MacLeech
The one and only
Premium
join:2001-07-14
SoCal
4 edits | Some BPL setups will knock out cable services...
Ever think what else uses that 30-50 MHz band used by some BPL setups?
Basically, almost EVERY cable company based service that needs communication BACK to the cable company. Cable modems, cable boxes, video-on-demand services, cable VoIP, status-monitoring equipment, addressable taps, upstream sweep systems, and countless other things.
With most cable lines running on the exact same poles that the power lines run, just a few feet lower, imagine all the interference possible...
A small crack in the cable, an improperly tightened coax fitting, or a poorly shielded device connected to the cable system is the perfect site for such interference to get in. A few of those, possibly even just one, can let in enough interference to wipe out the signal from quite a few modems, phones, and/or cable boxes connected to the same upstream ports in the headend... affecting one or more nodes, blocks away from the original ingress source.
Its already a MAJOR issue for cable line techs to deal with ingress from other sources such as HAM, CB, cordless phones, radio-controlled toys, off-air broadcasters, poor home wiring, and the tons of other RF sources common today. Add to that BPL services running on unshielded powerlines lines just a few feet from cable lines and the cable line techs will have there job cut out for them, searching for ingress will become all they do for quite a while.
I feel sorry for any cable service customer in areas with such BPL setups. Its guaranteed to cause them issues with their cable services at some point.
Imaging trying to call 911, but you can't because the newly launched BPL system wiped out your cable phone service... whoops. Lawyers would have a field day with that one... lots of deep pockets (power company, cable company, equipment providers, etc.) to raid.
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