Broadband Over Power Lines: Coming Soon?

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "With technology improving and costs droppings, News.com offers up an interesting report on renewed interest in delivering broadband Internet access via power lines (a technology known as BPL). Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a new set of rules for utility companies that might want to offer BPL services as a way to 'encourage broadband for the entire United States' -- particularly hard-to-reach rural areas. As the article notes, EarthLink has already started testing BPL service in using power lines leased in Wake County, North Carolina. Could cable and DSL face a new competitor in the broadband market in the near future?"

BPL Bad

[dieman]

It tramples over many frequencies used by FEMA and Ham Operators. Ick!

Similar article here...

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

A recent Slashdot article [slashdot.org] covered this topic.

Sound great....

[DjMd]

This sounds great I can't see any problems with this... Oh wait yes I do [slashdot.org]

Switzerland

[roady]

We have had Powerline Communications (PLC) [eefpowernet.ch] in Switzerland since 2001 already.
Sorry, the link is in French or German only.

Re:Competition?

[RGautier]

That's not true - DSL service is not available in many older suburban areas, much less rural areas. And cable service has virtually no competition in some of these areas, keeping pricing high. By offering BPL in these areas, cable will finally have competition.

Already here

[PrionPryon]

The city of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario already has a functioning system as discussed in this article [thestar.com].

Re:BPL Bad

[loucura!]

The good news is that Ham frequencies trample back, and as a Federally licensed operator, your traffic takes precedence to theirs, and since the stuff will be regulated under Part 15, they will be responsible for all the interference. It probably won't endear you to the neighbors though.

Already running in Hong Kong

[xstein]

Hutchison Global Communications, a Hong Kong based telecommunications company and ISP, has been offering broadband internet access [hgc.com.hk] to Hong Kong residents over their power lines for over a year now [cnet.com].

At downstream bandwidth upwards of 1.5mbits (and infrastructure to cater to upgrades of up to 10mbits) and at a cost of less than US$18/month, the service has been quite successful thus far, and as a subscriber, I cannot recall a single outage due to problems with the power lines (and not trouble at their network centres or regularly scheduled maintenance operations).

Re:Already here

[TheSync]

This is interesting: "Wyant is quick to point out PUC won't be using power lines to deliver Internet access directly into the home. Instead, the company is installing wireless access points along its medium-voltage lines in densely populated residential areas."

Re:oh sure, great...

[zerocool^]

trying to power a desktop computer for 8 hours when your power's out requires something a bit more expensive than a small UPS.


1.) Purchase small ups. Or, get one used from ebay.

2.) Borrow someone's voltmeter.

3.) Open UPS, figure out how much voltage the batteries have (ballpark - if it's 26, it probably means 24, I've never seen a UPS that had a voltage not a multiple of 12, 26 probably means charging voltage).

4.) Unplug batteries. Hook wires up to battery plugs, snake wires outside of UPS.

5.) Purchase 12 volt 135 amp-hour deep-cycle marine batteries (1 per 12 volts of ups battery, obviously). Alternatively, if you don't want to keep distilled water hanging around, go online or to a "battery store" (i.e. batteries plus) and buy sealed lead acid batteries (which probably will cost more for less amp-hours).

6.) Wire up external batteries in series to bring total voltage to standard for UPS.

Congratulations, your 12 amp-hour UPS has just been upgraded to 135 amp-hours. For more power, wire in additional serieses in paralell (not reccomended unless you have a good understanding of charging currents and regulation of power across battery banks).

~Will

Available in my hometown

[dtio]

In some residential areas of Madrid (Spain) you can currently get a symetric (600 Kbps upload and download) internet access via power lines for 39 euros/month. Here they call this technology Power Line Communications (PLC) but I think it's the same as BPL.

I don't know how it works though, I use regular DSL access.

You can get more info here: http://www.neo.es (in spanish).

Re:Christ, WE KNOW

[srhuston]

If you need a hobby, get a CB or something, but the rest of us want our internet.

We *HAVE* a hobby, and it's amateur radio. Try to (legally) use a CB to talk to someone half way across the world, it's not happening.

While I'm new to the debate about BPL and its effects on radio frequencies, I don't think the FCC would allow for something like this if it would completely kill other, legitimate uses of radio (such as amateur frequencies and FEMA, as the grandparent post mentioned). And either way, according to ARRL [arrl.org], this is a Notice of Proposed Rule Making, meaning "We're thinking about deciding on this issue, so let us know what your feelings are", not necessarily "This is what's going to happen."

FTTH

[DOCStoobie]

FTTH is a more likely competitor to DSL/Cable, I doubt that powerlines can crank out enough bandwidth to compete, once FTTH and Cable crank out more bandwidth, (See DOCSIS 2.0 http://www.cedmagazine.com/ced/2002/0602/06wc.htm) both DSL and Power lines will be out of the game.

Side note about BPL modems

[MC68040]

Vendors like D-link (who are a major home-user internet router, switches, wlan gateways etc vendor) has already started since some time a BPL modem manufacturing line.
The modems are available for import from china currently, and they're quite affordable.

