3.4 Overhead Infrastructure – AT&T
AT&T provides the
Town with telephone
and communications
service through a
mix of overhead
and underground
backbone coaxial trunk lines that then transition to service
lines to the building. AT&T does not readily know how many
miles of cable they have installed in the Town as the system is
very mature and most of it was constructed before verifiable
records were kept. The network is fed by three main coaxial
feeds. Two feeds are subaqueous cable crossings under the
Intracoastal Waterway and one feed is an underground duct
bank that originates south of the Town’s southern municipal
limits. It should be noted that while not necessarily providing
service to the Town, AT&T also has a trans-Atlantic cable
crossing that makes landfall within the Town.
To better understand how telephone service is delivered to
individual homes and businesses, the following is a brief
overview of the various components of the existing telephone
and communications system that exists within the Town.
Telephone and communications service enters the Town
14 | CHAPTER THREE
through one of the three main coaxial cables described
above. These cables then branch off to subsequent coaxial
cables that serve a network of Service Area Interface (SAI)
cabinets and Controlled Environment Vaults (CEV) that
provide service to many distinct service areas throughout the
Town. A significant portion of the main trunk line is already
underground with radial splices occurring in manholes along
the route. Many of the radials then transition to overhead
locations to serve area customers. The coaxial cable main
lines are routed to numerous aerial taps and ground mounted
pedestals that serve as the tapping point for individual coaxial
services to the customers.
Reference
Conversion of Aerial to Underground Utilities Analysis
by RW Beck, November 2006
The following table provides general approximate information
related to AT&T’s network within the Town based on maps
provided by AT&T and observations made by Kimley-Horn:
Table 3–3
AT&T Network Information
Number of Service Area Interfaces (SAI) 32
Number of Controlled Environment Vaults (CEV) 2
Source: AT&T
TOWN OF PALM BEACH