[BC] The FCC bends over...AGAIN

[R A Meuser]

That is only partially true. The power company has a big advantage over 
others who use carrier current, they have couplers to bypass the 
transformers. They also have more power to play with. That being said, 
it does appear that BPL is not an economic thing to deploy in rural areas.

  I think someone already suggested that the power companies would be 
better off leveraging their rights of way and use more traditional 
technologies to deliver Internet service. Given the spacing of their 
poles and towers, they could deploy very high microwave frequencies or 
even infrared light. Those technologies would not be as viable for other 
providers.  You could use frequencies above 50 GHz or Infrared for the 
trunk and 38 GHz pole to house. Underground construction is a different 
discussion but then those people most likely already have one or more 
services in place.


Broadcast List wrote:
> Carrier Current doesn't go through the transformers, so it is  naturally 
> limited in distance.  It IS possible to couple it over the  transformer, 
> but a the power limits allowed it never goes more than  400 yards.
> 
> The bottom line is that it was intended as the "last mile"  connection, 
> between the street and the home.  Initially they may have  had greater 
> plans, but those darned laws of physics...
> 
> --chip
> 
> On Oct 25, 2007, at 8:35 AM, broadcast-request at radiolists.net wrote:
> 
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:15:44 -0500
>> From: "Jerry Mathis" <thebeaver32 at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [BC] The FCC bends over...AGAIN
>> To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
>> Message-ID:
>>     <92ab12a60710241615s13a160f0vadfe82f59b962d91 at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>>
>> On 10/24/07, Bill Harms <philcobill at verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that one of the  biggest
>>> selling points for BPL was that it would hook up users in rural areas
>>> that would not have ground-based Internet otherwise.  I am talking  
>>> about
>>> the wide open spaces in the West especially.
>>>
>>> Bill
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes, it was. But they discovered it's too difficult, or too  
>> expensive, or
>> both, to do BPL that way, because the signal has to be amplified and
>> re-transmitted every little whipstitch. So then it appears they  want to
>> serve customers CLOSE BY.
>>
>> After a little research, and a lot of common sense, I think BPL is  just
>> plain bad technology. It was undoubtedly thought up by someone with  
>> little
>> knowledge of data transmission and RF systems, and a lot of time on  his
>> hands, who was looking for a way to make a quick buck. We saw the same
>> stupid kind of thinking with the idea for radios in ambulances and  
>> emergency
>> vehicles to transmit a wideband warning signal. Someone wanting to  
>> make a
>> quick buck regardless of the laws of physics and the resulting  
>> unintended
>> consequences.
>>
>> -- 
>> Jerry Mathis