[RFI] Better Balanced BPL story

[W0UN -- John Brosnahan]

Tired of one-sided BPL articles?   This one seems to be a little
batter balanced than most.

The second one I saw was not as extensive and didn't want to be
pasted into a note.  But if you are interested--the second half
of this story indicates that there are some issues.

http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1077728434.html

Just nice to see that the mainstream tech press is showing
concern over the issues.

--John   W0UN
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http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-5163739.html?tag=nefd_pop

Is broadband set to make power lines sing?

Last modified: February 24, 2004, 4:00 AM PST

By 
<mailto:jimh at cnet.com?subject=FEEDBACK:Is%20broadband%20set%20to%20make%20power%20lines%20sing?>Jim 
Hu
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Technical limitations have long frustrated attempts to deliver broadband 
Internet access over power lines, but the idea is once again sparking 
interest as its backers tout improvements.

Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission proposed rules 
for utility companies that seek to offer Internet access through their 
electricity grids. The FCC hopes its rules for broadband over power line 
(BPL) will help jump-start the use of the grid network to deliver 
high-speed Net access to U.S. households, especially in hard-to-reach rural 
areas.

"One major objective of Chairman (Michael) Powell is to find ways to 
encourage broadband for the entire United States," said Ed Thomas, chief of 
the Office of Engineering and Technology at the FCC. "The more options that 
are available, and the more capabilities provided, and the more diverse the 
entry vehicles, the better off we are."

The proposed BPL rules are limited and notably do not address major policy 
issues affecting the electricity industry that are under the remit of local 
public utilities commissions. Still, broadband providers and power 
companies reacted positively to the FCC move, seeing it as a critical first 
step toward making BPL a reality.

Less than a week after the FCC released its proposal, Internet service 
provider EarthLink announced it would begin testing a broadband service 
using power lines leased from Progress Energy, an electricity company that 
serves the Carolinas and central Florida.

EarthLink's test, announced last Wednesday, involves 500 homes in Wake 
County, N.C., and could set a major precedent for the nascent BPL industry. 
In the trial, Progress Energy will deliver a packet-based broadband signal 
through its power lines and then broadcast the signal using Wi-Fi equipment 
from Amperion. Test customers access the network using wireless broadband 
routers installed in their homes.

"This might give us the ability to have coverage where DSL (digital 
subscriber line) and cable might not be," said Kevin Brand, a vice 
president of product management at EarthLink. "We're in the very early 
stages now, but we see the ability for the technology to evolve to be quite 
competitive with DSL and cable."

EarthLink will sell the service under its own brand and will charge people 
$19.95 for the first three months, then $39.95 a month after.

Phase two
Progress Energy representatives said they have tested the technology enough 
to know it works in a laboratory environment. The EarthLink trials will 
determine whether BPL works in practice.

"This is our second phase" for BPL, said Matt Oja, the director of emerging 
technologies at Progress Energy. "The first (question) was does it even 
work? Now we're marketing it over EarthLink, the retail provider."

The companies expect to make a final decision at the end of the year after 
completing the market test.

The idea of turning to 
<http://news.com.com/2100-1033-237628.html?tag=nl>power companies as 
broadband purveyors has been floating around for many years, including 
within the FCC. Power lines are an attractive broadband delivery system 
because they are already in place and reach more homes than either cable 
systems or telephone lines.

But technology limitations, policy disputes and expensive failures have 
consistently left BPL hanging. Power grids were designed for the efficient 
delivery of electricity and so bring together a vast network or 
transformers to feed a myriad outputs for household appliances.

To date, BPL has mostly lighted the road to failure. In 1997, Nortel 
Networks, a telecommunications equipment maker, teamed up with British 
energy company United Utilities and formed Nor.Web, with the goal of 
offering broadband over an electricity grid. The venture set up a test in 
Manchester, England, but soon discovered a snag in its technology: 
Neighboring lampposts were picking up data signals and rebroadcasting them 
as radio waves.

The technical problems and the expense of the venture eventually were too 
much to bear. Nor.Web shut its doors in 1999.

"I've always been skeptical about the extreme version of broadband over 
power line," said Joe Laszlo, an analyst at Jupiter Research. "I think 
there are huge problems with the scenario. There are several impediments 
along the way that make it harder to transmit data over transformers."

Most of the FCC's proposed rules outline a set of technical standards to 
measure the quality of a BPL broadband signal and to create a public 
database of available BPL services.

Perhaps the most important regulation addresses signal interference--BPL's 
biggest stumbling block. Amateur radio operators and some federal safety 
agencies have raised concerns about the effect of BPL on their 
communications signals. Without the right technology, it could create more 
static on lines that people are already using.

"Any time you put a signal on top of a metallic object such as a power 
line, it's going to radiate and I'm going to hear it," said Jim Heynie, 
president of the American Radio Relay League, a national amateur radio 
association. "The industry has not addressed the reception problem."

The FCC itself is trying to temper expectations for BPL. After the 
technical issues, it faces major regulatory hurdles.

Power companies are not regulated by the FCC, but by local public utilities 
commissions (PUCs). The FCC just creates rules to open the door for 
companies to offer broadband through their wires, but doesn't create rules 
for the wire itself. If power companies decide to push broadband 
aggressively into the household, a regulatory battle would likely ensue.

"There's very serious debate between the power companies and the local 
PUCs," the FCC's Thomas said. "We can foresee a situation where regulations 
could kill the infant business before it's born."

BPL proponents counter that the technology has improved to the point that 
communities can safely flip the switch. If the FCC's proposed rules take 
off, these people argue, there's a good possibility that power lines will 
begin delivering data into homes.

"The only knowledge it takes is to find a wall plug," Thomas said.

Putting BPL to the test
 From an industry point of view, the FCC's decision could open up a new 
front in the escalating war to sell broadband to households across the 
country. Power lines would join coaxial cable, telephone lines and emerging 
"last mile" wireless technology as conduits for delivering data to homes.

The testing of reworked BPL service is already under way in a handful of 
communities, including Cincinnati, Allentown, Pa., and Manassas, Va.

Opening the broadband access market to a third industry with considerable 
clout could stir up an already bubbling pot. Cable companies currently lead 
providers of telephony-based DSL services in broadband market share in U.S. 
households. However, figures from the fourth quarter of 2003 show that 
cable's growth rate has begun to slow, relative to DSL, according to a 
study conducted by 
<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.leichtmanresearch.com%2F&siteId=3&oId=2100-1034-5163739&ontId=1035&lop=nl_ex>Leichtman 
Research Group.

Even so, DSL still has a long way to go to catch up. It accounts for 36 
percent of the U.S. broadband market, with the remaining 64 percent served 
by cable. Much of DSL's recent gains stem from 
<http://news.com.com/2100-1034-5152274.html?tag=nl>low-price plans designed 
to compete against a more expensive, though faster, cable service.

"The FCC wants to see a third broadband provider out there, and they want 
it to be facilities-based," said Brett Kilbourne, the director of 
regulatory services at the United Power Line Council, an organization of 
electric companies interested in BPL.
CNET News.com's John Borland contributed to this report.  
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