Just though it might be interesting, as the technology is already in use in some parts of the world so that everything is "there" that needs to be there for it to be implented.

Re:Stupid

[zaren]

If you have phone lines you can use DSL.

If you're happy spending $100 a month for a DSL connection that's only 2x as fast as dial-up (like what's available to me, 24k from the CO), then sure.

Re:Don't care

[srhuston]

Okay, so we're flaming today. Got the right underwear ready...

Maybe I should be clearer: none of us care about your hobby.

Maybe I should be clearer: I don't care about your internet access.

But as for a very few people using a fairly wide band for hobby use, well, I couldn't think of a poorer use of spectrum.

Hmm... let's see:

160M: 200kHz
80M: 500kHz
40M: 300kHz
30M: 50kHz
20M: 350kHz
15M: 450kHz
12M: 100kHz
10M: 1.7MHz

"Wide band"? Where? Not until you get up to 2M (4MHz) and 70cm (30MHz), and I don't think those are even going to be affected by BPL. Your cell or cordless phone uses much more bandwidth than any of the above frequencies.

*plonk*

Read the actual FCC notice (link)

[bonnyman]

There are many confused and mis-informed comments on this subject here. If someone's really interested, they can take about 15 minutes to read the actual text [fcc.gov] of the FCC's notice of proposed rule making (NPRM).

I've got more background [blogspot.com] on my blog, which cover BPL, FTTH and wireless broadband news. (You can also search the archives using the built-in search function).

Finally, the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology had a draft article [fcc.gov] on the technology and legal issues that was posted on the FCC's web site a month or two ago.

Wireless Internet

[texchanchan]

Wireless Internet service providers, such as the one I work for (Wiacomm [wiacomm.net], serving parts of North Texas), provide high-speed Internet to areas with no cable or DSL service. Several things distinguish WISPs from satellite: Generally it costs less, it's usually run by someone local, the lag is much smaller because the signal is going a few miles away, not to geosynchronous orbit, and. . . Wireless Internet works during bad weather!

To find out more about wireless Internet:

• The WISP forum [dslreports.com] on Broadband Reports [broadbandreports.com] (an excellent resource for all kinds of fast Internet)
• The WISP users forum [dslreports.com] on BBR
• Directory [part-15.org] of WISPs at Part-15.org [part-15.org]
• Another nationwide directory [onelasvegas.com] of WISPs
• Alvarion's [alvarion-usa.com] broadband wireless access site - some good information in their product descriptions and white papers

--C. Crowley, Wiacomm, Inc. "Wiacomm_CC" on BBR

I forgot the link

[Pan T. Hose]

Sorry, quoting my post I once again forgot the link. It's The Electric Kool-Aid Bandwidth Test [wired.com] by Evan Ratliff, Wired [wired.com], November 2001. Everyone who is interested in this story should read the whole article. I quoted only few short fragments.

The most important point about Broadband Over Power Lines is why anyone started to even think about building it. We have to ask that question before we start to talk about interference and other obvious details. Was it because most of potential Internet users don't have telephone lines? No. It was because we cannot have billion gigabits per second using copper, while according to Luke Stewart with power lines we somehow can.

Damn thought that was Australia....

[quinkin]

Well good on the Austrians (and Japanese, and etc.). Funnily enough I agree that emergency communication is more important than more places to receive high speed spam. Have we all seen the graphical representation of BPL's effects [arrl.org]?

I am yet to see any sort of comprehensive study on the environmental effects of modulating power lines (a damn difficult task without BPL in the mix), there has been a lot of FUD [slashdot.org] but very little research. I do not know what rating power lines they intend to transmit these signals over, but I have spent many an interesting hour reading about the effects that the existing 50-60Hz AC current has on the ionised air around high tension power lines. Regardless of the more esoteric "corona flow" and "ionic squirt" of high voltage lines, it is a bad idea to expand our power lines into higher frequencies.
The non-ionizing portion of the spectrum can be subdivided into:

• The optical radiation portion, where electron excitation can occur (visible light, infrared light)
• The portion where the wavelength is smaller than the body, and heating via induced currents can occur (MW and higher-frequency RF).
• The portion where the wavelength is much larger than the body, and heating via induced currents seldom occurs (lower-frequency RF, power frequencies, static fields).

Wavelength bigger than body = good.
Wavelength smaller than body = bad.

Heh ok, tinhat off now. :)

Q.

A few cautions on your "plan"

[Ellis D. Tripp]

1:)The charging circuitry inside the UPS is designed only to charge the internal battery bank. By adding a huge string of internal batteries, you very well may be overloading the charger. 2:)The inverter circuitry inside the UPS is no doubt designed for limited duty cycle. Running it on a long-term basis (longer than the internal battery would have powered it) will require upgraded heatsinks on the switching transistors, and improved cooling fans. If the inverter transformer is also underrated for continuous use, you will need to forced-air cool it, as well.

Re:Why is this an issue

[Anonymous Coward]

If for some reason the power goes out and doesn't work, then there will be no interference and you can use your HAM radio to your delight.

