pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| Gas Companies Smart to Avoid This
Natural Gas providers already make a pretty penny selling a product using older infrastructure. They enjoy a natural monopoly and steady stream of revenue. Upgrading their infrastructure to provide broadband service not only requires a significant upfront cost in terms of investment, but there is no guarantee that it will actually succeed.
--
Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
|
Bobcat
Premium
join:2001-02-04
Bedminster, NJ
1 edit | Plastic gas pipes
EDIT: The article says this works with plastic gas pipes. Is the plastic conductive? |
|
Semi751
join:2006-01-03
Waddy, KY | Interesting idea but I don't quite understand how it would work. It seems an idea worth testing, who know it may be in norm in another 15 years. |
|
BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Maybe these are the TUBES Senator Stevens was talking about. |
|
adams_aj
join:2004-08-31
Smithville, MO | Propane Tank
Maybe they can fill up my propane tank with "internet"--the ultimate caching technology! |
|
StEaLtHBuNnY
join:2002-10-12
Bergenfield, NJ | lol that would be hot |
|
aztecnology
O Rly?
Premium
join:2003-02-12
Murrieta, CA | reply to pnh102
Re: Gas Companies Smart to Avoid This
Sounds like another pipe dream... |
|
vpoko
Premium
join:2003-07-03
Jamaica Plain, MA
| reply to Bobcat
Re: Plastic gas pipes
said by Bobcat  :EDIT: The article says this works with plastic gas pipes. Is the plastic conductive? It doesn't have to be, the technology doesn't send an electrical signal along the pipe, it sends an RF signal *inside* the pipe, with the pipe acting as a waveguide. |
|
AdamD
join:2002-01-09
Maspeth, NY | reply to StEaLtHBuNnY
Re: Propane Tank
ROFLMAO, it's not even April 1st yet... say "vapor" he, he, he...
|
|
herdfan
Premium
join:2003-01-25
Hurricane, WV | Plastic pipe issues
I work in the natural gas industry and there is not a utility I know of that is 100% plastic. There are sections of steel intermingled with plastic. So if it won't work through steel, it will be many years before it will work in this country. |
|
russotto
join:2000-10-05
Collegeville, PA | reply to vpoko
Re: Plastic gas pipes
Plastic won't work as a waveguide. |
|
Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY
 ·Qwest.net
2 edits | reply to Bobcat
WVG, Wireless Via GAS |
--
The older I get the more I prefer the company of my dogs over that of man kind. |
|
MrBradTX
join:2001-05-23
Carrollton, TX
·RoadRunner Cable
| this reminds me...
...of when the energy bubble was beginning to pop in the mid-1980s. I was working for a regional LD at the time (which has long since been gobbled into the belly of the beast). Some gas pipeline companies (*cough* Williams *cough*) discovered they could earn more money by stringing fiber through their pipeline network, than by pumping gas through it. Poof, near-instant fiber network connecting major cities.  |
|
ARGONAUT
got ping?
join:2006-01-24
New Albany, IN | reply to Transmaster
Re: Plastic gas pipes
"Whiff-WiFi"
I think there using the plastic as jacketing to stop signal bleeding like coaxial cable. |
|
Oleg
Bellsouth Fastaccess
Premium
join:2003-12-08
Birmingham, AL | Re: Broadband in Gas Lines
How about water  |
|
op
join:2005-07-16
Smyrna, DE | Router Bomb
Im not too keen on having my internet go up in smoke. I could understand about going threw power lines I dont know about gas. Maybe the idea might blow up or fart on. |
|
furlonium
Computer Over? Virus equals Very Yes?
join:2002-05-08
Bethlehem, PA | Food!
Why does my pirated copy of Beerfest smell like fried onions and eggs? |
|
Skeebo7
join:2004-11-09
Duluth, GA
| reply to pnh102
Re: Gas Companies Smart to Avoid This
Hmmm... (insert dreamy music and wavy/fuzzy video effects)
"Honey, could you PLEASE hurry up with cooking dinner and get the kids to stop running the bath.... I've got to get online and you guys are hogging bandwidth"
As for the technology itself... is there anything about the properties of methane that are conductive? How about methane plus an additive? |
|
Bobcat
Premium
join:2001-02-04
Bedminster, NJ | reply to ARGONAUT
Re: Plastic gas pipes
I found out that plastic gas pipes are supposed to have a wire running alongside them, so the utility location folks can find the line. They must be using the wire to send the signal. |
|
hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium
join:2005-06-29
clubs: | reply to Oleg
Re: Broadband in Gas Lines
That would be watered down internet then..:D |
|
