Re: [PLUG] Verizon FIOS..Any thoughts?

["William H. Magill" <magill@mcgillsociety.org>]

On 22 Jul, 2006, at 12:51, Matt Ayres wrote:
> Douglas Muth wrote:
> > > From what I
> > > understand from someone who works with Verizon since it is fiber  
> > > it is
> > > run in rings meaning even if a tree knocks out the line service  
> > > is not
> > > interrupted. It is also glass so animals will not chew it.
> > Never underestimate the power of a backhoe.
>
> That reminds me of the sysadmins two natural enemies.
>
> 1. The user.
> 2. The backhoe.
>
> Like I said though, fiber is always run in rings (think: token  
> ring) so even if a backhoe cuts the fiber 100ft from me I'll just  
> go around the other side of the ring. I'm not entirely sure how  
> Verizon is going to do this in some areas, but I know where we are  
> located it appears we're on the cusp of 2 rings so I'm feeling  
> pretty safe :)  Of course Comcast business is kept as a backup.  I  
> was going to attempt to do "poor mans" load balancing, but the FIOS  
> beats it hands down. Now it's working in a primary/secondary config.

This "double ring" concept gives everyone a very false sense of  
security.
It was designed to apply to electronics failures, not physical circuits.
Sales added the "physical redundancy" stuff to what engineering had  
designed.
While "technically" not untrue, the physical redundancy requires  
significant explicit action (significant additional expense) far  
beyond what is required for the "electronics redundancy."

In reality, this redundancy is only available when the two rings  
travel in separate physical paths -- which is rarely the case unless  
you pay mucho-bucks and get it written into your contract.

For any local loop, the two rings are carried in the same physical  
fibre ribbon.
So, the probability of you staying up with a backhoe cut 100 feet  
from you is pretty slim.

Network topology is a fun problem, too often ignored.

T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
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magill@mcgillsociety.org
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