You think a person can just pick up a radio and use it correctly in an emergency? It not just about sending and receiving messages. It's about a coordinated network to efficiently pass vital communications. It takes practice to do it.

If the radios only work in emergencies, then nobody will have any opportunity to practice their skills. Then, when a real emergency occurs, the network will be worthless. Maybe you'll end up dead because of communication breakdown, but hey, at least you had your precious internet.

FCC 2/12/04 meeting on BPL

[sdcmk]

Listen to the 2/12/04 FCC meeting at: http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/agendameetings.html [fcc.gov]

They discuss BPL and how they will deal with interference and questions regarding the regulation of BPL services. The key thing is that BPL should be compliant with Part 15 rules. A must listen.

Re:Christ, WE KNOW

[MaggieL]

If you need a hobby, get a CB or something, but the rest of us want our internet.

How clueful. Evidently you don't know CB (27 MHz) is interfered with by BPL also.

Re:Don't care

[Tony-A]

Maybe I should be clearer: none of us care about your hobby.

Wrong.

When things go wrong and none of the exotic high-speed stuff works, the hams can and do manage to get some word out when nothing else can get anything out. I'm not talking high-speed stuff like 300 baud modems either. When the choice is between a few words and no words, a few words is much better.

Broadband over power lines? Seems like you'd have better luck with gigabit ethernet over silver-satin telephone cables.

Re:BPL is vapourware!

[michael_cain]

They actually ran a trial a few miles away from me, but abandoned it because the bandwidth sucked (they could only get ~10mb across it reliably and that had to be shared between all customers...

While many of the other problems inherent with BPL can be addressed, this may be the real show-stopper in urban/suburban areas. OFDM can probably be tailored to avoid particular pieces of spectrum in specific physical areas where interference is an issue (eg, ham operators). Several of the vendors of this type of equipment claim that they now meet the FCC emission requirements (involving radiated power levels at distances of 1m, 3m and 9m from the wires) for unlicensed equipment. OTOH, if the power company has only pushed fiber out to their substations and must share a few Mbits of bandwidth on the power lines over thousands of subscribers, the overall performance will suck, particularly during high-load periods of the day (for cable modems, 7-10 PM local time). In areas that are so sparse that this is not an issue, the spacing distance between repeaters -- currently about 1km -- becomes an issue. How many repeaters must be installed to reach each subscriber?

IMO, if the FCC is looking to universal broadband service in the future, they're going to have to take the same tack they've always taken with phone service -- urban/suburban subscribers will pay a tax/fee to subsidize rural users.

Re:Christ, WE KNOW

[TheOtherChimeraTwin]

If there's a disaaster and you need to use a generator to power your Ham radio, there won't be any interference anymore anyway.

Yes, but the people you want to talk to probably still have power. The interference is on the receiving end.

International treaties and range of interference

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm, one thing I think needs to be pointed out..the frequencies we are talking about extend down to the H.F./Shortwave bands..at these frequencies, it is possible to communicate across the globe using extremely low power. Which means, first, that International Treaties on radio frequencies would need to be re-written, since the interference generated would be world-wide, which most countries would not be happy about. Second, the false assumption that if the power is out locally, the interference would disappear. This would not be the case. When you are talking about frequencies in the H.F./shortwave bands (roughly 2-30Mhz), transmitters as small as 1 watt (or smaller) can communicate across the globe. So, the drop in interference if local power is out would be minimal. The international agreements on radio spectrum usage, again, would never allow the U.S. to go ahead with such a plan.

Re:Christ, WE KNOW

[nick0909]

But before the power goes out the noise floor is up into the roof and no one can practice with their radios. Tuning in HF signals is not like punching numbers into your car stereo, its an art and requires listening to a voice or CW signal often just a bar or two over the static. All emergency services train before the event happens, and radio is no different.

KG6NMP
Search & Rescue
Sheriff Communications Reserve

Re:A few cautions on your "plan"

[zerocool^]

1.) Almost all UPS chargers, and certainly all that I've modded, charge by just pushing 1 or 2 extra volts down the line at a reasonable number of amps. Usually (load of attached equip + 2 amps or so). They charge as long as they are putting out under 26 volts (for 24 volt UPS's). When they hold 26-ish, the voltage from the unit drops to 24, and over time it equalizes. Plus, the amperage drops back to just what the equipment draws. There is no time factor here, it all just happens by natural laws of electrical flow. Charging larger batteries obviously takes longer, but it's of no consequence to the unit, all it knows is that the batteries don't yet read 26 volts.

2.) a good (or even marginal) quality inverter should be able to run for quite some time. As long as heat can be dissapated, it should be OK. As far as heat goes, when you mod a basic UPS like a tripplite, you take the old batteries out, so there's a lot more room for air to flow inside the casing. As far as like a rackmount UPS, such as an APC smart-UPS, there's usually a 120 MM fan that kicks on as soon as the inverter is on, or during a charging cycle.

Trust me, I've been doing this for years, and have yet to have problem one, except for occasional battery deaths due to natural causes, like being charged and discharged during a testing cycle once a month for 3 years, or human error such as overfilling a non-sealed battery.

~Will