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Wi-Fi goes underground

Would you like Wi-Fi with your gas?

That's a question Nethercomm, a San Diego company, is asking consumers. The 1.2 million miles of natural gas distribution and transmission pipelines that crisscross the United States could be used to build wireless networks, according to a study by UMR researchers.

Why go down below? The ready-made network could survive the winter storms that knock out connections by knocking down power lines. Read what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says about the project.

The Wi-Fi technology could also help protect the nation's aging pipelines by allowing robots roam the infrastructure, alerting officials to problems before they become major headaches.

Posted by Mindy Limback on February 15, 2006 in Energy & Homeland Security | | add to del.icio.us

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Comments

This is not that new of an idea and before anyone invests in it, they need to remember that a certain company that started with an E and who's principle officers are currently on trial in Houston had an idea like this called "Exxxx" Broadband which never made money.

Posted by: R Best | February 15, 2006 10:40 AM

I'm a former-Wiltel employee. Wiltel started out using oil & gas right-of-way to build its national backbone as well as "Exxxx". I would say this concept has potential that the previous ideas did not. 1) It appears to leverage existing technology. 2) It appears to require less route construction than existing fiber/wire deployment. 3) It appears to address the more costly "last mile" issue. I'll have to read the proof of concept when I get home tonight. It deserves more than a casual dismissal. -Craig Hunsicker

Posted by: Craig | February 15, 2006 01:01 PM

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