Optimized
Premium,Mod
join:2001-05-03
Pompton Lakes, NJ
clubs:
Host:
RCN
Patriot Media
Cellphones, Provid..
Other Manufacturers
|  [PLC] Anyone using Broadband-Over-Powerlines?
I'm just curious if anyone here is actually using Broadband-Over-Powerlines?
If you are, could you please provide:
•The name of the provider
•Official website of provider
•City & State where you get the service
•Monthly Service Fee
•Download and Upload Speeds
•Reliability of connection
•Constructive feedback (NO Bashing Please)
•Any other information you feel may be helpful.
If I can gather enough info I'd like to write a news story on it.
Thanks In Advance!
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Chilly likes it |
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laffalot
Crunch Tsc
Premium,ExMod2004-7
join:2002-03-27
Scotland
clubs:
| Though not using it myself there is/was a trial about 6 moths ago in Scotland, some links that may be of assistance to you
»www.theregister.co.uk/2002/09/20···es_idea/
»www.theregister.co.uk/2002/06/10···s_trial/
and here is a provider in Scotland »www.hydro.co.uk/broadband/index.asp
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Click Me |
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Optimized
Premium,Mod
join:2001-05-03
Pompton Lakes, NJ
clubs:
Host:
RCN
Patriot Media
Cellphones, Provid..
Other Manufacturers
| reply to Optimized
»www.prospectstreet.com/psb/Produ···ices.htm (Thanks Karl Bode   )
Prospect Street Broadband-over-Power-Line (BPL)™
Best Broadband Value on the Market
Save 20% to 40% Over Comparable Offerings
Switch from Slow Dial-up
Switch from Expensive DSL or Cable Data
Only $26.95/month
FREE INSTALLATION - ($49.99 Installation Charge WAIVED)
FREE MODEM - ($2.00 Per Month Modem Charge WAIVED for 3 months)
SAVE $56.99 - Get High Speeds for Only Pennies More a Day Than Dial-up
•High-Speed Broadband Internet Access.
Much faster than dial-up. Experience the Internet the way it was meant to be…
•Always-On Service.
Connect instantly. No more waiting to dial, No more disconnects.
•Talk and Connect at the Same Time.
No more tying up phones. No more busy signal complaints from friends and family.
•Best Value Broadband on the Market.
No need to pay for second phone line.
•Mobility Throughout Your Home.
Plug in wherever there is a power outlet. No need to run cords through the house. No need for extra phone or cable jacks to be installed.
•Get Started Right Away.
Just plug your BPL modem into the wall and you're ready to get started.
•AOL Users.
You can keep your AOL address (possible $4.95 payment to AOL each month)
Your BPL Internet Service Includes:
•30-day money-back guarantee
•Unlimited Internet access
•24/7 technical support
•5 E-mail accounts, with 10MB of e-mail storage per account
•25MB of personal Web space
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Chilly likes it |
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boom0259
join:2003-04-14
Chicago, IL | what about power surges or ligting strikes or can someone pulg in though a surge protecter or ups »:www.apc.com |
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Esquire4
Wi-Fi For Everyone
join:2003-12-02
HK, Hongkong
1 edit | Greetings from Hongkong.
We have only one ISP here offering PLC or BPL connection.
»www.hgc.com.hk/eng/res_net_bb_powercom.html
I'm not using it but I used to work for the ISP that performed the joint testing with them back in 2002, so I can tell you a little bit about the performance - maxed out at about 1.8Mbps (up+down) at the time. Because the way it is setup, the performance varies, depending on the number of users are online at any given time in the building. From what I read in local forums, reliability is only so-so - probably due to connectivity problems its parent company HGC has been having.
Price wise, it is comparable to other local ISPs - around USD20/mth, or less.
