Broadband over Gas

The new last-mile competitor?

[trillianjedi]

You've heard of broadband over powerlines right?

How about this one, quite a novel idea, broadband sent through a gas pipe:-

[nethercomm.com...]

[MatthewHSE]

terabit wireless link

Wow. Is it really safe to run that much data through a pipe filled with a highly explosive item? ;)

Of course, it's overkill for the vast majority of applications, since I can't imagine a webserver that would actually deliver that kind of bandwidth to a single connection.

[Brett_Tabke]

That's awesome. They could feed a neighborhood with a Terrabit per second. Most cable providers do half a terra bit to neighborhoods now.

[mcavic]

BiG technology uses carrier-free wireless radio frequency (RF) transmission similar to a conventional radio station broadcasting through the atmosphere.
BiG signals travel through the hollow center of existing NG distribution pipes like a coaxial cable, with the gas being the conductive private atmosphere.

Wow, quite interesting.

[Murdoch]

This could have major implications to the whole Net Neutrality fiasco

[DamonHD]

Hi,

I think that we've been here before with Internet over powerlines, etc.

Utility companies!= natural/good ISPs, just for a start. Nor is supplying wholesale IP bandwidth a core skill/activity. Heck, the telcos find it hard to make this a core skill!

Except in a small number of cases there are already several cost-effective "last-mile" technical solutions, some of which right now struggle to compete with boring old cable/xDSL.

Rgds

Damon

[mrjohncory]

The Internet really will be "a series of tubes."

[lawman]

Sounds like a connection would really cook.

[lexipixel]

hmmmm... NG as a conductor?

...I wonder if Methane is too --- if so, then we put RJ-45 or coax connectors on every toilet connected to municipal sewer lines... (phoning patent attorney before I lose my train of thought)...

Now, how to convert all that waste into content....

[LifeinAsia]

Now, how to convert all that waste into content....

No need- much of the content out there already is waste.

[mcavic]

NG as a conductor?
...I wonder if Methane is too

NG is Methane, isn't it? It probably has to be concentrated and pressurized, though. And a conductor of RF, not electricity.

much of the content out there already is waste

So true.

[donpps]

auuggghhhhh, what is that smelll .. oh its ms hilton over the broadband oven honey ....:)

Sounds like a neat idea .. too many variables though ..

Anything to bring to cost of broadband down and I am all for it.

D

[incrediBILL]

Gas broadband sounds like an opportunity just waiting to explode onto the market!

"honey, do you smell something? I think the internet is leaking again..."

[incrediBILL]

Or better yet...

"Honey, can you turn the heat down? I'm trying to watch a broadband movie"

[KenB]

This would mean that Senator Ted Stevens was right and the Internet really was a series interconnected of pipes!

[incrediBILL]

Told a friend of mine about this and he just said...

"a massive explosion devasted several blocks in the silicon valley when hackers tried to tap into west coast info superhighway..."

[FourDegreez]

I think the internet has now jumped the shark...

[incrediBILL]

Forbes has an article about this titled:

"How To Use Your Oven To Surf The Web"
[forbes.com...]

[davidzhawk]

Wasn't this the concept behind Enron Broadband?

[incrediBILL]

Wasn't this the concept behind Enron Broadband?

No, the Enron Broadband concept was to resell you your existing broadband connection and make you pay again for what you already have, like they did to Grey Davis with electricity and left California sitting in the dark.

[cgcody]

Vehicles running on vegetable oil and internet through natural gas. All that's left is to stop making so many damn phone books and we can then put on our tie-dye shirts and start singing kumbaya. :D

[mcavic]

"a massive explosion devasted several blocks in the silicon valley when hackers tried to tap into west coast info superhighway..."

That reminds me of a guy I used to have for a neighbor in my apartment building. He built up his storage unit into a pretty nice workshop. He told me that he tapped into a live wire to get power. Then he said he was thinking about setting up his own washer and dryer in his other storage unit... "All I have to do is hook into this gas line here..."

[Powdork]

I wonder if Methane is too

Does this mean that cows are now wifi hotspots?

What will all the copper thieves do?

[KenB]

Does this mean that cows are now wifi hotspots?

What will all the copper thieves do?

I guess they'll have to start squeezing the crap out of cows.

[DamonHD]

Hi,

I wouldn't like to be ANYWHERE NEAR an Internet Exchange for one of these systems. Definitely no naked flames allowed...

And does this mean that the new Internet congestion will be ... constipation?

Rgds

Damon

[Murdoch]

I guess they'll have to start squeezing the crap out of cows.

Hahahaha KenB you crack me up sometimes.

There's gotta be a cow-tipping joke in here somewhere...

Seriously though I find it hard to believe that a signal could remain strong and unfragmented in a system like this. But technology has surprised me before!

[BillyS]

Even if it works, it's too little too late. You're going to have to force natural gas distribution companies or this will never happen. Why in the world would a distribution company agree to this? It's just one hastle they don't need.

[incrediBILL]

You're going to have to force natural gas distribution companies or this will never happen.

These guys are looking for new ways to expand their profit margin so dangling a carrot in front of their face is probably sufficient arm twisting.

Besides, if I understand the technology, they install a WIFI connection at a logical place on the pipeline and don't actually tap into pipes located in peoples houses which makes the cost of implementation a lot cheapr and a lot safer.

[BillyS]

>>These guys are looking for new ways to expand their profit margin so dangling a carrot in front of their face is probably sufficient arm twisting.

That's not how it works - they could care less about carrots. And they could care less about profit margins.

Most Local Distribution Companies in the US are regulated. They have allowed rates of return. Any money they make would be returned to ratepayers and simply act to lower their distribution charges.

It's simply not worth the hastle. Oh, and yes I worked in the rates department for a very large electric and gas company...

[Powdork]

Perhaps the regulators of the cable regulators and the gas regulators and the telcom regulators could create the legislation to mandate the cooperation of the utilities.

you know what happens when water and sewer get involved too?
We switch to Wireless^PEE

[edited by: Powdork at 6:19 am (utc) on Sep. 25, 2006]