Abstract: In a method of administering a telephone local loop plant, a substantial portion--preferably at or above 80%--of the existing narrowband plant is caused to be "dedicated," so that constituent segments of an existing local loop therewithin are not allowed to be used to form other local loops when the existing loop is taken out of service. The remainder of the narrowband plant--the "non-dedicated" plant--is used to fill subscriber current orders for new service. Administration of the narrowband plant that has been dedicated is given over to an administrative system that is deployed to administer broadband facilities within the local loop plant. In preferred embodiment, the local loop plant is upgraded from narrowband to broadband in a way which gives priority to those geographical areas for which the costs of maintaining the narrowband plant are the greatest. The method, overall, provides a mechanism for reducing the costs associated with administering all of the narrowband plant using the legacy systems.

Abstract: The present invention is an efficient method for upgrading telephone networks having a large number of copper wire pairs 31 that extend from a telephone central office 300 to a predetermined number of telephone customers 250. Such networks are referred to as narrowband communication networks. However, for telephone companies to be competitive with cable television providers who may soon be offering telephone service, they must upgrade their narrowband networks to handle video communication signals such as CATV. This is done in an efficient multi-step process keeping in mind the eventual network configuration. During the first step, optical cable 21 is installed between the telephone office and a remote terminal 310; and digital loop carrier (DLC) equipment 201,202 is connected at each end. The DLC equipment is suitable for audio but not video communication signals. Thereafter, the DLC equipment is replaced at the telephone central office and at the remote terminal with broadband access (BA) equipment 203,204.