| The University of Aberdeen has a long and proud | | | | will offer its own wireless broadband service to |
| history. Founded in 1495, it is the fifth-oldest | | | | 1,700 students in the Hillhead village. |
| university in the UK and claims to be in the | | | | The broadband connection will be free to the |
| forefront of teaching and research in medicine, | | | | point of delivery and the cost embedded in the |
| the humanities and sciences. | | | | rent. Mainstream broadband providers will not be |
| But as from September 2007, there is another | | | | allowed to install their own connection, which |
| reason for the University of Aberdeen to be | | | | means the university will have its own network. |
| proud: its sewage system. The university has | | | | Bandwidth will be monitored by the university to |
| invested in improving the broadband availability to | | | | prevent students from overloading the network. |
| its 13,000 students, using underground sewage | | | | The sewage broadband project has been running |
| pipes to carry all the necessary cables. | | | | in conjunction with another project to provide |
| Before the new service was launched, a | | | | wireless broadband access across the university's |
| microwave link between the main campus and the | | | | two campuses, using technology from wireless |
| student village was used to provide wireless | | | | network specialists Trapeze. In total, across the |
| broadband to the students living there. | | | | campus and halls of residence, there will be 1,000 |
| However, the presence of rapidly growing trees in | | | | wireless access points. |
| the area affected wireless signals. This led the | | | | Laptops are a lot more affordable now with |
| university to opt for a hard-wired connection and | | | | around 80% of students now having access to |
| chose H20 Network's underground sewage | | | | one; therefore the investment looks to become a |
| system, which consisted of laying dark fibre optic | | | | success. The sewage broadband infrastructure |
| cables in the sewage pipes. | | | | seems to be catching, with Bournemouth already |
| This project began in June and finished in time for | | | | laying 1,400 metres of fibre optics and Bath |
| the students arriving back to their studies. With | | | | University looking to follow suit. |
| the 1GB sewer-enabled connection, the university | | | | |