From: "Peter Trei" <trei@process.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 00:13:19 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Internet Via Electric Lines?
Message-ID: <199710081601.JAA15326@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> 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