he switch from copper to fiber cabling. Battery Backup for Homes Connected to Fiber The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires providers that transition to fiber from copper cabling in neighborhoods to offer in-home battery backup gear. This requirement is meant to ensure that residents such as the disabled or elderly are able to reach 911, police and fire departments, and healthcare facilities during power outages. An example of battery backup equipment for residential customers is containers with www.TechnicalPDF.com 12 D-Cell alkaline batteries. The battery backup devices are connected to optical network terminals. The backup generally provides eight hours of talk time during power outages. The customer is responsible for changing batteries about once a year when they wear down and lose charging ability. The Economics of Fiber to Large Apartment Buildings and Enterprises In contrast to the last-mile networks in residential areas, many of which are made up of twisted-pair copper or hybrid fiber/coaxial, cable TV providers and traditional telephone companies lay fiber to their large business customers. This is because the expense of supplying fiber cable to office and apartment buildings with multiple tenants can be spread across many customers. In addition, fiber is required to handle the large amounts of data traffic that enterprise customers generate. Passive Optical Networks Telephone companies and cable operators install Passive Optical Networks (PONs) to lower the cost of deploying fiber-optic cabling directly to residential and small business customers. Cost savings are achieved by sharing the capacity of single strands of fiber among multiple homes and small businesses. Sharing Fiber Capacity-PON Architecture PON technologies are a less costly way to deploy fiber because the devices, splitters, in the neighborhoods are small and passive. They don't require electricity and can be mounted directly on utility poles or in existing equipment cabinets. Fewer cable runs are required from the central o