On Sunday, July 6, 2014 11:22:43 PM UTC-4, hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:   
      
   > The telephone cable serving our row houses was attached to the back wall,   
   with periodic junction units that had the drops to each individual house.    
   Originally it was in a lead pipe.  I remember going by about when the place   
   was about 40 years old (   
   circa 1988) and noticed the cable was replaced by a hard rubber tubing.  So, I   
   presume the cables had a finite life and were periodically replaced, though   
   after a long period of time.   
      
   Here is a google streetview of the back of the rowhouse block showing the   
   electric, phone, and cable distribution lines.  It's magnified, so it isn't   
   that sharp.   But it shows how the lines are attached to the building and the   
   drops to each house.   
      
   http://goo.gl/maps/k4i2A   
      
   If you look just above the red car you'll see a black unit attached to the   
   cable--this was the junction where a group of drops were connected to the   
   cable.   
      
   The power lines were the group of three wires at the top.   
      
   By the way, the telephone cables went underground after serving the block,  I   
   don't know if they used concentrators or not, but from a high density   
   neighborhood like this, the telephone building must have had a huge cable   
   vault.  The building serves    
   seven exchanges.   
   http://goo.gl/maps/rVJQY   
      
   For whatever reason, another telephone exchange building about a mile away is   
   apparently abandoned and up for sale:   
   http://goo.gl/maps/3XpMV   
      
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