[Magdalen] Internet puzzle?

[Roger Stokes]

This can be a problem even in England with its higher population 
density. There was at least one case where the people in one village did 
it themselves. They ran the cable along the verges which were part of 
the farmland across the hedge rather than having to pay to get a trench 
along the road. Cambridge University did it on a bigger scale. When they 
wanted to set up a network for the university they got a quote for doing 
it the conventional way. Then they realised that the University and its 
constituent colleges have a good spread of property around the city. 
They only had to pay to lay cables across roads rather than along them.

Cell phone coverage is another problem in many areas as there are 
significant non-spots. A couple of days ago a train hit a landslip 
caused by heavy rain after dry weather. The driver and conductor (and 
one passenger) were killed but another off-duty railway worker had to 
walk for a mile along the line to a signal box to raise the alarm and 
get the line closed because there was no cell-phone signal.

Roger

On 14/08/2020 20:53, cady soukup wrote:
> Rappahannock Electric Cooperative has made it a priority to provide
> connectivity to their customers, but I have not seen anything further
> than the initial PR copy, so no details. Creating cooperatives for
> internet access may be the only way it will work in today's for-profit
> climate when so much of our 'take-it-for-granted' infrastructure is
> not quite up to grade.