Still Waiting On Broadband Over Powerlines
from the fat-pipe-dreams dept
For quite some time -- nearly ten years -- we've been hearing about the supposed benefits of broadband over powerlines (BPL) and how it would deliver a new competitor into the broadband market. The only problem is that it's never gone anywhere, despite the neverending hype. So here we are, in 2007... and BPL is still going nowhere. One BPL company is now trying a bit of a different tack (perhaps since BPL as a broadband technology doesn't seem to work too well) by pitching its systems as eco-friendly tools that let people remotely control their appliances. The NY Post almost gets distracted enough by that claim to almost miss the fact that yet another power company has tried BPL, but doesn't plan to expand its use of the technology. So, in case you were wondering, yes, BPL's still out there, and still treading water.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: bpl, broadband, powerlines
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If BPL was as easy as that, they would be on to something.
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Re: BPL may be DOA...
Keep in mind that your entire network snakes out of your house and is "seen" by all of your neighbors who share the same down-transformer. And you "see" all of their traffic as well.
You also did not mention the big-honking Capacitor that you had to plug into your Dryer 220V outlet. This bridges the two phases of power coming into your abode. Otherwise, only 1/2 of your AC power outlets would work.
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http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/
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Re:
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Re: Re: Boohoo
Next time you are on an airplane over the ocean and your pilot can't get through to ATC on the HF band to declare an emergency because of BPL interference I'll say "boo hoo" for you too.
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Re: Re: The NTIA isn't too keen about BPL either
Here is a link to the NTIA Executive Summary concerning BPL:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/2004/bpl/FinalReportAdobe/VolumeI/EXECSUMMARY.pdf
Competition is good, when it is leagal.
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Re: Re: Ham Radio Lobbyists
Yeah, those overly funded, hugely powerful, well-represented ham radio lobbyists. I hear they have more clout on the Hill than telcos and engergy companies.
Know what? They also control Vegas, Hollywood, Wall Street, and the diamond industry in Antwerp. Michelangelo was the founder of their society.
Dan Brown will have a book out exposing them next year. A screenplay will follow. Harrison Ford is set to play the main ham operator. He drives around in this awesome Pontiac Sunfire with massive antennas on it, and a customer license plate that's his ham license number. It's going to be a blockbuster when he keys up his Mic, "Hello. You're in Pennsylvania? No kidding. What time is it there? Wow, cool." I hear Audrey Tatou will be the love interest when he magically gets a connection across the pond to Le Havre.
Ah, the Ham lobbyists. If only we could reduce the influence of this underground society, this secret cabal that is the Ham Radio guys.
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There is no way Broadband-over-Powerline will ever
I know people think: "Power company distributes everywhere, why can't they also do Internet?"
Why? because the power system is specifically designed to REJECT anything but 60Hz (50Hz in some areas). You CANNOT two-way commucate more than a few 100 bits-per-second with a 60Hz bandwidth.
No way is the power company going to get to 10Mbps, 100Mbps on the power line today. And when the Power Company which moves slower than the Phone Company gets around to installing AC Bypass Capacitors around 50/60Hz Transformers to carry the 10MHz signal, the other guys will be in the 100Mbps to 1000Mbps range.
The Power Company will never catch up.
Stick to the Linux philosophy:
Do one thing and do it well.
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BPL causes Harmful Interfereance to Licensed Radio
The signals that are sent over the power lines generate high power Radio waves and harmonics that are in, atleast, the HAM radio band and disrupt long range High Frequency radio communications. Additionally, as demonstrated in a test they are also vulnerable to interferance and can have relability issues from HF radio use even at low power.
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BPL = Snake Oil
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Regulated???
The companies see these areas as not having enough people to get a ROI I guess. So for those of us who live there, and it isn't a remote area, BPL seamed like a very good alternative. I was personally watching the local power company's reports on the topic until it got hung up in regulations. So I say if it works and is faster than a 28.8 dial up, which is all the crappy phone lines give in a lot of places, bring it on!!!
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Using BPL
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It's hard to want to pay an energy company one dime more than is necessary, lol.
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Hah!
Things were better before the ATT breakup.
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Re: Hah!
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FiOS on the otherhand is cheaper as comapred to other technologies over longer ditances, (short distance it's actually more expensive) faster, potentially more reliable (depending on the provider) and has fewer issues inherent with copper tech (think attenuation).
Broadband over power will wriggle and die much like the ill fated metropolotan WiFi solutions everyone seems to be so excited about.
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RE: Hah! by Hieronymous B
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