Re: Internet Via Electric Lines?

> Ian Sparkes <ian.sparkes@t-online.de>

> Peter wrote:
> >[...] Putting a few optical
> >fibers into a power line is cheap, easy, and widely done.
> 
> But much cheaper and easier is using the signalling gulleys that run 
> along the side of the railways - no High Tension precautions, no 
> scaling pylons. This, incidently is the reason that a number of 
> telecomms consortia (in europe, at least) include a railway element - 
> they provide the long-haul backbone.

It looks like we're seeing different parts of the problem. You're 
worried about the long-haul backbone. I'm trying to see ways to
get a 10Gbps fibre into my living room.

The backbone cost is a tiny fraction of the cost of getting fiber
into every house in the country. 
 
> [...]
> >Also, employees have to be trained to splice optical fibers and
> >install routing equipment, and millions of miles of power lines and
> >hundreds of millions of junctions need to be replaced or reworked.
> 
> And that's the 'cheap & easy' mentioned above?

Building a few optical fibers into a cable as it is being 
manufactured is cheap and easy, as is using fiber-equipped
cable if you are installing new lines, or replacing old ones
for other reasons (installation costs are usually far higher 
than the cost of the line itself). It's hooking up all the 
fibers into a meaningful network that gets expensive, 
which was my point.

Peter Trei

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Cees de Groot (cg@evrl.xs4all.nl) wrote :

> In the Netherlands, every house is hooked to the natural gas network. I've
> heard rumours about them guys testing literally blowing fiber into your
> house through the gas pipes (hook fiber to a shuttle, let it loose - gas
> pressure does the rest). Never heard how they're gonna do the steering on
> junctions, though...

That's not too difficult. There have small Robots for i.e. investigating
Tubes with a Camera, sealing Leaks,etc.
The smallest Tube Diameter they can reach with a Camera is 
2,5 inch, given that there are no Curves.

regards
Thorsten


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In <199710081601.JAA15326@toad.com> Peter Trei wrote:
>
>It looks like we're seeing different parts of the problem. You're 
>worried about the long-haul backbone. I'm trying to see ways to
>get a 10Gbps fibre into my living room.
>
In the Netherlands, every house is hooked to the natural gas network. I've
heard rumours about them guys testing literally blowing fiber into your
house through the gas pipes (hook fiber to a shuttle, let it loose - gas
pressure does the rest). Never heard how they're gonna do the steering on
junctions, though...

Welcome to the brave new world - I envision utility companies literally
running down your front door for the privilege of being allowed to hook
your house to their 10Gbps network :-)


-- 
Cees de Groot               http://pobox.com/~cg         <cg@pobox.com>
               Photo pages: http://pobox.com/~cg/photo
          Yashica SLR List: http://pobox.com/~cg/photo/yashica

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An entity claiming to be Cees de Groot wrote:

: In the Netherlands, every house is hooked to the natural gas network. I've
: heard rumours about them guys testing literally blowing fiber into your
: house through the gas pipes (hook fiber to a shuttle, let it loose - gas
: pressure does the rest). Never heard how they're gonna do the steering on
: junctions, though...

Or how they plan on doing it without filling up the target domicile with
lots of stinky gas.

Doc

- -- 
[] Mark Rogaski                   "That which does not kill me
[] wendigo@pobox.com                 only makes me stranger."

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On Wed, 8 Oct 1997, Peter Trei wrote:

> It looks like we're seeing different parts of the problem. You're 
> worried about the long-haul backbone. I'm trying to see ways to
> get a 10Gbps fibre into my living room.
> 
> The backbone cost is a tiny fraction of the cost of getting fiber
> into every house in the country. 
>  
> Building a few optical fibers into a cable as it is being 
> manufactured is cheap and easy, as is using fiber-equipped
> cable if you are installing new lines, or replacing old ones
> for other reasons (installation costs are usually far higher 
> than the cost of the line itself). It's hooking up all the 
> fibers into a meaningful network that gets expensive, 
> which was my point.

Practically speaking, using the cable TV infrastructure looks much more
promising than the power grid.  Pros: 

- already available in many major urban centres = less retrofit
- theoretical 30Mbps transmission rate (not fibre, but still pretty good)

Cons:

- lack of standardisation / compatibility for the modems themselves 
(bleeding edge technology, surprise surprise)
- little choice for your ISP
- you may have to buy cable service along with the Internet connectivity

Cynthia
===============================================================
		   Cynthia H. Brown, P.Eng.
E-mail:     cynthb@iosphere.net  | PGP Key:  See Home Page
Home Page:  http://www.iosphere.net/~cynthb/
Junk mail will be ignored in the order in which it is received.

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At 3:29 pm -0400 on 10/8/97, Cees de Groot wrote:


> Never heard how they're gonna do the steering on
> junctions, though...

Easy. Just look down the fiber and steer it. :-).

To pun something from the pipline biz, pigs *can* fly...

Cheers,
Bob

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