BPL Takes Posthumous Beating With IBEC Closure ISP Blames Tornadoes, Though BPL Failures Played a Role Tipped by Tcomp 
After years of hype as the "great broadband hope" (as former FCC boss Mike Powell put it) broadband over power line (BPL) technology exists as essentially a largely dead niche broadband solution, outperformed by even many modern wireless technologies. The technology always suffered from interference concerns, and the utilities the services were targeted at weren't sold on the idea of jumping into a duopoly market against companies like AT&T that enjoy regulatory capture. Despite oodles of hype, most of the companies involved in pushing BPL gear have moved on to selling smart power network monitoring gear to utilities, while the nation's once-touted revolutionary BPL trials (like Manassas, Virginia) have closed up shop. This week BPL took another belated hit with the news that International Broadband Electric Communications (IBEC) will be closing their doors. In a message posted to their website (via Telecompetitor), the IBM-backed BPL provider blames April tornadoes for their closure. "Due to our inability to overcome the financial damage from the April 27 2011 tornadoes that ravaged some of our major service areas, we regret that we have no other option than to close our doors and cease operations," says the company. "We expect that your service will remain active through the end of January 2012 but we cannot guarantee the quality and availability of your service during this period," adds IBEC. While natural disasters are blamed for the company's problems, the fact that BPL was never a truly viable deliver option certainly takes much of the blame. IBEC and IBM initially claimed they'd invest $70 million to serve 340,000 homes in seven states, but the goal was continually scaled back as interference, costs, and deployment problems mounted.While the writing has been on the wall for BPL for at least half a decade, even last year Hunstville, Alabama-based IBEC was busily insisting BPL wasn't a dead technology. Just ignore the corpse laying squarely at their feet in plain sight to all.
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  newviewEx .. Ex .. ExactlyPremium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD
kudos:1 | The Straight Dope quote:
"Due to our inability to overcome the financial damage from the April 27 2011 tornadoes that ravaged some of our major service areas, we regret that we have no other option than to close our doors and cease operations,"
Translation:
We're gonna take the insurance money and run while we still can. | |
|  | | | Re: The Straight Dope ...and the broadband stimulus money... | |
| | | | | Re: The Straight Dope Actually, it was not stimulus ... | |
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| | | Their statement says the insurance agency refused to cover the tornado damage. | |
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Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA | BPL is only for POCOs with money to burn Such a power company would be better off running fiber optic cables along the same right of way as their power lines rather than wasting even a dollar on BPL. | |
| | | | Re: BPL is only for POCOs with money to burn From all reports I have seen, Access BPL technology can work, but not reliably.
To understand why this must be so, go buy the best Ethernet wiring you can. Now, untwist it. Now, strip off all the insulation. Now, separate the wires by about 10 feet. Now, put it outdoors in the rain, up 30 feet in the air near all the noise sources on the power lines, cable, passing auto ignition noise, etc. Now, connect it to a lot of other wires connected to an ever-changing set of noisy loads. That should work just as well as the best Ethernet wiring you can buy, right? Of course not, but that is exactly what Access BPL looks like to a data signal.
Now, at the expense of some potential data rate, BPL has partially overcome some of those obstacles, but the bottom line is that in the very hostile environment that is represented by noisy, outdoor high-voltage distribution lines, the error correcting and multi-carrier redundancy can only go do far. The end result is a system that works after a fashion much of the time, but not as reliably as one would hope for any utility. My home Internet system works 99.9% of the time. I notice that 0.1% more than the 99.%, though. Access BPL doesn't even come close to that, from the reports I have heard from people that have used it.
Ed Hare, W1RFI@arrl.org | |
| | | | | Re: BPL is only for POCOs with money to burn Ed ....
Knowing how you and the rest of the ARRL members continually caused issues for BPL environments ..... (since I know of your actions and reports against BPL very well).
My friend trust me your not the savior of HAM Operators all over the world, your the cause for 10's of thousands of consumers to not be afforded the luxury of internet provided by BPL business owners.
If you look at recent advancements in this technology, they are advancements .... not someone sitting behind a microphone hoping to talk to someone in China or Japan .... (if you want to talk to them so bad ... move there )
Get a life, retire your damn van full of antenna's and find a real job.
As a former BPL Customer who has been crushed by those like you before IBEC, I hope that someone buys their technology and pushes it out all over your service area so that your signal is affected 24x7.