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Sony Internet 6M ADSL connection: 6Mbps down/625Kbps up |
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Optimized
Premium,Mod
join:2001-05-03
Pompton Lakes, NJ
clubs: | Thanks for the informative post! |
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Vamp
5c077
Premium
join:2003-01-28
MD
 ·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | reply to Optimized
I'd like to see some speed results and latency from BPL .... Guess we're not going to see any real results for awhile. Sigh 
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:: My current desktop :: |
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Esquire4
Wi-Fi For Everyone
join:2003-12-02
HK, Hongkong |  bsr500, I LOVE YOUR WALLPAPER!!
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Vamp
5c077
Premium
join:2003-01-28
MD | for your request.. »img3.photobucket.com/albums/v12/···ie03.jpg  |
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Ryno
The Wanderer
Premium
join:2001-04-07
Danielsville, PA
 ·Verizon Online DSL
 ·RCN CABLE
| reply to Optimized
Power line technology must be closer than many think. A coworker just was informed he can get it and that the town of Bethlehem should be complete by the end of the month. This is 70,000 people. The surrounding area has been testing for a while. My guess would be 20-30k more. A hundred thousand people with access would be way more than anything else I've even come close to hearing about.
»www.pplbroadband.com/
I live miles from the cities but hope to get it soon too. My hopes are pinned on the fact that I no longer have a meter reader, they read it automatically over the network. |
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Ryno
The Wanderer
Premium
join:2001-04-07
Danielsville, PA | reply to Optimized
oh, btw. this is supposed to be 1.5 mb up/down. $34.95 without email service, $39.95 with. |
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wallaby
join:1999-12-16
Cincinnati, OH
 ·QuantumVoice
1 edit | reply to Optimized
Yep and have been for 9+ months. Here in Cincinnati we have CurreentLink from our local power co (Cinergy-CGE) which went from trial to full commercial roll-out in June 2004. I have the 2 Mps / 2 Mps service for $ 29. They offer various tiers of service which is more detailed at »www.current.net. It works much better than I thought it ever would! The up down speeds being the same is a first in our area (not including the old Northpoint/Covad disasters around here years past). I use an ethernet powerline adapter from Asoka (»www.asokausa.com). The wild thing is I can take my modem/adapter and visit a friends house or my office in the area and it works there! You can buy additonal (up to 4) modems and register their MAC address and use the service wherever they have in running - wild! Just plug into ANY outlet. Its something that eventually will get the attention of the cable/DSL camp! At home we still use a multi-WAN solution (Earthlink Cable 3 Mps - Zoomtown DSL 3 Mps/768 Kbps - CurrentLink Powerline 2 Mps/2 Mps through an Edimax 4 WAN port router) and I have the Powerline service on WAN port 1 as primary in the load balance setup. Thumbs up so far! We are thinking of dropping the Cable as its the priciest at $ 41.95? and going back to a Dual WAN solution. |
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Snags69
@12.166.x.x
| reply to Ryno
I just got PPLBroadband. Pretty neat, as my apartment complex is RCN-only and they have one-way cable modems only here. Verizon has the DSL equipment, but they only do 768k here, and even then only if you're lucky (a lot of
PPL's BPL is through a WiFi hotspot on the utility pole. They're still rolling it out (they turned on my local node just for me but it seems to be okay so far. Authentication is by MAC address, and the speed is 2576kb/477kb (kbits/sec down/up). Probably it'll be throttled to 1.5 Mb down soon. Their hotspot is connected by a reported 45 Mb to the substation, which has fiber.
I'm using the Linksys WGA11B Wireless-B Game Adaptor, attached to my router, as the connection. It seemed prudent. The WGA11B passes the MAC address of the router through, so that's what PPL needed for authenticating me.
Oh, one more thing. They give a private IP address behind a NAT firewall. What a pain. |
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daleray
join:2003-07-11
Durham, NC | yo north carolina get in 1 year no more t/w hahah 3 megs up and down for 34.99 a month go duke power |
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Ashley93
join:2004-08-09
Washington, DC
| reply to Optimized
There are quite a few studies out there that evaluate the utilities that are conducting BPL trials. I know United Telecom Council just completed one- you can find out more on their website: www.utc.org.
