Local loop: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:03, 26 February 2014

Revision as of 02:36, 28 February 2014

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Traditionally, the local loop was an [[electrical circuit]] carried by a single pair of conductors from the telephone on the customer's premises to the local [[telephone exchange]]. [[Single-wire earth return]] lines had been used until the introduction of electric tramways from the 1900s made them unusable.

Historically the first section was often an aerial open-wire line, with several conductors attached to porcelain insulators on cross-arms on "telegraph" poles. Hence [[party line (telephony)|party line]] service was often given to residential customers to minimizeminimise the number of local loops required. Usually all these circuits went into aerial or buried cables with a [[twisted pair]] for each local loop nearer the exchange, see [[outside plant]].

Modern implementations may include a [[digital loop carrier]] system segment or [[fiber optic]] transmission system. The local loop may terminate at a circuit switch owned by a [[competitive local exchange carrier]] and housed in a [[point of presence]] (POP), which typically is an incumbent local exchange carrier telephone exchange. A local loop supports voice and/or data communications applications in the following ways: