Yes "dark" is the right term. It means no telco is lighting it with their SONET or whatever equipment and then selling me a managed service. We have 20-year rights to several strands of actual glass end-to-end which we can light with whatever we want. We could send morse code by flashlight (torch for the bloody UK poster:-) but instead we chose to start with 10 gigabit Ethernet.
I think the term you are looking for describing previsouly laid and unproductive fiber is "distressed assets.";-)
Despite the fact that several bidders offered to lease us their unused installed fiber we got a better price, better engineering, and better quality of fiber (SMF28e low water peak) by having brand new fiber installed. I have a map that shows me exactly where my fiber goes. (No, I can't share it with you.)
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Yes "dark" is the right term. It means no telco is lighting it with their SONET or whatever equipment and then selling me a managed service. We have 20-year rights to several strands of actual glass end-to-end which we can light with whatever we want. We could send morse code by flashlight (torch for the bloody UK poster:-) but instead we chose to start with 10 gigabit Ethernet. I think the term you are looking for describing previsouly laid and unproductive fiber is "distressed assets." ;-)
Actually, mostly high-end music lessons: http://www.columbia.edu/acis/networks/advanced/
Despite the fact that several bidders offered to lease us their unused installed fiber we got a better price, better engineering, and better quality of fiber (SMF28e low water peak) by having brand new fiber installed. I have a map that shows me exactly where my fiber goes. (No, I can't share it with you.)