UK Lifeguards Dig Their Own 100Mbps Fiber-Optic Link 128
MJackson writes "The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in Humber, a large tidal estuary situated on the east coast of Northern England, has just become one of the UK's most remote-rural locations to have a next generation 100Mbps Fibre Optic FTTH broadband link installed. The deployment is being sponsored by FibreStream and amazingly the groundworks were completed by the lifeboat crew literally digging their own fibre. We'd do the same on our road, but the government would probably object."
Not lifeguards (Score:5, Informative)
To put the stroy in context.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not lifeguards (Score:5, Informative)
They take them out to sea at night, in force 10 gales and save trawlermen and merchant sailors from their sinking ships.
Its not exactly "Baywatch" you know......
Re:Not lifeguards (Score:3, Informative)
usually, rescue boats and perform Island ambulance rescue service to get people to mainland hospitals actually
Re:Not lifeguards (Score:5, Informative)
From the index page of the RNLI website:
Saving lives at sea
The RNLI is the charity that provides a 24-hour lifesaving service around the UK and Republic of Ireland.
We'd love to hear from you if you've been helped by RNLI lifeboat crews or lifeguards.
What would you rather call them - "lifeboat people" perhaps?
The Issue (Score:2, Informative)
What the RNLI are.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not lifeguards (Score:5, Informative)
All sorts of maritime search and rescue work. If your boat breaks down or capsizes, or your stuck in a downed plane, the RNLI will be the ones you want to see. Lifeguards on the other hand work from the beach and are concerned with bathers who get into trouble, usually swimming out and dragging back to shore.
Both involve lifesaving off the coast, but they're very different and shouldn't be confused. If you called a lifeboat crewman a lifeguard he'd smack you in the face.
Re:Off the edge of civilization (Score:5, Informative)
Link to Google Maps, for those without Google Earth installed: 53 34'34.34"N 0 6'39.69"E [google.co.uk].
Also, an article about location [wikipedia.org] on Wikipedia -- the area is a nature reserve!
Re:100mbs is "next generation"? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:100mbs is "next generation"? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What the RNLI are.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What the RNLI are.... (Score:3, Informative)
I think you might be surprised [wikipedia.org]. Actually, the helicopters are often operated by the HM Coastguard; the base where I learned to fly also hosted a Coastguard search and rescue group, which ran a couple of helicopters.
Actually its a combination of all three.
Although HM Coastguard monitors the coastline, both the RAF and RN have air-sea rescue units for operational reasons (dating back to WWII) but handle the civilian rescues as part of their duties.
Re:Off the edge of civilization (Score:1, Informative)
Link to Google Maps, for those without Google Earth installed: 53 34'34.34"N 0 6'39.69"E.
So it's just around the corner from Scunthorpe, then.
Humber Lifeboat Station Details and Links (Score:2, Informative)
Further details about the Humber station:
Its the only station with a fully professional crew. Other stations are either all volunteer (those with only Inshore boat), have one (Mechanic) or two (Coxswain & Mechanic) professionals with the rest of the crew being volunteers (the big All Weather boats) or a largely professional crew supplemented by volunteers (the E Class boats on the River Thames in London).
There are several advantages to using volunteers, one very important one being that its possible to justify having stations that do very few rescues but are there for the rare occasions where someone needs them.
YouTube of the installation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozoA4x5k2Dg [youtube.com]
Humber Lifeboat Station at the RNLI website:
http://www.rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/north/stations/humbereastyorkshire/?page=2 [rnli.org.uk]
Humber Lifeboat "Pride of the Humber" - around UKP 2 Million (USD 3 Million) of Fly By Wire All Weather Goodness
http://www.rnli.org.uk/who_we_are/press_centre/photos/photo_detail?articleid=344763 [rnli.org.uk]
The crews website
http://www.spurnpoint.com/lifeboat.htm [spurnpoint.com]
Humber Lifeboat at work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2WtSPcGpKw [youtube.com]
No connection with the RNLI btw, other than they once rescued me and I donate by subscription.
Re:Government objecting? (Score:1, Informative)
Hull is a city and is not all of Humberside; much of Humberside is served by BT and Cable companies. KCOM are unlikely to be the problem here. Geography is.
Re:Not lifeguards (Score:2, Informative)
Ok, this is the REAL face of UK Lifeguards:
A recent rescue:
http://www.rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/news/news_detail?articleid=465627 [rnli.org.uk]
The website:
http://www.rnli.org.uk/what_we_do/sea_and_beach_safety/rnli_lifeguards [rnli.org.uk]
One reason for the RNLI being involved:
http://www.rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/news/news_detail?articleid=466426 [rnli.org.uk] ... the Lifeboats regularly found themselves working with Lifeguards on rescues.
Unlike the Lifeboats many of the Lifeguards are funded on a contract basis. Local Government pays the RNLI to provide them, or at least contributes. In many cases the Lifeguards themselves used to be employed by Local Government. By having the RNLI run the Lifeguards on their beaches the Local Council taps into economies of scale on things like equipment purchasing and backup plus the RNLI's training and expertise.
Rick
Re:What the RNLI are.... (Score:2, Informative)
On the other hand what we have works.
And it does have its advantages â" for example:
Fisheries Protection comes under the people who manage the fisheries, and set the rules that they enforce, rather than being a poor relations within a Law Enforcement agency.
Protection of Oil Rigs is provided by the same assets who provide similar protection to all UK assets rather than there being a separate small CG 'military lite' unit to train and equip.
HM Customs and Excise don't have to call in a separate agency when dealing with maritime smuggling that 'crosses the beach' â" its all one team.
Maritime safety, rule setting, enforcement and accident response are under one organisation.
Rescue is provided by assets that have no Law Enforcement role â" so people don't delay calling for help when the accident they have had is due to breaking the rules. Bear in mind that calling early not only saves live aboard casualties, it means less risky rescues and hence less risk to the rescuer.
Once again - why break something that works? Why, for example, 'Nationalise' the RNLI, loosing all that goodwill and expertise, to provide something that costs the taxpayer more?
BTW â" even if Scotland became independent (Troll?) its likely that the RNLI would continue to provide the Lifeboats, as they do in the Republic of Ireland.
Rick
Re:100mbs is "next generation"? (Score:3, Informative)
You're talking about multi-mode vs. single-mode fiber. Lower speed links can get away with somewhat longer runs of multi-mode fiber, but even at 100Mbps it's not THAT long. Once you get beyond 2000m you need single-mode anyway. Once you've run the single mode fiber, you have the option to go to gigabit or 10 gigabit speeds and/or add additional channels at other wavelengths.
Poor installation (including excessively sharp turns) can be a limitation but in general, you don't have to replace the fiber to take advantage of newer or better technology at the ends.
The fragility isn't that big a problem in buried cable since they are layered and contain aramid fibers for strength with an outer waterproof cover.
Given the cost of burial compared to the cost of the fiber and the minimal added cost for more fibers in the same length cable, you generally use cables with 24 fibers in them. It just doesn't make much sense to skimp on the cable when you have fixed and expensive time effort and cost in burying the thing.
So they could have limited themselves, but most likely have plenty of headroom.