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Broadband Over Powerline's Poster Child Pulling The Plug
Years later BPL's proponents have gone, but shoddy city network remains...

Manassas, Virginia was the first US city to see a real, non-trial launch of broadband over powerline (BPL) technology. However, BPL has floundered the last few years because of its inherent potential for interference with amateur and emergency radio, its irrelevance in the face of next-generation speeds, and the unavoidable fact that many utilities simply didn't want to be broadband providers.

After buying the flailing network from companies who once heralded it as proof BPL was a major broadband player, the city has spent a total of $1.6 million on it, and pour in an additional $100,000 or so every month. With city residents lured away by faster alternatives, leaders have had the network on life support for months, and are still debating over whether to pull the plug:
quote:
"I think we need to get out of BPL forthwith," Way said Tuesday at a city council special meeting. "It's not a good product. The whole business is not financially sound and it never has been." With the $24.95-a-month service averaging fewer than 600 residential customers and roughly 50 business customers a month, there was not enough money coming in for salaries, maintenance and recouping the initial investment. "It's costing a little more to maintain the system than we projected in the budget," Moon said. "The original projections were that the customer base would be double this."
It's unfortunate for Manassas, which was hailed by BPL hardware vendors and former FCC boss Michael Powell as the pinnacle of broadband achievement just five years ago. Those companies (like Comtek, who took at adversarial role against those worried about interference) have since moved on to pitch their hardware to energy utilities as part of smart energy networking solutions. Powell, who once called BPL the "great broadband hope," has since moved on to a life of highly paid work at telecom think tanks. The city however still sits struggling with a technology and cash-guzzling network that's become entirely irrelevant.

Most recommended from 24 comments



kv5e
Ride Free
Premium Member
join:2001-12-04
Mesquite, TX

3 recommendations

kv5e

Premium Member

I feel the warmth over the demise

Click for full size
Hmmmm...Toasty
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

2 recommendations

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey,

..GOODBYE!

Crappy tech that had no future. Glad to see it gone.