A line-testing system is invaluable in reducing costs and improving service/increasing revenue. Some of the RTU's features are more beneficial to ILECs; some are especially helpful to CLECs.

When a loop becomes unbundled, it represents a flat revenue base for the ILEC and control of maintenance costs becomes critical. The RTUs help ILECs in several ways. With unbundled loops, all the ILECs' existing test devices become unusable; in such important areas as line conditioning, trouble administration, proactive scanning, etc., traditional methods no longer work. RTUs reduce ILEC costs by reducing dispatches; faults are identified accurately, and technicians can be dispatched only when and where they are needed. RTUs also enable the ILECs to guarantee their customers improved service by testing loops at the conclusion of installation. In addition, RTUs help ILECs conserve capital resources, so new plant is added only when necessary.

RTUs benefit CLECs, too. Like the ILECs, they test so they do not have to dispatch on every call. With RTUs they can operate their considerable quantity of remote DLCs more efficiently. They can find out how good the loop is, and prove the loop can carry ISDN. They also can gather the necessary data to show an ILEC that its loop is the problem in a particular situation.

What is the future of the unbundled loop? Customer expectations of telephone services on this segment will continue to rise. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 will probably continue to spawn new applications that require sophisticated testing of the unbundled loop.