2005: The Year of BPL!No wait, we mean 2006, and in a much smaller capacity ( old news - 11:44AM Monday Feb 20 2006) tags: business · alternatives · BPLAs we've explored, Ambient hasn't been keen to work with ham radio experts to deal with the interference their broadband over powerline technology causes, and it may cost them. With only $343,595 in revenue since the BPL company went public in 1998, the company is now hoping that utilities will at least be looking toward their technology as a network monitoring platform (no more meter reading). Compare and contrast statements being made in this Red Herring article out today, to the optimism they showed in a late 2004 press release. In 2004, Ambient CEO John Joyce railed against the ARRLs presumption that Ambient's flavor of BPL would not competitive in the residential broadband market. "The contention that BPL will not be competitive in the near future is misleading and incorrect," the company insisted. "There are many positive factors that are coming together for the industry, and they promise to make 2005 the year of BPL," said Joyce. In 2006, Joyce seems to be realizing that the residential application for their version of BPL may not be quite so strong. “The ability to better manage the utility grid system will be the driving force that will push this industry to significant commercialization in 2006, not necessarily for delivering broadband to the masses,” says Joyce.
Related:- Major Texas BPL Deal
- FCC To Nudge BPL Deployment
- Concord Considers BPL
- DirecTV To Test Powerline Broadband
- 2008 Will Be The Year of Powerline Broadband
- BPL is Back with a New Face
- DirecTV, Current Offer Broadband Over Powerline
- More XOHM Reviews Roll In
|
 | htwnrver
join:2004-04-01
Houston, TX
| I don't understand why they aren't going after BPL with full force. Now I admit I don't know the technical theory behind it but it seems like a gold mine just waiting to be tapped. The bells are whining because they have to spend all of this money to lay fiber/etc when we already have a very advanced power grid in place. It just seems like power lines would be the logical way to deliver broadband/tv/phone services.
How often do you lose power compared to how often you lose cable/phone/net? | |
|  | KB2PSM
join:2002-08-06
Long Beach, NY
| Re: I don't understand On the surface, it seems like it should be quick and easy- just overlay BPL on existing power lines. If you look into the technology and what is required i.e. a lot of additional infrastructure, repeaters, etc., it would seem as if going through the trouble of stringing fiber (or subletting the poles for such) would be a better solution.
Visit www.gobpl.com for some insights into the technology.
Rob
said by htwnrver  :why they aren't going after BPL with full force. Now I admit I don't know the technical theory behind it but it seems like a gold mine just waiting to be tapped. The bells are whining because they have to spend all of this money to lay fiber/etc when we already have a very advanced power grid in place. It just seems like power lines would be the logical way to deliver broadband/tv/phone services. How often do you lose power compared to how often you lose cable/phone/net? | |
| | RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
 ·XMission
| Take a few courses in electrical engineering (or even a good course for a RF Technician) and you would see why BPL is not the Magic Cure All for high speed internet access. The main problem is that the hype has far outweighed the 'laws of nature'.
My personal opinion: BPL as pushed by Ambient was never meant to service Joe 6-pack and his nudie pic downloads. It was to build an infrastructure for the power company to monitor and control your house meter. If they tried to do this for real, the investors would throw a fit because it would cost too much. But by doing BPL they can write the failure off on taxes, keep the investor's money and still have the monitoring system without the primary big investors having a fit. (BPL used for this purpose has low enough requirements that the radio waves should be unaffected)
--
I am not lost, I find myself every time. | |
| | | 
BPL Watcher
@avhlaw.com
| Re: I don't understand "BPL used for this purpose has low enough requirements that the radio waves should be unaffected"
It could be, but it remains to be seen if this technology is any different than the PLC technology already in use. True broadband will require more spectrum, and given Ambient's attitude, I bet I know where they'll go.  | |
| | | | RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
·XMission
| Re: I don't understand said by BPL Watcher :"BPL used for this purpose has low enough requirements that the radio waves should be unaffected" It could be, but it remains to be seen if this technology is any different than the PLC technology already in use. True broadband will require more spectrum, and given Ambient's attitude, I bet I know where they'll go. That is probably what they want, PLC to every house. Ambients's style of BPL will do that, even though it is a pipe dream for anything else. Again, I think it is more of fraud to get what they want then an actual service for the mark.
