In message <87ll1zn81b.fsf@valhalla.seastrom.com>, "Robert E.Seastrom" writes:
Todd Vierling <tv@duh.org> writes:
Seriously, though, that's exactly what you're describing, and about what I'd suggest in a no-other-option scenario -- but if it's possible to pull fiber through the conduits, it would probably be far less expensive long term, or even medium term if the physical fiber spools can be bought cheaply enough.
For those who haven't priced the stuff lately, in spools of 1000' the per-foot prices of 2-strand MM tight buffered fiber suitable for pulling in conduits like he (hopefully) has tends to be price-competitive with cat5 on a per-foot basis. Extra strands are cheap; the pricey part of fiber is the jacket and strength members; even super-pure glass is not that expensive overall.
The expensive parts in the equation turn out to be the termination trays and connectors.
Also the labor of pulling it, when there's already something in the (shudder) ground. My direct experience with running long-distance underground cable is dated -- let's put it like this; we were dealing with RS-232 -- but the countermeasures to a direct strike on copper cables don't seem to have improved nearly enough... --Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb