December 20th, 2005
Time for Broadband Over Power Lines? (BPL)
By Mark Evans
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
There’s been a lot of talk but not a lot of walk about broadband-over-powerline technology that would provide an alternative to broadband Internet access service from the carriers and telcos. Well, it looks like BPL is prepared to take a big step forward on news of a deal between Current Communications Group and TXU Corp. that could see broadband service delivered over electrical lines to more than two million people in Texas. Current plans to raise $100 million from a group of investors that includes Google, Goldman Sachs and Liberty Associated Partners. TXU, the largest utilty in Texas, and Current are offering BPL to customers in Dallas-Fort Worth, and have plans to offer it to two million customers in North Texas.
We Say: If it encourages broadband adoption and provides competition to cablecos and carriers, BPL can only be a good thing.
For more thoughts about BPL and alternative broadband access, click here.
sblaydes says:
Will this really be any different than the cablecos and carriers? You have utility company in a similar position to the cablecos and telcos, thus the only change will be the transport medium. While I do not have TXU, I already despise the rude customer support of my electric company, so I really have no urge to give them anymore of my money. This might eventually bring broadband to more rural areas, but the utility companies will put the money in markets where they get a quicker return first. We have already seen this type of behavior from the cablecos and telcos. While you think BPL will be a good thing, I don’t think the right players are involved for it to be any different from what we already have.
We need innovation in the product and customer service to provide competiton to the cablecos, carriers and utilitycos, not just lower prices. I believe we need to look at smaller firms for that innovation, not mega corps who add internet access as a secondary business.
Disclaimer: I work for a small wireless ISP who serves many smaller markets and rural areas.
December 20th, 2005 at 10:13 am
Donald Lama says:
BPL is not a good answer for anything. It causes interference to shortwave broadcasting and something not mentioned very often, it is subject to interference from it. It is operating under Part 15 rules. It is illegal for it to cause intererence and any interference to it is legal. How reliable is this going to be?
December 20th, 2005 at 11:39 am
Doug says:
This will be devastating to Shortwave radio listeners and and Amateur (HAM) radio operators! The interference gives off obliterates these signals and I can’t understand why the FCC hasn’t stepped in on this issue.
December 20th, 2005 at 4:44 pm
Doug says:
This will be devastating to Shortwave radio listeners and and Amateur (HAM) radio operators! The interference BPL gives off obliterates these signals and I can’t understand why the FCC hasn’t stepped in on this issue.
December 20th, 2005 at 4:44 pm
Doug says:
This will be devastating to Shortwave radio listeners and and Amateur (HAM) radio operators! The interference BPL gives off obliterates these signals and I can’t understand why the FCC hasn’t stepped in on this issue.
December 20th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
Doug says:
This will be devastating to Shortwave radio listeners and and Amateur (HAM) radio operators! The interference BPL gives off obliterates these signals and I can’t understand why the FCC hasn’t stepped in on this issue.
December 20th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
John Tidball says:
BPL is ONLY a good thing if it is designed so that it
doesn’t cause interference to a licensed service: amateur radio.
Tests have proven that standard BPL systems illegally cause tremendous interference to hams, to the point where many of their
legal, typical, frequencies are rendered nearly unuseable by
the constant, high-level RF noise. The obvious good that amateur
radio does was brought out in large fashion when all other communications modes were down due to recent hurricanes. Im many, if not most situations ham radio was the only means of communications available, and the outstanding achievements of
hundreds of ham radio operators were praised by nearly everyone.
With standard BPL most of the communications would be impossible, including the practice, emergency, and traffic (message) handling that is done free on a regular basis.
Motorola on the other hand, has developed a system of BPL that
causes very little or no interference to FCC authorized frequencies. Their system is the only one that should be seriously considered, and legal.
The 600,000 plus hams in the United States alone have a right
to their hobby, the services they provide, and their frequencies.
Any BPL system that illegally interferes with their operations will be sued into oblivion.
John Tidball,
WX4O
December 20th, 2005 at 5:21 pm
Lockergnome's Tech News Watch says:
Time for Broadband Over Power Lines?
Mark Evans of RealTechNews writes: There’s been a lot of talk but not a lot of walk about broadband-over-powerline technology that would provide an alternative to broadband Internet access service from the carriers and telcos. Well, it looks like BPL …
December 22nd, 2005 at 1:16 pm
George says:
The Power Utilities are touting the benefits of BPL to rural customers but depolying the service in Urban areas that already have plenty of broadband choices (going where the money is).
So far only the Motorola BPL system has been shown to be friendly to other radio services (not a surprise since they have been a major producer of radio equipment for many years) the others rely on the FCC ignoring the interference they cause.
Don’t think the infrastructure required to implement this service is cheap either. It will ultimately be paid for by the utility customers (whether you use their broadband service or not). Of course the utility will say they can provide better service by pinpointing power outages (not sure why a few thousand phone calls can’t do that)…
Here in southern Wisconsin there are independent wireless ISP’s that cover a large area for a small infrastructure investment (using their own money). They seem to be doing quite well and don’t interfere with other services. They can also co-locate on other wireless service towers and they actually DO serve rural customers with 3mbs connection speeds.
With the infrastructure investment required for a BPL system the only places it will be able to compete with wireless internet will be large population centers. These areas are already well saturated with broadband service and their telco and cable company competitors have their infrastructure in place. As soon as the outside investors (Google, Goldman Sachs, and Liberty Associated Partners for instance) start to realize that people won’t be dropping their current providers in droves they will stop putting money into BPL.
Then the power companies (and their lobbyists) will start working on the state utility boards to convince them that BPL is for the good of us all and try to have the rates raised to cover the expense.
Of course this nonsense is also furthered by tech writers who relay the information provided in the press release instead of doing a little research.
Many Amateur radio operators (Hams) work in technical fields (most of the ones I know, including myself) and there have been plenty of measurements and empirical studies done that document the interference BPL causes. Do a search and look at some of this for yourself.
George Skoubis
KF9YR
December 23rd, 2005 at 7:45 am
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