The United PowerLine Council also has a conference coming up that might be helpful for you. I know they are going to talk about the gamut of BPL issues, and they will be presenting case studies... The website there is bplconference.org I think.
I hope this is helpful! |
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hurricane74
join:2004-11-25
Athens, TN
| reply to Optimized
I think it is much more difficult to implement in North America as opposed to Eastern Europe.
First of all, in the early days of BPL, power transformers would not pass the signal.
Here in North America our local lines are running medium-high voltage, we have transformers that cut it down at almost every point of service for power, this is very hard to overcome for BPL, you would need a network node at every transformer, thus actually running network lines along side the power lines, what's the point?
In many parts of Europe the power system is different, the transformers are at the sub-station, the low voltage power is then distributed via local lines to points of service, this allows the network node to be placed at the substation and serve an entire neighborhood.
As I can see that somebody in here has BPL in Cincinnati, I am assuming my information is outdated, please reply and update/fill in the blanks for me. |
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Loker
Premium
join:2004-07-11
Fargo, ND
clubs: | reply to Optimized
I was talking to some of the engineers at AEP and they said they are investors with a company called Imperion I think and they do BPL and it is possible in the future AEP would do BPL but no current plans for it...just in case anyone was wondering |
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mfinn02
join:2002-09-10
Van, TX | reply to Optimized
Anyone seen any information from TXU Energy? I assume they will be the last to get on board since they service my area....lol |
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Joe_Anonymous
@comcast.net
|  reply to Optimized
Re: [PLC] Anyone using Broadband-Over-Powerlines?
Hi,
The technology of "Broad Band Over Powerline" is a real technology.
There is one company I can directly name in the USA, that is "PowerWAN", however the Chairman of this company has done some not good things to bring the company into near extiction.
The PowerWAN solution technology is a real "carrier class" technology and it is not an off the shelf products thrown into some box and then given to customers as "here is the hardware now it's your problem" but is a complete solution.
There are only very few companies who really understand and have real products, some go wireless, some through the wire, some around (by-pass)the distributor, some through the distributor, the real issue is what does the individual company can or can not provide as services and platform stability and all the claimed numbers need to be understood and verified because test situations are not the same as real world deployment.
The PowerWAN technology is a multi-platform and multi-service provider-capable and can read in-house meters, control even internal components (yes even your coffee maker)such as in factories or other institutions control individual components and manage even power resources distribution and allow the utilities companies to manage their services distributions and allocations form their offices.
The PowerWAN hardware was really meant for a very high security systems which is mostly applicable and financially feasible in the institutional and industrial markets.
Therefore the hardware costs, due to high security, makes it restrictive to the home user market and only little sense in being financially justified except that the individual home user wants to have the best of the best and is willing to pay for a carrier-class achitecture modem.
This however can be changed, to a lower level simple "Broad Band Over Power Line and Voice over Internet Telephony" service and makes it a lower-cost hardware which then makes it financially competitive and business sound for the home user market.
This whole "BPL thing" is a relatively new industry which is opening up with all the "hype and Hoopla" that goes along with the marketing types and world, however the real solutions are not defined clearly because no one wants to talk about this in a real way but want to keep the mystery and "secrets" clouding the whole industry.
It is an emerging industry and will be a near future for communications, IPTV, data and numerous other evolutions.
It is a real solution for the last mile because everywhere in the world there is wire, however I'd like to see anyone pull fiber or DSL to every home or apartment in New York city, impossible, but with the copper electric wires already there and you use to plug in your toaster, I can show you how to get data up-down loads at 5 to 40 times faster than T-1 just by using the same elctrical outlet plug and plugging in the modem and your computer into the modem.
Hope this has helped a little bit. |
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