[SEDXC] BPL

[Macie, Gordon]

I am a Greystone customer. I would love to cancel my account in response
but since they are a monopoly. I have no choice... I hope solar cells
are in my future. Though I would still have to live with the
interference. Tests have failed in many instances so hopefully these
will also.

Gordon N4LR

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sedxc-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:sedxc-bounces at contesting.com]
> On Behalf Of JT Croteau
> Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 2:15 PM
> To: *SEDXC Group
> Subject: Re: [SEDXC] BPL
> 
> Cut 'n Pasted from AJC's website below.  I'd have pasted just the link
> but AJC is one of those sites that requires you to have a login and
> password, a policy that myself and a bunch of others don't support.
> The short HAM blurb is at the end.
> 
> ---
> 
> Power firms want to compete with cable, DSL
> They're experimenting with delivering access to Web
> 
> By SCOTT LEITH
> The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
> Published on: 02/10/06
> As beginnings go, it doesn't get much humbler than this.
> 
> In the basement of a home in Douglasville, near stacks of boxes, a
> treadmill and a lawn mower, GreyStone Power Corp. is conducting its
> first test of a technology that delivers high-speed Internet service
> over the same lines that provide electricity.
> 
> Glenn Purcell has spent hours in this home on Hardwick Court in a
> subdivision called Chapel Hills. The space, volunteered by a staffer
> in GreyStone's marketing department, is where Purcell gazes at two
> computers set side-by-side to compare Internet services delivered via
> BellSouth and GreyStone lines. He's been working in the basement on
> and off since December.
> 
> "This is not something we're going to jump into until we know exactly
> what to expect," said Purcell, GreyStone's manager of information
> systems. But like dozens of power companies around the nation,
> GreyStone is very interested in the prospects for what is known as
> broadband over power line, or BPL.
> 
> For consumers, BPL could become another way - and maybe a cheaper way
> - to get access to the Internet, providing an option beyond phone
> companies and cable providers. People in areas with limited or no
> options for high-speed service, especially rural spots, could be among
> those who benefit.
> 
> A deeper look, however, also shows power companies are intrigued with
> the ability to use BPL to manage their own grids more efficiently and
> cheaply.
> 
> As some power companies decide BPL is feasible - TXU, a big utility
> based in Dallas, is moving ahead with a major rollout - the technology
> stands a better and better chance of emerging on a widespread basis.
> 
> "It seems to be the industry trend," said Brett Kilbourne, director of
> the United Power Line Council.
> 
> For the uninitiated, BPL sounds like an alien concept. But the simple
> version is that BPL uses power lines to transmit data via radio
> frequency signals. The waves don't interfere with transmission of
> electricity. For homeowners, having BPL means they could get
> high-speed Internet access simply by plugging a special modem into an
> electrical outlet.
> 
> Having a broadband-enabled power grid also would enable highly
> detailed monitoring by power companies themselves. With BPL, they
> could find outages quickly and read meters automatically. Eventually,
> companies could use BPL to measure demand so well they could tailor
> electricity production as needed, thus saving money.
> 
> BPL has been tested successfully in many places and already is in use
> in parts of the United States, notably Cincinnati, which is served by
> Cinergy.
> 
> A Clark Howard mention
> 
> Although power companies tend to look at what advantages BPL offers
> for their own internal grid management, many consumers are asking for
> it. When WSB Radio bargain hunter Clark Howard mentioned BPL on his
> show a few weeks ago, GreyStone received dozens of calls about it,
> Purcell said.
> 
> The company anticipates charging $25 per month, aiming to be cheaper
> than rival high-speed Internet services. Participants in the trial do
> not have to pay.
> 
> Yet BPL, while seen by some as a promising competitor to broadband
> delivered via cable or phone lines, is still a tricky technology.
> 
> The equipment involved remains pricey, too, leaving some power
> companies wary. Southern Telecom, a unit of Atlanta-based Southern
> Co., tested BPL about a year ago in Hoover, Ala., just outside
> Birmingham. For the time being, Southern has cooled on the idea of
> investing in it.
> 
> "While the technology clearly works, we didn't feel it was at a level
> of commercial viability that we would consider deploying it," said
> Leif Ericson, business development manager for Southern Telecom.
> 