In fact, I am so very glad that the FCC took your so called report and found the proper place for it ..... in the trash !
AMEN to real logic in America !
~From a REAL ENGINEER with Vision | |
| | | | | | Re: BPL is only for POCOs with money to burn said by engineer_101:As a former BPL Customer who has been crushed by those like you before IBEC, I hope that someone buys their technology and pushes it out all over your service area so that your signal is affected 24x7. You may think that you are somehow doing the technology a service by hoping that it will prosper by ignoring the most essential premises of electromagnetic compatibility, as long as you can see harm caused to someone else, but that is a view that is neither scientific nor good engineering.
The bottom line is although I don't think that Amateur Radio was the principle reason that IBEC failed financially and technically in the marketplace, even with heavy government subsidy, it also does not escape me that every BPL system whose operator chose a confrontational vs cooperative approach has so failed. Those few that remain in the US are taking a tact that is entirely different from the revenge-based approach you are recommending.
Among the antennas on the van were several calibrated EMC antennas, and unfortunately, the finding was that the BPL systems I measured were running as much as 40 dB over the FCC emissions limits. Even at that, the reports I received from some in the area were that the BPL system worked well when it worked. One member of one of the utility Board of Directors told me that the system at his house worked about 30% of the time. One other BPL engineer who left one of the BPL companies told me that he would not miss trying to keep the system running on a day-to-day basis.
These are not recipes for success, nor is the confrontational, mean-spirited approach you are advocating.
Fortunately, there are many in industry that do not share your views. HomePlug, a consortium of in-premise BPL manufacturers, has designed an industry specification that responsibly addresses EMC. With millions of HomePlug devices deployed, ARRL has received zero reports of harmful interference. Contrary to the picture you want to project, ARRL staff were very much directly involved in HomePlug's design choices. The same is true for the HomeGrid Forum, designing the specifications for implementation of G.hn technology. I am working directly with the HGF people and companies because they have a sound approach that can be made to work.
The real losers are the customers who were truly hoping to have broadband service. They didn't lose because of choices made by ARRL, or because of the number of antennas on my van; they lost because IBEC was not able to keep the scheme going and obtain continued funding for the great idea of using overhead wires to replace Ethernet cabling. The utilities are scrambling to find reliable ways to deliver Internet service to their communities.
In the numerous systems I have tested, I see no evidence of the great advancements you cite. I see systems that work much more slowly to the end user than "real" broadband systems. The end data rate delivered to IBEC's former customers did not meet the current FCC definition of broadband. I have been told by a number of users that the system was up and down in speed and reliability. The EMC issues were not fully resolved by the industry, or its regulators and, in the end, with this technology having years to establish itself, I have never seen more than 6,000 people nationwide at any time reported by ISPs in the reports that are mandated by the FCC. This is not what I would call an advancement by any stretch of the imagination.
I hope that the utilities that were involved in BPL can continue the momentum of providing their customers access to Internet. Running fiber within their system is an excellent start, and from there, BPL could well play some role in the delivery of broadband to homes, using the 240-volt wiring that has been shown to be successful by HomePlug and the HGF. Wireless will probably play a larger role. This is what will deliver broadband that has a proven track record, not a technology that is trying to make wires to what those wires were never intended to do.
This is the approach that will work for everyone, not the approach of continued confrontation that you are trying to promote.
Ed Hare, W1RFI@arrl.org
From a real engineer with a real name! | |
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| | | | Ed
Here is my input, for years I have lived in an area that has no cell tower coverage or BB coverage. The only coverage is satellite or dial up that at best is 28K. It was not until last year I was offered an alternative and subscribed to IBEC's service here in Indiana. Since then I bought my wife a new laptop and made my entire house wireless to take advanage of the services for two other computers, TV's and Cell Phones via WIFI.
The availability of this service has enriched our entire life and now it is all going to be ripped away.
I have been researching alternatives but have yet to find anything that will match the service Im currently receiving.
Once again its Satellite with equipment buys or leases not to include the data restrictions. Or Cell may be an option if I install repeaters and a 5G a month restriction.
