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'The benefit of switching off copper networks is that this may further incentivise investment by operators to increase coverage of non-copper networks, and also act as a spur to replace last-mile copper networks, or allow substitution with mobile or fixed wireless services.,' it went on.

Engineering experts over at 911 Metallurgist, with some help from the designers at Neomammalian Studios, break down the innards of smartphones and how much the raw metals are worth.

Low-Voltage Cables "Transmission and Distribution Electrical Engineering" breaks down transmission and distribution cables into five separate categories. The most basic category is "low voltage." This includes cables used for telephone wires, as well as fire-retarded and resistant cables. These cables have the lowest maximum voltage of the four groups, ranging from 50 to 1,000 volts. Medium-Voltage Cables Medium-voltage cables --- which have a maximum capacity ranging from three to 7.2 kilovolts --- are the next class of transmission and distribution lines. These cables are typically used for solid dielectric and MI/MIND purposes. High-Voltage Cables The third class of transmission and distribution cables is high voltage. These power lines can carry a maximum voltage capacity of 10 to 150 kilovolts. While these cables can be used for the same purposes as low- and medium-voltage cables, their higher threshold makes them less cost-efficient than lower-grade wires. The main purposes of high-voltage wires include oil-filled cables, as well as gas-pressure or gas-insulated ducts. Very High-Voltage Cables Like medium- and high-voltage cables, very high-voltage lines are used for solid dielectric, oil-filled and gas-insulated ducts, but in situations where a higher maximum voltage is required. These cables have a maximum capacity of 150 to 300 kilovolts. Because of their very high-voltage capacity, these are typically transmission lines and not distribution lines.

Bell Labs is back, recently setting a new world record of 10 gigabit per second over existing copper wires. Why is this important? Because it solves the fiber-to-residence problem. Fiber cables for high-speed Internet services are being laid all throughout the country and world, but at a relatively slow rate due to the "curb-to-residence" problem. Many home owners are reluctant to let their lawns be dug up to lay fiber from the curb to the house, and many Internet providers are reluctant to incur the cost. Now Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs (Murray Hill, New Jersey) has a invented a solution -- a method of running 1-to-10 gigabit per second broadband signals from the curb to the residence using the existing copper telephone lines already there.