--
I am not lost, I find myself every time. | |
| | macken 657
join:2006-01-29
Ballwin, MO
| trouble is you can't just couple a broadband circuit on to a 72Kv line, you must 1st push fiber deep into neighborhoods before coupling and then it needs to be a perfect electrical grid + do at least or better than 20-25 Mbs per customer. actually if it's an all aerial neighborhood, better off running all fiber | |
| | 
rf_engineer
join:2003-08-04
USA
| I think the grid management movement (for lack of a better term) is similar to the "Information Superhighway" rhetoric we heard in the 90's. The Information Superhighway was always there, it was called the Internet. The rhetoric just brought it out into the forefront and made it mainstream. Like the Information Superhighway, the grid management movement is being propelled by political rhetoric, which was brought on by the blackouts and energy issues. The vehicle for bringing grid management has been around for years; it's called PLC, a low bandwidth BPL that has been around for years and in use extensively.
I've heard some say that the higher bandwidths of BPL could provide better grid management, but I'm hard pressed to figure out how. Equipment and line measurements can be crunched into rather "small" binary numbers and don't take up a lot of bandwidth. Controlling equipment takes even less information. Perhaps putting video cameras on poles could use this extra bandwidth, but is that really practical grid management?
The Red Herring article implies BPL is the only way to bring automatic meter reading (AMR). This isn't the case, there are several established AMR companies and a statistic I found from last year says that power system AMR penetration is at about 21% in the US.
Also, what about all the repeaters you need to make BPL work? PLC doesn't need nearly the number of repeaters. The network cost per managed network element must be huge with BPL when compared to PLC. I'm not an expert in power systems, but it would seem to me that automatic meter reading companies using PLC would be expanding their systems to include full grid management. Any utility with an existing investment in automatic metering reading infrastructure could gracefully slide into grid management applications without having to build a BPL network. | |
|
fleabay
@bellsouth.net | BPL DSL caBLe BPL really stands for Broadband Promised Late.
Alteration: Broadband dePloyed Late.
I need to go back to Publik Schewl. (sarcasm)
VOIP over BPL? Forget about it. | |
| Ham band guy
join:2005-07-13
Minneapolis, MN
| 2005: the year of BPL! More like,the year of BPL??
To KB2PSM and ray W- a big AMEN to both of you.
By the way,I am served by Xcel Energy(Formerly NSP),we have automated metering for over ten years using a wireless techology,and Xcel's grid is managed via similar thecnology along with fiber and microwave links A.F.A.I.K.
Like I've said"Network with class-do it with glass"
P.S. I have worked with Xcel a few times to resolve some nasty HF noise problems and at that time,the field tech assisting me said they knew of this BPL tech.but were not pursuing it.
--
Friends don't let friends use home edition anything! | |
| 
kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
edit:
February 20th, @04:18PM
| "And if I'll be wrong again, then 2007! Or 2008! Or..." "Remember, the only important thing is our investors should hear SOMETHING, no matter how big BS is that."  | |
| | | | 
Transmaster
Onward Through The Fog
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY
| BPL reminds me of..... The book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (TWWOO)by L. Frank Baum illustrated by W. W. Denslow published 1900. If you ever read the original book the movie" The Wizard of OZ" will be forever ruined. The OZ series where great populous works. The statement in TWWOO which makes me think of BPL is the scene in the book when Dorthy and her companions arrived at the Emerald City gate the gate keeper gives Dorthy and company emerald colored glasses, Dorthy asks the gate keeper why are you giving us these emerald colored glassed to which the gate keeper explains "Why child without the glasses it wouldn't be the Emerald City". The point is BPL supporters are looking through emerald glasses their expectations for BPL are just not going to happen.
--
Low voltage Tech's are wimps, Real tech's use 45 pound filament transformers, plate voltages no less then 2400 volts with at least 10 amp's lighting 8877 triodes...BPL I'm coming to get you. | |
| | | |
|
|
