BPL- New Life or "Stick A Fork In It"

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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:06:47 -0800 (PST)
From: Curt Phillips W4CP <robocurt@yahoo.com>
Subject: [Swlfest] BPL- New Life or "Stick A Fork In It"
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NEW LIFE FOR BPL
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http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/cip/?p=453&nr=VDC
 
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Stick a fork in it: a broadband over powerline post mortem
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http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081023-stick-a-fork-in-it-a-broadband-over-powerline-post-mortem.html
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The full stories are at the links, there are excerpts below:
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NEW LIFE FOR BPL
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For years, the broadband over powerline (BPL) sector has tried to gain a firm footing. The idea is that a low level of broadband connectivity ? somewhere north of dialup and south of DSL and cable modems ? can be provisioned through the power system and in-home electrical wiring. The electrical industry would gain both from broadband revenue and the closer monitoring, measurement and control of power distribution.
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BPL never quite worked out. However, the communications and power industries still see sparks when they are around each other. Google has joined the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG), a group that includes companies that make sophisticated metering and demand control equipment.
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[snip]
Perhaps BPL is not dead. IBM said that it is partnering with International Broadband Electric Communications (IBEC) to deploy the platform at electric cooperatives in the east. Much of the electrical grid is comprised of rural cooperatives. BPL is particularly enticing for these areas, which often lack broadband connectivity. BPL has encountered disappointments and it may work this time because of better technology ? that, clearly, is where Big Blue comes in ? and the rural focus.
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Though even its most enthusiastic fan wouldn?t say that BPL has lived up to expectations, there are some projects under way. For instance, the Midwest Energy Cooperative, working under a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is deploying the technology in its 12-county Michigan, Indiana and Ohio footprint, with services starting early next year.
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Stick a fork in it: a broadband over powerline post mortem
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Broadband over powerline (BPL) has joined the choir invisible, is pushing up the daisies, is an ex-broadband technology. Smart grids, which don't require broadband speeds, are moving forward, however.
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[snip]
Broadband Reports picked up on a story from last week about Manassas, Virginia's BPL network, which was one of the earliest markets, and which never attracted more than several hundred subscribers. Local amateur radio operators (hams) complained bitterly about early generations of BPL equipment, which they alleged caused interference on licensed bands. (Hams use bands in which they've been granted primary or secondary licenses, giving them priority over unintentional emitters?almost everything that carries electricity is such?and unlicensed uses, such as WiFi, where unlicensed users have access to the same frequencies.)
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The Manassas operator, Comtek, tried to sell its network to Smart Grid LLC earlier this year, but the deal didn't go through. The city council opted to fund the network for the next couple of years to ease customers off and test its own smart-grid applications.
 
[snip]
?Why did BPL implode? It's pretty clear that competition from newer fiber-to-the-home and to the node networks (Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse, to name two), as well as increased speeds now possible on DSL and cable systems left BPL an expensive and unattractive option.
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The head of Current told me in 2006 that he could feed three channels of 30Mbps over powerlines from a given substation. Substations serve from a few hundred people in rural areas to 20,000 in dense urban neighborhoods. An aggregate of 100Mbps for 20,000 sounds paltry, but the technology allowed subdividing sections by installing data isolators on the lines into smaller hunks.
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It's unclear whether that approach worked in reality, as despite my efforts to get follow up information from Current starting in December 2006, I never heard another peep about actual performance, subscribers signed up, or any other metrics. The company's site now focuses on smart-grid applications.
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[snip]
Let's not mourn BPL's passing too much. It was never even an also-ran technology, because it didn't run much. Its tests and inroads will likely lead to large-scale smart-grid adoption. In Texas, TXU-cum-Oncor purchased what Current deployed, and is perfectly happy to push forward and reap the savings in that hot climate. Anywhere there's air conditioning, smart grids will likely propser.
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FYI.
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73,
Curt Phillips W4CP
Raleigh, NC USA
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year.
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