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Google 'Toilet ISP' Gag Not Without Precedent

1sockchuck writes "Yesterday, Google's annual April Fools' joke featured Google TiSP, a free home wireless broadband service that connected via a 'commode-based router' and runs fiber cabling through the sewer system. This is actually not without precedent. Back in the dot-com boom, delivering broadband through sewers was the focus of CityNet Telecom, which raised $375 million in funding from major VC and private equity firms in 2000 and 2001. The company used remote-controlled robots to lay fiber through sewer lines and actually created sewer-based networks in Albuquerque and Indianapolis before merging with Universal Access in 2003."

2 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Post-gag reporting is worse than the gags by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 1, Insightful
    The first April 1 gag in the day might be funny. After a few gags contributed by each butt-wad, they start to get very lame.

    Reporting about the gags is even more lame and will probably go on for a few days.

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    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  2. Re:What? by moosesocks · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They could be using storm sewers, in which case, it wouldn't be particularly unpleasant to maintain. (Quite the opposite in fact, as the pipes would be huge and easily accessible)

    On the other hand, neither solution sounds particularly reliable.

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    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose