From the telephone pole, the fiber optic cable goes to the ONT (Optical Network Termination) box. This box contains all the logic to decode the optical signal into my telephone line and the ethernet data line. Although it is not obvious from the photo, this box is about a foot wide, 18" high, and a foot deep! Since there is no copper wire going from my house to the central office, the box has to power my phone system, as well as doing the ringing.