n neighborhoods, gain these advantages: Fiber cabling has more capacity than copper to support the continuing growth in broadband traffic and cloud and streaming media. Operating costs are lower because it is more efficient for providers to maintain just one type of cabling and equipment than two types of cabling. Central offices only need to be equipped with equipment that supports a single type of cabling rather than both fiber and copper. Less network equipment is required because signals on fiber travel further than those on copper cabling before deteriorating. When signals fade, equipment is required to boost signals. Power Issues-Electricity for Onsite Fiber Gear Signals carried on copper cabling are electrical pulses that transmit power from the central office along with voice and data signals to homes. This enables central offices to power plain old telephone service (POTS). Plain telephones are www.TechnicalPDF.com not plugged into home electrical outlets, and have limited features. Power delivered from central offices enable POTS phones to operate during premises' electrical outages. This is because central offices' extensive use of backup generators means for the most part they operate during power outages. Plain phones without LCD screens or most other features are the only home telephones able to function without local power if their service is connected to copper cabling. Customer premises connected to fiber cabling do lose automatic power backup on all telephones including their plain telephones. This is because the optical network terminals (ONTs) that convert fiber signals to those compatible with the copper wiring inside homes require local power. Signals on fiber cabling don't transmit power signals. They are non-electric light pulses, not the electrical signals carried on copper cabling. Given the fact that in most homes people have no landline telephone because they rely on mobile service or have "feature" phones that require local power, subscribers are often not concerned or even aware of t