rf_engineer
join:2003-08-04
USA
| reply to BF69
Re: Powerline Broadband
said by BF69  :said by 89707828 :said by feelthepain :Q: Is this, also, intended to span the broadband divide to rural America? A: No. Despite some uninformed punditry to the contrary, no attempt has been made to deploy this to the unwired, unbroadbanded masses in the sticks. Not yet. If they see they can make $$$ off off that then yes they will do it. And the money is there to be made. If prices are competitive why wouldn't people not in the sticks not want this option? Afterall unlike Verizon and FIOS which they have to lay out masive loads of new fiber the infrustructure is already there with BPL since 99.9% of homes have electricity. The problem is you need to get the Internet to the BPL feedpoints. BPL only goes a mile or two; it's not a long haul technology. And what do you use to get the Internet to the feedpoint....fiber or T1s  Also, the powerline is only one part of the BPL infrastructure. You need repeaters and feedpoints and you need to cleanup all the noise that's on the line to get it to work. If it was as easy as turning on a switch, everyone that has electricity would have BPL and it would be price competitive. However after three years of non-stop promotion and about six years of development before that, BPL is still hovering around 5,500 customers and you can count the number of rural systems on one hand. ( Anyone know how many customers DSL or cable had after nine years? ) |
