 klassik
join:2002-09-02
Pittsburgh, PA | Penn Hills I wonder if they'll offer this to Penn Hills too. | |
| 
h_i
@167.191.x.x
thumbs down from:
Andrew J 
| test markets for BPL I'm always hearing about BPL trails...is there no results from all those other "trial" markets? | |
|  | markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO | Re: test markets for BPL yes, trials do lead to deployment. its mostly being deployed in certain communities than outright all the town atm though. | |
| |
Nanov
@iwv.com
thumbs down from:
Andrew J
| You are right - there are many trials but few results. Right now there are exactly 2 BPL commercial deployments in the US, and even those are tiny when you look at the actual number of subscribers vs. the numbers of homes passed or the ultimate target for number of homes passed which the companies typically advertise.
BPL is a lot of hot air and will continue to be so for at least a few more years (at best). | |
| | |
4BPL
|  Re: Ambient Enters California Market
Thursday July 21, 4:30 pm ET
SDG&E Selects Ambient to Assess BPL Technology
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 21, 2005--Ambient Corporation (OTCBB: ABTG - News), a leader in Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) solutions, today announced the BPL Trial Agreement it has entered into with San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E), a unit of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE - News), that will evaluate BPL-enabled consumer and utility based applications.
Ambient will work with SDG&E staff to develop an understanding of the required knowledge and skills to implement, design and install a fully operational BPL-enabled Ambient network on the SDG&E grid. Ambient's Network Management System (NMS) will be licensed by SDG&E to monitor the BPL network. Ambient technology will be purchased and installed by SDG&E to provide high-speed data services so that SDG&E may evaluate several applications including BPL-enabled meter reading.
John J. Joyce, President and CEO of Ambient, stated, "We believe this is a significant opportunity for Ambient to demonstrate how our solution may play a role in helping to fulfill the Advanced Metering Initiative (AMI) set forth by California's Energy Commission (CEC) and Public Utility Commission (CPUC). California's energy vision set forth by these two commissions is unique as it focuses on customer-oriented or demand-side solutions, seeking to establish a technology and pricing policy foundation that links customer rates with the market price for energy. Our goal is to establish a BPL network in the state where the Public Utility Commission has clearly expressed an interest in evaluating BPL technologies for better serving the utility's customers."
»biz.yahoo.com/bw/050721/215911.html?.v=1 | |
| | | 
rblprd
join:2001-05-02
Arlington, TX
|  Re: Ham operators must have been asleep at switch
If they can clean it up and make it viable in a monetary sense and can make it passed the fact that they have to install a repeater on the line that cost 5 grand every thousand feet or so. Then I am sure many in the Ham ranks would love to see it. But as BPL is right now it is just people who are trying to make money by lying cheating and stealing there way in to the market.
Sorry for the ramble, but this subject is a pet peeve of mine :/
John
N5BSD | |
| | |
peace2all
|  Re: Ham operators and AMBIENT BPL working together
Offering Internet access to public might follow
By Craig D. Rose
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 22, 2005
»www.signonsandiego.com/news/busi···dge.html
San Diego Gas & Electric said yesterday that it will launch a small, pilot project in September to provide broadband access over its power lines, marking the first California trial of a technology that could someday make every electrical outlet a portal to the Internet.
SDG&E said its test will be limited to about 10 company employees, who will use the technology to monitor electric-grid conditions and control equipment in the Kearny Mesa area, where SDG&E has its offices.
That would make SDG&E's test program of broadband over power line, or BPL, more limited than others around the country, where the offerings have advanced to providing Internet access to some members of the public.
Most computer users now obtain high-speed Internet access through telephone lines or television cables. Accessing the Internet through power lines holds the potential both for higher speed and lower cost, as well as expanding broadband access to regions where cable television is unavailable or phone companies aren't offering such service.
While SDG&E noted the potential for wide applications of BPL technology, it declined to speculate on when or if it might move to offer Internet access to the public.
"This is a proof-of-concept test, so there's no need to involve a large number of people," said Ed Van Herik, an SDG&E spokesman. "It would be premature to speculate about the consumer market."
He said BPL was one of the possible technologies the company is considering to link the advanced electric meters the company is proposing to install across its customer base. The BPL test project will be paid for by the utility's shareholders and not its customers, Van Herik said.
The utility is working on the pilot project with ham radio operators, he said. Tests elsewhere of BPL have created interference on amateur radio bands.
The California Public Utilities Commission has been urging the state's utilities to move forward with BPL testing.
Susan Kennedy, a member of the commission, said the PUC has been frustrated to see California, typically a technology leader, trail other states in exploring this new avenue for Internet access.
"For the home of Qualcomm and Silicon Valley to be following in the tail wind of eastern states is criminal," Kennedy said.
But the utilities have complained that regulatory uncertainty has kept them from moving faster, she said. The PUC, for its part, is hoping to move faster in clarifying a regulatory framework that would allow the technology to be developed.
In the meantime, Kennedy said she was strongly encouraging the utilities to use shareholder money, not ratepayer funding, in developing BPL.
"They should take the risk and reap the rewards," she said. Kennedy said BPL might offer faster two-way Internet speeds – uploading and downloading – than other technologies.
