Local Loop Facility Tour


Telecommunication cables enter and leave the vault through conduit placed high on the back wall.  This picture shows the six conduits installed in this vault.  The vault is relatively new so only two are in use.  Even if the vault was fully loaded, there would be at least one spare conduit reserved for emergency use.  The large black cable emerging from the top right-hand corner is copper wire local distribution cable connecting to homes, businesses, schools and other locations in the neighborhood.  The smaller black cable emerging from the lower right-hand conduit contains the fiber optic cable.  All the conversations carried on the individual wires contained in the large black cable can be converted to pulses of light and transmitted to the central office over the fiber optic cable.