This is a small section of a 3600 pair telephone cable. This is what is installed in the manholes from the telephone company out to the local subscribers. It may start at this high amount of pairs then cascade down to smaller cables until it gets out to each of our houses. By that time it may be down to a 25 pair cable, depending on how many houses are in our neighborhood. Most new homes have a 5 pair cable buried to the house, with only one or two pairs actually connected to the main cable. Each pair can carry multiple signals but typically carries one telephone number for each pair. With todays technology one pair can carry your regular telephone line and your DSL.