It was recently reported in the popular press that in some cases, service providers are removing copper wiring capabilities when homes convert to fiber optic services. In this particular case, the situation involved a person ordering Verizon’s FiOS fiber optic service. In this residential setting, the copper is being retired, and, according to an Associated Press article, future residents of the home may not have the option of going back to copper wiring.

According to the article: “Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, incumbent phone companies like Verizon must lease to rivals their copper network. That's generally not the case for next-generation fiber systems. And so far, Verizon has filed more than 100 notices with the FCC to retire portions of copper throughout its network.

“The FCC allows the retirement of copper as long as public notice is given so the phone companies can work together to ensure the smaller companies' access. But rivals say access at reasonable prices is not guaranteed and it's just a matter of time before they're cut off.”

Having the FTTH (Fiber to the Home) access enables any local service provider to provide triple-play services. At the same time, it also provides a more reliable network overall, thereby lowering overall network costs.

Again, quoting from the AP article, Verizon says that: “the company will restore copper to homes if the customer insists, but Verizon would rather not reconnect the copper and will try to persuade the customer to agree. At any rate, the phone giant provides ample warning.”

For now, this is primarily a consumer issue but we do see significant implications for businesses in several aspects. First, there’s the issue of supporting mobile workers and attempting to have a unified strategy for all employees. Also, for branch offices, we foresee a day when office complexes may no longer have copper-based telephony access as a viable option.

In the next newsletter, we’ll examine some of the alternatives to copper-based services.

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Jim Metzler is vice president of Ashton, Metzler & Associates.