It's not Cleveland.
A lot of people would be surprised at the age of a lot of what phone companies refer to as the "out door plant". Very rarely is it replaced. A lot of the cable used can last a hundred years. Even the fiber added in the last couple of decades usually goes to existing phone central offices. A lot central offices are older than most of the people reading this are. The "average" central office is above the 100 year flood plain and is usually built to withstand almost anything mother nature can dish out. Of course central offices have been expanded but parts can be still be 50+ years old. Most central offices have battery and generator back up. The Telcos still provide a lot of the connecting T1 or T3's for cell towers too. There are some cell companies that used microwave to link up their sites but still they have to tie into the existing phone network at some point. So most likely your phone, cell phone, internet, T1, ISDN, and internet connection goes to a phone company central office or the cable company version at some point. Most of the phone company central offices traditionally had more redundancy than cable operators, but cable companies have really upgraded their sites now that that they are in the phone business too. State regulators can cause a PR and sometime legal nightmare if a wired phone provider system fails to switch a 911 call.
From personal experience, most large central office outages are caused by human error. Either someone working on the central offices's power made a mistake, construction workers accidentally damages a cable(s) or cable vault, or a soft ware update was not properly tested or installed. So far the hackers have not figured out how to bring down the internet. Give them time they will.
A lot of people would be surprised at the age of a lot of what phone companies refer to as the "out door plant". Very rarely is it replaced. A lot of the cable used can last a hundred years. Even the fiber added in the last couple of decades usually goes to existing phone central offices. A lot central offices are older than most of the people reading this are. The "average" central office is above the 100 year flood plain and is usually built to withstand almost anything mother nature can dish out. Of course central offices have been expanded but parts can be still be 50+ years old. Most central offices have battery and generator back up. The Telcos still provide a lot of the connecting T1 or T3's for cell towers too. There are some cell companies that used microwave to link up their sites but still they have to tie into the existing phone network at some point. So most likely your phone, cell phone, internet, T1, ISDN, and internet connection goes to a phone company central office or the cable company version at some point. Most of the phone company central offices traditionally had more redundancy than cable operators, but cable companies have really upgraded their sites now that that they are in the phone business too. State regulators can cause a PR and sometime legal nightmare if a wired phone provider system fails to switch a 911 call.
From personal experience, most large central office outages are caused by human error. Either someone working on the central offices's power made a mistake, construction workers accidentally damages a cable(s) or cable vault, or a soft ware update was not properly tested or installed. So far the hackers have not figured out how to bring down the internet. Give them time they will.
