Rick Farris <rfarris@rfengr.com> (06/09/91)
I may be moving my office soon, and because I entertain fantasies of my own leased line connection to the Internet, I'd like to move right next door to my CO. Easier said than done. I live in a small (5k) suburb of San Diego, and I *know* that I have a CO inside the town limits. I even know it's a 1AESS. (619/259) For some reason or other, TPC considers the physical location of its plants to be some kind of top secret information -- probably so that saboteurs won't come ashore and blow them up. I used to think I knew approximately where the CO was, but there's been a fair amount of building in the last five years, and the other day when I went to hunt it down (after the business office wouldn't tell me where it is) I couldn't find it. I tried following lines, but Del Mar is about half underground and half above ground, so everytime I thought the wires looked like they were getting fat, they would dive underground. Not only that, people were looking at me funny as I drove my motorcycle down the street gazing into the sky. After the third near miss I decided to call it a day. So, is there some physical clue (besides fat wires) that I could look for? I know to look for short fat brick buildings. Anything else? Does someone archive addresses of CO's? Rick Farris RF Engineering POB M Del Mar, CA 92014 voice (619) 259-6793 rfarris@rfengr.com ...!ucsd!serene!rfarris serenity bbs 259-7757 [Moderator's Note: And wouldn't it be a pity if after all the time you spent looking you found there was no space available for rent anywhere within a close distance, or the rent was too high, etc. :) PAT]
Syd Weinstein <syd@dsi.com> (06/12/91)
Rick Farris <rfarris@rfengr.com> writes: > I may be moving my office soon, and because I entertain fantasies of > my own leased line connection to the Internet, I'd like to move right > next door to my CO. Doing so may not save you very much. You'd have to not only move next to the CO, but next to the POP for your local Internet carrier. The leased lines used by the TCP/IP vendors are charged on a termination plus milage basis from the POP to your site. Generally there is only one POP for the TCP/IP network in your area. And the termination charges far outweigh the milage charge. You won't save much... Sydney S. Weinstein, CDP, CCP Elm Coordinator Datacomp Systems, Inc. Voice: (215) 947-9900 syd@DSI.COM or dsinc!syd FAX: (215) 938-0235
Jim.Redelfs@uunet.uu.net> (06/14/91)
Rick Farris wrote: [Trying to locate his local Central Office building - to no avail] Stop a phone truck and ask the driver. They all know where they are. In Omaha, I wouldn't have any "problem" telling someone where the CO is. In fact, to impress a customer with how FAR their line runs to the CO, I frequently tell them WHERE the CO is! "My" CO is located on the main highway through Elkhorn (Omaha CDO) and is clearly marked with a large Bell logo. Occasionally, a local customer will knock on the door in the morning, while I'm in there wiring on the MDF, and report their trouble directly to me! Ahhhhh! SmallTown PhoneMan. I love it! JR Tabby 2.2 MacNetOmaha(402)289-2899 Multitasking w/MacOrphans (1:285/14)
Macy Hallock <macy@fmsys.uucp> (06/15/91)
In article <telecom11.448.9@eecs.nwu.edu>: > I may be moving my office soon, and because I entertain fantasies of > my own leased line connection to the Internet, I'd like to move right > next door to my CO. Comment: In most areas, the rate you pay for a circuit will not be reduced by living next to the CO. In some areas, circuits are costed by the length, but usually that's only between CO's, and the local end of the circuit is at a flat rate. I'll say that I'm not familiar with CA tarriffs, but I've done my share of work with AT&T facilities. Now, living next to the CO may have other advantages: - The phone company is far less likely to delay the circuit due to unavailable local facilities. - Transmission problems due to poor local loop design may be less likely. - Finding a CO repairman may be easier (just provide the coffee...) - Reliablility may be better, since there is no local loop to go bad... I don't think you are going to save much money, though. In fact, you might even have to reduce the levels on your modem due to abnormally high loop current and 0db loss to the CO! I've had to modify several telephone systems and a couple of modems to increase loss when they were within a couple of blocks of the CO. > I live in a small (5k) suburb of San Diego, and I *know* that I have a > CO inside the town limits. I even know it's a 1AESS. (619/259) For > some reason or other, TPC considers the physical location of its > plants to be some kind of top secret information -- probably so that > saboteurs won't come ashore and blow them up. Could be. In Ohio, the PUCO requires exchange area maps to be published as part of the telco's tariff. Inspection of these is as simple as going to a telco business office and asking ... it is required by the PUCO to be publicly available. Many libraries have tariff info also. But ... there's a hitch! I have found several exchange areas in which the telco has consolidated two central offices into one ... and the maps still show the old CO's! I asked the PUCO what the story was ... and was told that these consolidations were done at telco discretion, so the CO's still existed at their old location for rate/area purposes. The telco would eventually have to file for permission to redefine the CO locations for ratemaking purposes, but that was generally done only when the tariff was to be given a major overhaul ... about every ten years or more. > I used to think I knew approximately where the CO was, but there's > been a fair amount of building in the last five years, and the other > day when I went to hunt it down (after the business office wouldn't > tell me where it is) I couldn't find it. Look for brick buildings, kinda square, usually one story, with no windows ... the older buldings for SxS were usually two or three story in larger areas and did have windows ... these were usually in downtown areas .... or ask a craftsman. > Rick Farris RF Engineering POB M Del Mar, CA 92014 voice (619) 259-6793 > rfarris@rfengr.com ...!ucsd!serene!rfarris serenity bbs 259-7757 Well, there's the problem ... Rick's a radio person and just cannot understand the world of 600 pair cables and ten mile long copper loops! He must think all those wires on the poles are just HF antennas! [grin] Macy M Hallock Jr N8OBG 216.725.4764 macy@fmsystm.uucp macy@fmsystm.ncoast.org [No disclaimer, but I have no real idea what I'm saying or why I'm telling you]