Back in the day...
I remember back in the 80s when an outfit called, I think, Videotron were laying cable out in South-East London like it was going out of fashion, partly because they'd sewn up a deal with local councils to grant access to council-owned land to lay the aforementioned cable.
As part of the deal, all council tenants were offered cheap access to this facility and so one day, we had a visit from the Videotron sales rep. In breathless tones, we were assured that this new service was carried entirely on fibre-optic cable right up to the TV set. Ever the salesmen, the paid monkey in a suit even handed me an example foot-long length of this wondrous "fibre-optic cable" as an example of what would soon be carrying a plethora of TV channels and other services into the comfort of my own home.
A cursory examination of said cable revealed it to be nothing more than yer bog-standard 75 ohm copper coax. When called out on this aspect, the little salesman ensured me that I was mistaken and that, in fact, it was proper fibre-optic. I then went out to my bits-and-pieces cupboard, pulled out a 50m cable drum of 75 ohm copper coax I had knocking around (as you do), plonked it in front of him and said (in the most sarcastic tone I could muster), "Oh, really!..."
I lost count of the various shades of red his face ran through over the next 20 seconds...
=:~)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
