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4dtruth
| Re: BPL will never overtake Cable/DSL ...
Ham radio interference?
One obstacle is that sending Internet signals through power lines can interfere with low-power radio transmissions, including those of amateur radio operators.
"Ham radio operators are not against BPL," said Alan Pitts, a spokesman for ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio.
"We are against the interference. When you go putting energy in those frequencies on unshielded electric lines, it will turn those lines into an antenna."
This is a public safety issue, Pitts said, because the hams - who number nearly 670,000 in the United States - "come through regularly when nothing else works" to coordinate emergency responders and relief efforts.
PPL said that while it had experienced a few incidents with ham radio operators, the problems were solved by "notching," or reserving chunks of the radio spectrum for the hobbyists. The utility said it had no reported problems with fire, police or rescue radio systems.
In some cases, PPL says it has traced reported interference to sources other than power-line broadband. When one man complained of interference, "we found out it was his Ionic Breeze air cleaner in his house," said Alan Richenbacher, chief network architect for PPL Broadband.
Still, amateur radio operators say there is evidence that Internet signals, when carried as radio frequencies over medium-voltage power lines, can disrupt other radio signals a half mile or more away. They complain that the Federal Communications Commission, by failing to take stronger action regarding BPL, "broke its own prime directive... to protect the licensed services from interference," Pitts said.
Not so, countered Bruce Franca, acting chief for the FCC's office of engineering and technology.
"We amended our rules to put many more requirements on broadband over power lines," he said.
"The President has made the provision of broadband services to the American public a national priority," Franca said. "So we're looking for ways to provide broadband to the American people, and the more ways you can do it, the more beneficial. We weigh that against the impact on licensed radio services."
One encouraging sign for ham operators, Pitts said, was Motorola Inc.'s rollout this year of a BPL method that avoids interference by combining low-voltage lines with frequency notching.
Investors see opportunity
Some quarters of the investing community think broadband over power lines is a potentially profitable gamble.
Google Inc., which operates the Internet's most-used search engine, in July invested $100 million in BPL operator Current Communications Group L.L.C., of Germantown, Md. Also, PA Early Stage Partners and other investors recently invested $1 million in Duquesne Broadband's co-owner, Pittsburgh-based BPL Global Ltd.
Michael Bolton, PA Early Stage managing director, said the technology's potential went far beyond Internet access. Other potential applications include remote building management, which could give companies huge energy savings; "smart grid" capabilities that save time and money on diagnosing needed power line repairs; and security solutions using broadband.
"This is a $300 billion market opportunity over the next 10 years," Bolton said.
Michael Cai, a senior analyst with Dallas research firm Parks Associates, does not expect broadband over power lines to take much business away from DSL and cable modems, which have become well-entrenched in many high-population areas. "It's best positioned in the underserved markets," Cai said of BPL.
Plus, with prices for lower-speed DSL access beginning to drop below $15 a month in many areas, BPL operators may have a harder time carving a niche in those places. Price, after all, was what drew Duquesne customer Reese to the power-line technology.
"Forty dollars a month is really a lot of money," Reese said. "At $19.99 - that's a lot more doable."
»www.philly.com/mld/philly/12611837.htm | |
|  moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: BPL will never overtake Cable/DSL said by 4dtruth :
...
Michael Cai, a senior analyst with Dallas research firm Parks Associates, does not expect broadband over power lines to take much business away from DSL and cable modems, which have become well-entrenched in many high-population areas. "It's best positioned in the underserved markets," Cai said of BPL.
Plus, with prices for lower-speed DSL access beginning to drop below $15 a month in many areas, BPL operators may have a harder time carving a niche in those places. Price, after all, was what drew Duquesne customer Reese to the power-line technology.
"Forty dollars a month is really a lot of money," Reese said. "At $19.99 - that's a lot more doable."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....back again? Guess you aren't using the callsign of a HAM anymore cause you got caught. 
If you think BPL is cheap, here is what an ISP in Australia is doing:
»whirlpool.net.au/article.cfm/1541
Only 2GB of data (including upload) for $80/month? :D:D
And people thought Comcast with their 2GB limit on newsgroups was bad.
»www.tastel.com.au/bpl/prod_benefits.html
These are the supposed benefits of it. Free VOIP? I wonder how long a call would it take to hit that 2GB limit? :D:D
Give it up troll boy, cut and paste doesn't cut it from this crowd and it is even further disregarded with your anonymous standing. | |
| |
Dialup Sucks
@63.240.x.x
| Re: BPL will never overtake Cable/DSL I had their Direcway for internet for a couple of years the second time around. For the price it sucks big time and I can't wait til someone puts them out of business. I was buying the 89 dollar a month service and all it gives you is a static IP.
I have been waiting on BPL ever since the first news article came out.
Anyone that has broadband be it DSL or Cable does not need to be dissing the BPL. There are millions of people stuck with dialup over antiquated phone lines.
I would be willing to pay at least 60 bucks a month for DSL or Cable if I could get it.
Come on BPL. The Rural communities of America are waiting. | |
| | | moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: BPL will never overtake Cable/DSL said by Dialup Sucks :
I had their Direcway for internet for a couple of years the second time around. For the price it sucks big time and I can't wait til someone puts them out of business. I was buying the 89 dollar a month service and all it gives you is a static IP.
I have been waiting on BPL ever since the first news article came out. Sorry, but if that is all that's available in your area, then you are stuck with it. Don't like it? Don't buy it. Simple.
said by Dialup Sucks :
Anyone that has broadband be it DSL or Cable does not need to be dissing the BPL. There are millions of people stuck with dialup over antiquated phone lines.
I would be willing to pay at least 60 bucks a month for DSL or Cable if I could get it. What you are willing to pay and what the broadband companies are willing to put out are 2 different things. Less people in an area = less return on investment. Areas with more of a population density (that have money to subscribe to high speed service) are more likely to be serviced.
said by Dialup Sucks :
Come on BPL. The Rural communities of America are waiting.
And the rural communities will keep waiting. Do a bit of reading into how this technology works and see how many repeaters would be needed to get the service down the wire. It is not cheap when it might take 4 or 5 repeaters to service one or 2 houses. If there was money to be made in rural deployment, others would already be there.
And before anymore of the perennial idiots come out of the woodwork, I DO NOT WANT TO LIMIT CHOICES!!!! I believe this country should make a concerted effort to get high speed service out to everyone at an affordable price. HOWEVER, BPL (in its Ambient format) is a detriment to the licensed radio services (not just the HAMS.) Most people are so blinded to the fact that they want high speed no matter who they have to kick out of the way to get it. Yet, these same people would be the first to complain if deployment of high speed internet interfered or took away something they wanted.
I lived in downtown Baltimore City where I did not have cable broadband and DSL did not work for me. I still would have never even considered BPL as an alternative. | |
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