity in the terminal or pedestal the bonds disappeared along with the binder ties. If you open up most ready access terminals or pedestals today that were installed from 5 to 30 years ago it, looks like the NBC peacock threw up in them.

Deregulation has been a very mixed bag of good and bad results. Becoming publicly traded required more accountability (and sometimes accountability to people who didn’t understand the business). There were tremendous changes including severe cutbacks of personnel. The result was that the plant deteriorated as reactive companies moved into the cut-to-clear mode for troubleshooting instead of performing proactive maintenance.

Fewer personnel and lack of budget for proper training meant that inexperienced hands in the plant have caused more trouble and have caused more unnecessary truck rolls and more service affecting trouble than Mother Nature has done for the last 50 years.

Great Opportunity
The fax machine changed the Plain Old Telephone business. We were sending pictures over telephone lines at 300 baud; we thought that was the highest bandwidth that could be achieved over a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) circuit. We then ran into the Dial-up Modem. It started at speeds of 4.8 Kb/s, then went to 96 Kb/s, then 14,4 Kb/s to 28,8 Kb/s, and when it hit 56 Kb/s we stated, “We do not guarantee bandwidth over paired copper conductors!”

In the next breath of change came ADSL, quickly leading to enabling many, many businesses, including online commerce, of generating billions of dollars. Telcos are offering a minimum of 5 Mb/s for ADSL and more than 25 Mb/s for Fiber-to-the-Node IPTV. I can guarantee that in the very near future we will be able to have 100 Mb/s from the node to the customer over paired copper conductors.

Keep in mind that the fascinating opportunities discussed above are based on a copper infrastructure for that Last Half Mile, and much of that infrastructure is more than 30 years old. So what is required of that copper? It’s so basic and my wife hears me preach it so often, even she can tell you: “In order to provide effective bandwidth you must have a clean cable pair with good longitudinal balance within the reach for that particular service.”

I add to that, especially in the IPTV business, that cable shield must have continuous bonding from the Node to the customer’s Network Interface. Power Influence on the circuit must be less than 80dBrnC and the longitudinal balance of the circuit must be greater than 70dB (yes I said 70dB, not 60dB). The Network Interface must be tied to the power ground electrode and test from 0 to 25 ohms and no more. The residential power system must be free of “dirty power”.

Good Change: It’s About a Good Plan
Many of the companies I see today are on the right path today following a difficult adjustment to what was a poorly planned execution of deregulation. We lost time and money for many years as the industry spent its time being accountable to shareholders and the bottom line, and meanwhile the cut backs meant the copper infrastructure fell into disrepair. But we have tremendous opportunity to fix the damage and move ahead quickly by embracing new technology, solutions, and even the competition. I hope your company is one of those companies that has an effective business plan and is creating positive changes.

Signing Off
Thank you, loyal readers. Remember to email your questions, your tough problems, and see if you can stump me! Send an email to dmccarty@mccartyinc.com or call 831.818.3930, and visit my website: www.mccartyinc.com.