Manassas, Virginia was the first US city to see a real, non-trial launch of broadband over powerline (BPL) technology. However, BPL has floundered the last few years because of its inherent potential for interference with amateur and emergency radio, its irrelevance in the face of next-generation speeds, and the unavoidable fact that many utilities simply didn't want to be broadband providers. After buying the flailing network, city leaders have the network on life support, and are considering pulling the plug:Given that BPL is likely going the way of the dodo, additional investment in the already outdated network probably isn't a good idea. Manassas was a particular hotbed of interference debate, with enthusiasts complaining the FCC didn't properly test the network and used bogus data to make the case for BPL. The FCC spent years cheerleading the technology a little too enthusiastically as the panacea to a duopoly they helped create.

Comtek, the company who originally built the Manassas network, has read the tea leaves and begun focusing on smart electric grid technology like Current Communications. Comtek was somewhat obnoxious when it came to complaints from ham enthusiasts in Manassas, claiming that interference didn't exist, and that ham groups like the ARRL were engaged in a "campaign to turn back the clock on broadband in the United States."