[LINK] Telecoms lessons learnt in the flood

[grove at zeta.org.au]

On Fri, 21 Jan 2011, Richard Chirgwin wrote:

> On 21/01/11 10:53 AM, Rachel Polanskis wrote:
>> On 21/01/2011, at 10:09 AM, "Michael Skeggs mike at bystander.net"<mskeggs at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>
>>> On 21 January 2011 09:31, Marghanita da Cruz<marghanita at ramin.com.au>wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Telecoms lessons learnt in the flood
>>>>> By David Braue, ZDNet.com.au on January 18th, 2011 (2 days ago)
>>>> ...
>>>>> What do you think? Does the demonstrated importance of wireless
>>>> strengthen the case for a wireless NBN? And will the flooding delay the NBN,
>>>> or further justify it?
>>>> <
>>>> http://www.zdnet.com.au/telecoms-lessons-learnt-in-the-flood-339308645.htm
>>> I think that was a pretty sorry excuse for journalism.
>>> The article points out Voda was already experiencing capacity issues before
>>> the flood, but suggests an NBN based on wireless would magically avoid
>>> these.
>>> The suggestion that a wireless base station on a barge in a river would be a
>>> fix-all in a flood emergency is pretty amateur hour (what and how would the
>>> barge connect to?)
>>> And he raises the canard about NBN battery back-up, then suggests the
>>> battery life on cordless phones would be an issue (cordless phone base
>>> stations are mains, not battery, powered).
>>> Sloppy work.
>> Quigley was on ABC 702 this morning and made the point that copper cable is affected
>> by water if it gets wet and fibre is not.  He said so long as the end points between the exchange
>> and the premises were dry and supplied with power, data would continue to flow.
>> He also said "it's glass, so it does not conduct electricity".   I am unclear how far these statements go, but I guess he is right.  I would be concerned that repeated inundation and drying cycles of the cable would cause the sheathing to eventually perish, crack and go mouldy,
>> leading to eventual breakage of the cable.   But in the short term, I guess he is right!
> Rachel,
>
> And in the long term.
>
> I'm short of time to dig up the original paper, but last year I
> investigated this, and found a study by some US engineers. They tested -
> down to the microscope level - a fibre removed from a network in Oregon.
> After ten years of annual snow, flooding, mudslides, and summers over 30
> degrees, they found the fibre's performance was indistinguishable from
> when it was new.

And so, this knowledge needs to get out there.  There are a lot of 
very mischeivious types out there right now who need sorting out.
I lump these types in with the climate change deniers, vaccination 
skeptics and tobacco lobbyists, amongst others.  The only way to beat 
them down is by cold hard facts!   The amount of FUD I hear recently 
in the media regarding the NBN is depressing in its untruthfulness,
deceit and lack of technical grounding....


rachel

-- 
Rachel Polanskis                 Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia
grove at zeta.org.au                http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html
    "The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum." - Finagle's Law