UK launches £4m fund to run fibre optic cables through water pipes:
Broadband UK launches £4m fund to run fibre optic cables through water pipes
The [UK] government has launched a £4m fund to back projects trialling running fibre optic broadband cables through water pipes to help connect hard-to-reach homes without digging up roads.
The money will also be used to test out monitors in pipes that can help water companies identify and repair leaks more quickly. About a fifth of water put into public supply every day is lost via leaks and it is hoped that sensors could help deliver water companies' commitment to reduce water loss by half.
Infrastructure works, in particular installing new ducts and poles, can make up as much as four-fifths of the costs to industry of building new gigabit-capable broadband networks, the government said.
The project is designed to help cut those costs, and is part of a plan to improve broadband and mobile signals in rural areas.
[...] Although more than 96% of UK premises already have access to superfast broadband, providing download speeds of at least 24 Mbps, according to the government, just 12% of the UK has access to faster speeds via full-fibre broadband.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 13 2021, @03:20PM (1 child)
This must be one of those bubble networks I keep hearing about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 13 2021, @10:01PM
Ah, yes. Google TiSP.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday August 13 2021, @03:39PM (2 children)
Don't they realize that this would add some measure of difficulty for the NSA to tap those cables inside a water pipe?
Why is it so difficult to break a heroine addiction?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 13 2021, @04:28PM (1 child)
Not necessary... the NSA can just tap in at the source, the backbone and the destination. If you're really worried you should stop watching CP.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 13 2021, @07:19PM
What does Chinese politics have to do with it? Is the West really becoming more authoritarian than the Chinese gov themselves that you have to worry about paying attention to China??
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 13 2021, @04:49PM (4 children)
Someone's spooge vids running through your kids' drinking water.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Tork on Friday August 13 2021, @04:50PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Friday August 13 2021, @05:47PM (2 children)
Yuck! Who drinks water, fish fuck in that stuff!
(Score: 5, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 13 2021, @06:43PM (1 child)
The only solution is to get the water boiling hot, and drip it through coffee grounds to remove the fish fuck residue.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Friday August 13 2021, @07:53PM
"There is a fish in the urn" (Twin Peaks ref.)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 13 2021, @05:17PM (2 children)
What type of plastic casing will protect it?
Will it leech into the water?
No thanks...sounds like a solution for machines not humans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 13 2021, @05:28PM
Purity Of Essence
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 13 2021, @06:28PM
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Friday August 13 2021, @07:50PM (2 children)
The test is quite simple. If a monitor function is available, cable pulling monkeys have probably mangled the pipes. Dispatch a qualified repair crew.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MostCynical on Friday August 13 2021, @09:45PM (1 child)
leaky pipes are often fixed by cutting out a section of damaged pipe.
repairs will now require two crews - one for plumbing and one to splice cables... both turning up at the right time!
Sometimes the leak is temporarily patched then fully repaired later - so the cable crew will also be required twice.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 13 2021, @11:43PM
shhh, the promise of monitoring is just how to get the fibre into the pipes. economic flowon is always a benefit.
anyway since these are difficult to reach pipes anyway, leak repair was always going to be a big job.