UK Lifeguards Dig Their Own 100Mbps Fiber-Optic Link

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."

Good idea.

[dov_0]

What happened to social responsibility and volunteering? Most people want great service, but just expect someone else to do the work. In the current economic environment, lets hope to see more local projects like this.

Hull = Bad ISP area.

[growse]

They probably felt the need to do this given that all of Hull ISPs are crap.

Off the edge of civilization

[CaptainOfSpray]

This lifeboat station is a bit remote ( 53 34'34.34"N 0 6'39.69"E - take a look in Google Earth - it's quite a place). According to the station website [spurnpoint.com] it is 16 miles to the nearest shop, God knows how how far to a telephone exchange, so ADSL was never an option. Next, the RNLI is a charity supported entirely by money received from the public. They get nothing from the government, which is a Good Thing for the efficiency of the service; but does mean that there was no way to afford the horrendous install fee for 16 miles of cable.

All the crews and their families live at the station - imagine that as a way of life.

This

[sakdoctor]

but the government would probably object.

It got hog-tied in red tape.

Re:Not lifeguards

[Anonymous Coward]

What exactly do you think they do with those lifeboats?

Re:Good idea.

[Anonymous Coward]

Too right! People want things but are too lazy to do it themselves then complain, it is terrible.

There was somewhere (an island i think) that was being destroyed by the sea, wasting away its coastline.
The price to make a barrier was some crazily high price that they weren't even going to consider paying.
All the residents of the place got together with their own stuff and built their own barrier at a fraction of the price.

There is actually another place i distinctly remember that was on the news the other week there in Scotland, one of the first settlements in Scotland is being eaten away by the sea. Would be a shame to see it vanish.
Hopefully someone does something. I would if i was anywhere near it.

Re:Not lifeguards

[miketheanimal]

Lifeboat crews?

Re:Good idea.

[solevita]

The volunteering the people of the RNLI do goes much, much, further than digging trenches for fibre; they save a lot of lives. Well done to them, and to FibreStream for sponsoring; I've not heard of the latter before, but I'll look into their services next time I'm after fibre.

For once, a well earned Slashvertisment.

Re:100mbs is "next generation"?

[theeddie55]

Note: your company, and how many computers is that connection shared between, this is FTTH connections, (Fibre To The Home) for a home connection it's very much next generation.

Re:Government objecting?

[Annwvyn]

Unless, of course, the company (which already most likely has a monopoly over the area) has paid off the town leaders in order to force the people to hire the company so they can squeeze as much out of the taxpayer as possible. In the USA... I wouldn't be surprised.

You also have....

[Anonymous Coward]

...a teeny apartment about as large as most people's bathrooms in the US, and pay more for it then what a two story home sitting on a few acres costs here. And twice a day you stand up smashed against other humans, just to go ride back and forth to some office where you can be smashed up against other humans all the work day long.

Much as I would like better internet service, that sort of trade is not a good one. A lot of people just wouldn't like that human termite existence.

Re:Government objecting?

[jabithew]

I can think of many reasons the government might object to the roads being dug up; firstly the surface of the roads is never adequately repaired, leaving permanent damage to the roads. Often to lay fiber to your community (e.g. the village where my parents live) would involve digging up large tranches of busy road that are vital traffic routes.

Out of curiosity, why can't we tunnel under roads using robots to lay fiber?

Re:Good idea.

[Heed00]

You seem to have mistaken your internet connection for your penis -- which you have then confused with a marker of your own self worth.