[1st-mile-nm] BPL challenges

[Dale Carstensen]

I haven't tried even the limited distance BPL equipment, but I would
think putting internet traffic on power lines on a widespread basis
would create the radio interference hams (radio amateurs) predict.
All those signals on unshielded wires with lots of corroded or
otherwise non-ideal connections, arbitrary topology, what a nightmare.

On the other hand, aerial distribution of fiber internet by electric
utilities seems to me to be a great wake-up call for our telephone
monopolies.  Let's get some competition into the business of
inter-city internet transit!

>I spoke to a rural electric coop recently that has been experimenting  
>with BPL from several vendors for three years, and is still not able  
>to get more than a couple hundred kilobits of bandwidth when the  
>distances are more than a mile or two from the transformer.  Bandwidth  
>issues aside, a weakness of BPL appears to be that a wide area  
>deployment can cost a significant fraction of what you would spend for  
>fiber or a hybrid fiber/wireless deployment.
>
>We're working on a project right now with a public electric utility  
>that has decided to run fiber to substations in its rural areas and  
>then deply WiMax both for broadband but also for electric power  
>management and meter reading, using low power wireless close to the  
>home for the meter reading stuff.
>
>In an open services network, the electric utility can become an anchor  
>tenant for AMI/AMR services.
>
>Andrew
>
>On Apr 7, 2008, at 11:56 PM, Dale Carstensen wrote:
>
>>
>> The xcel energy and current group BPL (Broadband over Power
>> Lines) stuff seems to me to be not BPL, but rather NPL (Narrowband
>> over Power Lines) for such purposes as remote meter reading,
>> distribution control (hmm, probably security problems here,
>> come to think of it, maybe financial chicanery could happen
>> with the meter reading, too) and management of non-utility
>> power generation (customers of power utilities selling
>> photovoltaic or wind or biomass electrical generation back
>> to the grid).
>
>-------------------------------------------------
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