Outside Plant Outside plant is the network of cables, poles, conduit, feeder cable, distribution cable, terminals, aerial and drop wire, and fiber optics that interconnects CO's and connects from the local CO to the home or customer. The local loop or last mile is the link between the CO and the customer. The local loop is mainly made up of twisted-pair copper wire. Twisted-pair cables are classified by the wire gauge and the number of pairs within the sheath. The sizes vary from 1 pair to 3,600 pair. Wire gauges 19, 22, 24, 26 are used in the loop plant. The cost of the wire determines the use of the smallest wire possible with the best results. In other words smaller