DISQUS

Ben Smith · 1 year ago

I love the idea - after some recent problems the existing providers of these types of services (yes, I'm looking at you BTOpenreach and Verizon) need a kick in the pants.

I wonder if they're large enough to be relied on for high availability services? There are some chaps digging up the road outside our office today, which means our link will probably go titsup later... would I need to be similarly concerned if one of the team had a bad curry and headed toilet-wards? :-)

thehotaisle · 1 year ago

Hi Ewan,

Yes a very interesting idea putting fiber in sewers (I always said there was Brass in Muck!). I remember in my days at Esso Petroleum we took a call about doing something similar with Esso's national pipeline (that distributes petrol and diesel to all of the Fuel Terminals that the tankers then use to deliver locally to petrol stations). Great concept but failed at the first hurdle when we told the interested party that we sent robotic devices up the pipes to scrape the sides and keep them clean and free flowing!

I understand that Thames Water do much the same thing to clear up the unmentionable things that folk flush into the sewer that do cause blockages. I just can't believe that you asked me to comment on such a disgusting topic!

I can just imagine the story now:

"UK businesses terrorized by sewage eating robot"

Steve