> GreyStone, on the other hand, is a nonprofit, member-owned
> cooperative. It doesn't face the same kind of regulatory or investor
> concerns as Southern Co., which is a publicly traded utility holding
> company.
> 
> Indeed, there are three BPL tests under way in Georgia, all involving
> member-owned co-ops: Habersham EMC, Jackson EMC and GreyStone. The
> co-ops are sharing information with each other.
> 
> Habersham EMC expanding its test
> 
> Rodney Pugh, director of information technology at Habersham EMC,
> which is based in Clarkesville, said the company is expanding an
> existing test to include about a dozen homes. Customers like it, he
> said, and the company favors the prospect of using BPL as a tool to
> manage its grid.
> 
> What Pugh's watching closely, however, is whether the price of
> equipment needed for BPL will fall, making it more affordable.
> 
> Kilbourne, the United Power Line Council director, said TXU's decision
> to move ahead with BPL could be a watershed event. It could help drive
> down prices for equipment and, if successful, could spur other
> publicly traded power companies to get into the game.
> 
> TXU is working on its project with Current Communications, a company
> that specializes in BPL.
> 
> "TXU is going to be pretty important," Kilbourne said. "That's the
> first real significant commercial rollout."
> 
> In Charlotte, Duke Power is moving ahead with a sizable market test of
> BPL. Bob Gerardi, manager of power line communications at Duke, said a
> previous technical trial was very successful.
> 
> Duke, which is in the process of merging with fellow BPL proponent
> Cinergy, is primarily interested in using the technology to make its
> own system more efficient. But the secondary benefit - being able to
> make money by offering Internet access to consumers - is important.
> 
> Duke, however, is like many other companies in that it isn't
> interested in becoming an Internet service provider itself. Instead,
> it will sell Internet service on a wholesale basis, letting companies
> - including Atlanta-based EarthLink - handle the details of actually
> marketing and managing the service.
> 
> The possibilities of using BPL as a way to reach consumers is of great
> interest to EarthLink. "We are talking to quite a few companies about
> things bigger than trials," said Kevin Brand, EarthLink's vice
> president of access services.
> 
> While there's much enthusiasm for BPL, Southern Telecom's Ericson
> cautioned that it remains "very much an emerging technology," with
> only about half a dozen power companies among 2,000 in the United
> States announcing commercial deployments so far.
> 
> "We don't believe the technology is completely 100 percent there," he
> said.
> 
> Purcell also believes BPL might not be the only kind of technology
> that power companies use to provide broadband service. He thinks
> companies like GreyStone may choose a mixture of systems to deliver
> Internet to customers, including BPL, fiber or wireless.
> 
> Customers, meanwhile, will probably just care whether it works and
> what they'll get charged.
> 
> GreyStone plans to study consumer demand as it expands its trial in
> Douglasville. Already, Purcell has found plenty of interest in the
> upscale suburban homes of Chapel Hills.
> 
> "We went door-to-door, asking if anybody would be interested," he
> said. Of 24 houses, 17 owners said yes to GreyStone's trial and will
> soon start testing the service.
> 
> Interference bugs ham radio users
> 
> Given that it's an old technology, the future of ham radio already
> looks mighty uncertain to some.
> 
> Now the dwindling number of ham adherents are worried the potential
> growth of broadband over power line, or BPL, will hurt their small
> world even more.
> 
> As power companies continue to pursue BPL, ham radio devotees are
> lobbying to make sure they aren't tuned out.
> 
> The problem: Some BPL systems use radio waves within the same
> frequency range as amateur radio, causing interference.
> 
> "Hams are not against BPL in general. We're against interference,"
> said Allen Pitts, a spokesman for ARRL, the National Organization for
> Amateur Radio. "It's a very big topic."
> 
> The Federal Communications Commission has said it supports the
> development of BPL systems, but the agency also wants to protect
> licensed radio users from interference.
> 
> Bob Gerardi, manager of power line communications for Duke Power in
> Charlotte, said there were some early problems with BPL's interference
> with amateur radio. "The new generation of the technology really has
> addressed that issue," he said.
> 
> Nonetheless, those in amateur radio are watching closely. Pitts said
> there are still about 660,000 licensed ham radio operators in the
> United States. He guesses around 450,000 are active users.
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