Broadband Goes Down the Sewers
Broadband Goes Down the Sewers
The University of Aberdeen has a long and proud history. Founded in 1495, it is the fifth-oldest university in the UK and claims to be in the forefront of teaching and research in medicine, the humanities and sciences.
But as from September 2007, there is another reason for the University of Aberdeen to be proud: its sewage system. The university has invested in improving the broadband availability to its 13,000 students, using underground sewage pipes to carry all the necessary cables.
Before the new service was launched, a microwave link between the main campus and the student village was used to provide wireless broadband to the students living there.
However, the presence of rapidly growing trees in the area affected wireless signals. This led the university to opt for a hard-wired connection and chose H20 Network’s underground sewage system, which consisted of laying dark fibre optic cables in the sewage pipes.
This project began in June and finished in time for the students arriving back to their studies. With the 1GB sewer-enabled connection, the university will offer its own wireless broadband service to 1,700 students in the Hillhead village.
The broadband connection will be free to the point of delivery and the cost embedded in the rent. Mainstream broadband providers will not be allowed to install their own connection, which means the university will have its own network. Bandwidth will be monitored by the university to prevent students from overloading the network.
The sewage broadband project has been running in conjunction with another project to provide wireless broadband access across the university’s two campuses, using technology from wireless network specialists Trapeze. In total, across the campus and halls of residence, there will be 1,000 wireless access points.
Laptops are a lot more affordable now with around 80% of students now having access to one; therefore the investment looks to become a success. The sewage broadband infrastructure seems to be catching, with Bournemouth already laying 1,400 metres of fibre optics and Bath University looking to follow suit.
Adair Cameron is an experienced writer based in the UK
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