By the way, I noticed you had a COMCAST address therefore I can assume you are afforded an option or options | |
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netham
join:2012-01-07
Minneapolis, MN | Re: BPL is only for POCOs with money to burn Hey Engineer_101 what makes you an expert on this, are you really an engineer or just another troll? I happen to work for a top ISP and have 30 years of experience with networking, telecom, RF, etc. I am very familiar with the physical layer aspects of networks(namely OSI layer 1,also with layers 2,3,and 4 to boot if you even know what that means which I highly doubt). The ISP I work for has bell system and bell labs background. All you need to do to get a big laugh is mention BPL to some of our senior engineers that really know their stuff!! And I would not go as far as saying Ed or any other ham killed BPL- the marketplace took care of that. I felt Ed's example in his post was right on with the ethernet cable example, and anyone with a real knowledge of how cat.5 twisted pair,coax, or fiber cables work would get the picture, and folks who know even basic RF get it as well.
And on top of that,many hams like myself are professionally involved with many aspects of IT,telecom, RF, electronics etc. In fact, there are many hams employed where I work. So trying to bash us and make us look bad is really annoying and stupid!!
To the poster in Indiana that is using IBEC, I feel sorry for you, especially if you were lucky enough to get some decent bandwidth. All I can tell you is that DSL technology is getting more widespread, able to deliver good bandwidth for longer distances. IN fact many T1 lines are delivered using DSL technology to go great distances with a simpler design than a traditional T1 span. There are several ISP's and local carriers that have a strong presence in rural-small markets and maybe contacting whoever serves your area may help your situation. | |
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1 edit | Re: BPL is only for POCOs with money to burn Netham,
Actually I am an engineer, a very well educated one at that, and have designed and installed every technology that you have stated for the largest carriers in the world as well as for most of the major manufactures in the world, so no I am not a troll.
As for BPL, the technology can work with the proper installations, and designs, and knowing some of the engineers at IBEC as I do, their technology that was recently announced was probably the first version of the technology that would have completed their quest for a perfect install base, despite the ARRL an Ed's efforts.
I only hope that someone picks up their technology and moves it to the next level so that it's a reality for rural America to have an option for Internet Services -vs- dialup or sat.
The carriers are not interested in providing the DSL options to rural America unless Mr. Government is willing to pay for it. That is how cooperatives got their chance.
Just check the pockets of Mr. Verizon himself .... see if he is investing in the valleys of Virginia ..... NOT ! | |
| | | | | Re: BPL is only for POCOs with money to burn I'm in the same boat, engineer_101.
Our co-op in SW Michigan promised BPL, but stopped after the second substation.
Problems with the supplier, problems with underground lines, or problems with the phone company that didn't want the competition but was the signal source.
A friend of mine was in the second substation area and is quite happy with it.
But we should have been online over a year ago. Nothing. I called them up every six months asking for progress reports.
Yesterday they posted the news of IBEC closing. I suppose my friend will lose service now.
For all the "oh, it's better this way, now you can get real broadband" comments, I respond: HOW, exactly ?
We have a fiber optic cable running along our road, and it's been there for ten years. But WE can't get access to it, nor is AT&T likely to put in a substation within DSL range.
ComCast stops 0.5 miles up the road and steadfastly refuses to come any closer. There are five more houses on this side of the road alone, two on the other side. No dice. I even offered to kick in the cost of the cable.
I could rig a WiFi transmitter from the closest ComCast client with a pair of dishes ! But of course that would violate terms of service.
None of the carriers can be bothered with the rural market, which is why there are so many mini-dishes in the country.
The real joke here is the statement that "the writing was on the wall for half a decade".
There's 20/20 hindsight for you. There is no technical reason why BPL can't work on the 4 mile range from injection. | |
| | | | | | Re: BPL is only for POCOs with money to burn
I live way out in the boonies, in an area that has less than five houses per mile. Cable TV nope, it has been promised quite often, still waiting.
DSL, the phone company has too much noise on their lines plus the long distance to their last switch. Dial up 19K.
WiFiMax there are six or seven local providers, however we live just out side most of their coverage areas. One WiFiMax provider does have a signal however his prices make Satellite seem cheap. Because he covers this area, no other company can get any of the Gov. grants to serve this area. I have even connected high gain antennas to a WiFImax receiver, as I went WAR DRIVING sporadic reception.
Have you looked into the MiFi devises, we bought one a year ago it works very well even though we are not in the (orange) service area. When we travel it goes along. Sprint, Verizon, Virgin Mobile all sell the service.
If and when BPL solves its speed issue, and interference issues TV and Radio, I might become interested, however our house is the last one on the last mile. It costs a lot for enough repeaters to get the signal that ten miles from the town, of Standish, Mi. | |
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