[lug] OT power line communication

[Nate Duehr]

VERY political.  And I'm very sorry to post this to the list, but it 
seems there are a few people at least, interested in the topic.  It's 
techy enough, but hardly linux related... hmmm... apologies.

One opposing viewpoint that *has* done their technical homework (unlike 
the manufacturers and the companies that want to use the technology) is at:

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc

For the executive summary:

"Radio amateurs are not opposed to broadband services. On the contrary, 
they tend to be early adopters of new technology. However, there are 
ways to deliver broadband that do not pollute the radio spectrum as 
Broadband over Power Line (BPL) does. These include fiber-to-the-home, 
cable, DSL, and wireless broadband. The ARRL--The National Association 
for Amateur Radio-- is supportive of broadband access for all Americans; 
however, it opposes the use of BPL as a solution to achieving this goal."

Recently, a friend and the former chairman of the Colorado Council of 
Amateur Radio Clubs recently contacted his rural power CoOp out in his 
East-Central Colorado hometown to see if they were going to deploy BPL.  
The answer was interesting.

Remembering that the promise of BPL is SUPPOSEDLY that ALL Americans 
would have broadband, take these comments into account:

His Co-Op says they are not interested in building, or worse, supporting 
a broadband  Internet infrastructure in the slightest, and in their 
recent meetings with most of the other Colorado rural electric Co-Ops, 
the other operators are not either... thus... the only power companies 
who really have the staff level and desire to do BPL are the big 
commercial ones, who service...

Metro Areas. 

It's probably not fair of me to assume this, but I'll assume many rural 
co-ops in other States feel similarly.  Thus... my correlary statement: 
Broadband over Power Lines will only get used in Metropolitan areas or 
areas serviced by only the largest electric companies who have the 
density and size to afford a network engineering and support staff.

Now... if that's true, my feeling is that we already have plenty of 
competition in broadband (some of it still growing and forming) in most 
Metro and suburban-Metro areas.  All BPL will do is move toward two things:

1. Spectrum mismangement and interference (the legacy of this 
Administration and their current Commission)

2. More competition in a market (metro broadband) where other companies 
are already moving to fill in the gaps with wireless technology.  Many 
small companies have already filled in most of the area surrounding the 
Denver Metro area with broadband wireless services (and it only took 
about 3 years total time) and big cellular carriers are starting to 
spend money on their infrastructure again to provide reasonbly fast 
broadband connections through their networks. 

(Hint: Keep an eye on Nextel... they're due to be the next to turn up 
another 3rd-generation system, and they've learned from other's mistakes...)

Nate Duehr, nate at natetech.com - Amateur Radio Station WY0X
Support Amateur Radio!

J. Wayde Allen wrote:

>This is a followup to a very old thread.  The start of the thread is in
>the archive at:
>
>   http://archive.lug.boulder.co.us/bymonth/2004.02/msg00142.html
>
>I'm following up on my prior post:
>http://archive.lug.boulder.co.us/bymonth/2004.02/msg00162.html
>
>On Tue, Feb 24, 2004 Tue at 20:12:13 -0700 Paul E Condon wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Thanks Wayde. But now I have more questions. It looks like the center
>>of federal activity on the technical aspects of BPL is actually right
>>here in Boulder. 
>>    
>>
>
>That is more or less correct.
>
>  
>
>>Do some of the filings in response to the NPRM contain technical 
>>discussion of alternative implementations? Are they available to
>>the public for reading?
>>    
>>
>
>The NTIA report in BPL is now available at:
>
>   http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/2004/bpl/index.html
>
>Sorry I couldn't give you much earlier.  As noted in the previous thread
>this is a very political topic.
>
>- Wayde
>  (wallen at its.bldrdoc.gov)
>
>      --------------------------------------------------------
>                            ISART 2005
>       International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies
>         http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.php
>      --------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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