Using Pneumatic Tubes For Fiber Optics

from the old-meets-new dept

I've always been interested in the pneumatic tubs in New York City that used to be used to transport mail around the city rapidly during the first half of the twentieth century. Now, an entrepreneur is trying to figure out if he can use those tubes (many of which still remain in place) to lay fiber optic lines. Those century old tubes may suddenly be a very valuable piece of property throughout NYC. There's also another plan to look into using an old NYC water main for the same purpose. Of course, it would also be cool if we just started using pneumatic tubes again for their original purpose, but I doubt that's going to happen any time soon.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 May 2001 @ 11:56pm

    No Subject Given

    lots of banks still use pneumatic tubes for their multiple drive up windows. It'd be cool if mcdonalds did the same thing.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    u2604ab, 7 May 2001 @ 11:57pm

    No Subject Given

    What about running a pneumatic tube to everyone's house? That'd make it easy to get & upgrade your connection to the world, as well as expedite package and mail delivery for those webvan orders.


    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.