Michael Shames, executive director of San Diego's Utility Consumers' Action Network, said he believes BPL holds the potential to significantly reduce the cost to the public of high-speed Internet access.
The consumer advocate said he was disappointed that SDG&E had not undertaken a broader pilot project.
"I would have liked them to test an entire neighborhood or commercial or industrial district," Shames said. "The word to best describe this proposal is half-hearted."
About 40 utilities around the country have run or plan to run conduct tests. They include a municipally owned utility in Manassas, Va., and an investor-owned utility in Cincinnati that offer Internet access to the public.
In recent weeks, moreover, companies including Google, IBM and Motorola have announced investments in BPL.
Pacific Gas and Electric was poised to become the first California utility to launch a BPL project last year, but the project was scrapped when AT&T, the utility's partner in the pilot project, pulled out of the consumer market. | |
| | | |
rblprd
join:2001-05-02
Arlington, TX | Re: Ham operators and AMBIENT BPL working together | |
| 
Noah Vail
Premium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| Come ON BPL Will you just FAIL and DIE already!
I don't care if they eventually get all the bugs worked out!
So what if you ultimately lower the overall cost of broadband?
You just need to GO AWAY!
Why?
Well,uh.
Cause flamers here say so. THATS WHY!
There. That showed you.
NV
--
Abortion: It's really a Republican plot to thin the liberal herd! | |
| | 
rf_engineer
join:2003-08-04
USA
| Re: Come ON BPL said by Noah Vail :Will you just FAIL and DIE already! I don't care if they eventually get all the bugs worked out! So what if you ultimately lower the overall cost of broadband? Will it, though? Perhaps the fear of competition will lower cable and DSL prices, but BPL has yet to prove it's more cost effective or can even keep up with growing bandwidth needs.
You just need to GO AWAY!
Why?
Well,uh.
Cause flamers here say so. THATS WHY!
There's a bit more to the argument against BPL. You have to ask why after years and years of development, BPL is still in trials with few systems going commercial, despite the demand for broadband being greater than ever. While there are bugs to be worked out in any new technology, BPL is not new and the bugs are inherent to the medium selected. Do we continue to spin our wheels following a path that is a dead end?
I have to ask why BPL with its history of being a bad neighbor to wireless spectrum, false starts, and questionable claims, why does it have to be deployed? Because you say so? | |
| lovewomen
join:2003-08-07
Springfield, VA | BPL Trails I hope it exceeds in a big way but I expect the Ham operators will try to kill it as fast as possible. | |
| | clickie
join:2005-05-22
Monroe, MI | Re: BPL Trails Why, are you interested in 500 kbps Internet connectivity? | |
| 
gogeta6
join:2002-06-20
San Diego, CA
clubs:
| Waste of time Only one zip code number off (92122 vs 92123).
But this doesn't matter at all. Cox and RR cover everywhere populated here as well as sbc and probably other dsl providers. Maybe it has some place as a inexpensive alternative to sdsl for businesses.
SDG&E should worry about making our power cheaper. | |
| | Nighttime
join:2001-11-30
| Re: Waste of time If they want to do a test then let them run it out to Campo, Mountain Empire and Boulevard. ABout 60 miles east of SD. Good test and good rural area. Oh thats right. They would be string repeater for years out that way!
As state above Cox, RR and SBC have full coverage. Its just SDG&E thinking they own and opperate SD county! | |
| 
Deckoh
i have..so there for i have
Premium
join:2002-07-24
San Diego, CA | .... shezz cheaper would be good.. and today we are a high engery level alert  | |
| | fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20 | Re: .... So does this mean that California may be subject to Broadband rolling blackouts?  :D | |
|
Deckoh
i have..so there for i have
Premium
join:2002-07-24
San Diego, CA | re:... lol, imangin that  | |
| 
snorpus
join:2000-10-02
Export, PA
| FYI Monroeville is a middle to upper-middle class suburb of Pittsburgh, about 15 miles east of "The Point" (downtown). Already served by cable (Comcast?) and Verizon DSL. 60hz distribution is a mixture of overhead and buried.
Absolutely no pub on any of the local news websites I just checked, although there are stories on the birth of a baby penguin at the zoo, and the installation of a new Cray XT3 Supercomputer. | |
| | 
EnzonE
join:2000-03-23
Indiana, PA | Re: FYI Heck yeah, the Cray XT3 is proudly named BIG BEN featuring Steeler colors, woo! =) | |
| | kubus
join:2000-12-22
Irwin, PA | Slow news Friday in Da Burgh, what else is new. | |
|
newton2
| another Broadband over Power line conference?
September 11-14, 2005
Omni Dallas Park West
Dallas, Texas
Sponsored by: Motorola, Mitsubishi, Idacomm, Current Communications
»www.uplc.utc.org/page/63252/ | |
| 
MaxSmart420
join:2005-03-11
Export, PA
| Duquesne BB So does anyone actually have this service? It supposedly went live Aug 8th. I preregistered for it and havent heard anything back yet. If youre a customer of this service, I would definately be interested in hearing your feedback as im considering adding it as a 3rd wan link for my home net. thanks. | |
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San Diego & Pittsburgh BPL Trials
·
Ham operators must have been asleep at switch