UK's H2O Networks - Sewage over Fiber

Via ITNews.com.au -

A web connection via the toilet bowl may sound like Google's most recent April Fool, but the University of Aberdeen plans to welcome students back with a high bandwidth internet network connected via the sewers.

The university tapped H2O Networks to provide a high capacity link for the next 10 years, enabling students to access the internet from their halls of residence.

H2O Networks is a deploying dark fibre in the UK's waste water network to enable connectivity to those who have limited access. The network is known as 'fibre via the sewer'.

Garry Wardrope, network services manager at the University of Aberdeen, said: "Making university life as rich as possible for our students is the main aim of everything we do.

"When embarking on our 'internet to room' project we wanted a cost-effective method that would offer the kind of bandwidth students demand when researching for course projects or writing their dissertations."

As existing networks become increasingly congested with more cable types, it has become difficult for network companies to find new pathways.

The H2O Networks development allows universities to use the sewers to set up their own secure IT and telecoms network, rather than the traditional disruptive method of digging up roads.

The deployment process is a least 80 percent faster than traditional methods, resulting in operational networks within weeks rather than months.

Every city and town has ready-made ducts that can be used without causing disruption, the company said.

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While this might work on a small scale and in limited scope, I have a problem with laying wires in a sewer environment. Environmental conditions in the sewer systems are not exactly ideal from a networking standpoint. They are dark, wet and full of crap...seriously. All types of animals are running around....some of which might chew on cables, etc.

And lets not forgot why we created sewers in the first place - to carry sewage and not fiber cables. In a very large scale, the amount of wires might even reduce the capacity of the sewage system itself. This is very unlikely, but possible if the practice isn't checked in some manner.

Perhaps I am just overreacting, but I think this is just a shitty idea.