Electric lines and gas pipes will carry Internet to Illinois town
By Jon Van
Tribune staff reporter

November 26, 2005

PRINCETON, Ill. -- Starting in December this town of 7,500 will begin
offering high-speed Internet service over the electrical lines that
power the city.

It is among a handful of communities nationwide to plunge into a new
technology called broadband over power lines, or BPL, that competes
with Internet connections provided by telephone and cable TV operators.
Combined with wireless technologies, broadband service delivered over
power lines--and perhaps one day even through natural gas
pipelines--raises the likelihood that going online anywhere at any time
for very low cost will soon be a reality.

The Princeton service, which began testing this spring, is being
watched by small communities across Illinois. One member of the
Illinois Commerce Commission hopes other towns will experiment with BPL
to spread Internet connectivity and drive down costs.

About 15 customers are served by Princeton's BPL test deployment, which
demonstrates the service is robust and works well, said Jason Bird,
superintendent of Princeton's municipal electric utility.

"From the utility's standpoint, this hasn't been difficult," he said.
"The equipment is similar to what we work with every day."

Customers seem to like the service, especially the in-house portability
BPL offers. A computer can move from one room to another and go online
simply by plugging its modem into any electrical outlet in the house.

"I'm much more active on the Interent now because the speed is much
better than with dial-up," said Leslie Lund, who began using BPL in
March. "I don't get interference, even when my husband uses his power
tools."

The electric line connections get their Internet signals from a 12-mile
loop of fiber that Princeton installed last year as a means of
attracting industrial development. After one factory left town in 2003
and the manager of another complained about the town's lack of advanced
communications infrastructure, the city decided it needed fiber, said
Mayor Keith Cain.

"We already had our own electric utility, so that gave us a real
advantage," he said. Since the city installed fiber and started testing
BPL the local cable and phone operators upgraded their systems and cut
service rates, he said.

One downside to Princeton's BPL experience has been an inability to get
enough equipment to begin the commercial rollout sooner, Cain said. The
town's BPL vendor ran into financial difficulty and stopped producing
equipment while it went into reorganization.

Under new ownership, the vendor now says it can ship the products
needed for the rollout, said Steve Brust, vice president of Connecting
Point Community Centers, the Internet service provider that manages
Princeton's broadband service.

"The equipment works fine, but it's proprietary," Brust said. "There
are a lot of companies in BPL right now, but there are no standards and
no one company dominates the market."

Lack of standards is common with any new technology, said Raymond
Blair, vice president for BPL initiatives for IBM Corp. Broadband
technologies like Wi-Fi that are based on standards enjoy popularity
because the equipment is interoperable and less expensive than
proprietary systems.

At least three industry-based committees are working toward BPL
standardization, Blair said. The emerging industry should benefit from
their work within a year or two, he said.

"The best case for BPL right now lies in creating a smart electrical
grid," Blair said. Utilities can spot trouble, read meters, improve
efficiencies and generally boost reliability once they install fiber to
monitor their grids, he said.

Once BPL standards are in place, equipment costs will drop, making a
stronger economic case for offering high-speed Internet to residences,
Blair said.

Robert Lieberman, a member of the Illinois Commerce Commission, said
the state has $5 million it will award to projects intended to extend
Internet connectivity.

There will be another $5 million available next year, and he hopes that
some BPL projects will receive a portion of that Digital Divide
infrastructure funding.

Also, Lieberman said, the ICC and state lawmakers need to provide
incentives to electric utilities to install smart grid equipment that
makes BPL to residential customers possible. Texas lawmakers recently
adopted such incentives, and legislators in New York are considering
doing so, he said.

Power lines aren't the Internet's only new avenue into homes. There's
also interest in using natural gas pipelines.

Broadband in gas, or BiG, has been proven to work in concept, although
field trials haven't yet been launched, said George West, a senior
analyst with West Technology Research Solutions, a market research firm
based in Mountain View, Calif.

BiG would rely upon ultra-wideband radio waves traveling through gas
pipes to bring Internet to customers. The Federal Communications
Commission approved ultra-wideband applications a few years ago but
requires they operate at very low power to avoid interference with
wireless phones and other appliances.

Pumping ultra-wideband signals along gas lines buried underground would
shield them from interference, enabling them to operate at higher
power, West said. "BiG has the potential to serve 18 million homes by
2010."

The ICC's Lieberman said he is intrigued by BiG.

"I'd love to see a project with People's Gas or Nicor to test this," he
said. "My theory is the more pipes you have to bring the Internet to
customers, the better for everyone."

off 2203?


--
Walt Novinger
Raleigh, NC USA
Kenwood R5000, Ten-Tec RX-320, RX-340
Sherwood SE-3 Mk III, Kiwa MAP, Timewave DSP-599zx, JPS ANC-4
"policy-ham" wrote in message
oups.com...
Electric lines and gas pipes will carry Internet to Illinois town
By Jon Van
Tribune staff reporter

November 26, 2005

PRINCETON, Ill. -- Starting in December this town of 7,500 will begin
offering high-speed Internet service over the electrical lines that
power the city.

It is among a handful of communities nationwide to plunge into a new
technology called broadband over power lines, or BPL, that competes
with Internet connections provided by telephone and cable TV operators.
Combined with wireless technologies, broadband service delivered over
power lines--and perhaps one day even through natural gas
pipelines--raises the likelihood that going online anywhere at any time
for very low cost will soon be a reality.

The Princeton service, which began testing this spring, is being
watched by small communities across Illinois. One member of the
Illinois Commerce Commission hopes other towns will experiment with BPL
to spread Internet connectivity and drive down costs.

About 15 customers are served by Princeton's BPL test deployment, which
demonstrates the service is robust and works well, said Jason Bird,
superintendent of Princeton's municipal electric utility.

"From the utility's standpoint, this hasn't been difficult," he said.
"The equipment is similar to what we work with every day."

Customers seem to like the service, especially the in-house portability
BPL offers. A computer can move from one room to another and go online
simply by plugging its modem into any electrical outlet in the house.

"I'm much more active on the Interent now because the speed is much
better than with dial-up," said Leslie Lund, who began using BPL in
March. "I don't get interference, even when my husband uses his power
tools."

The electric line connections get their Internet signals from a 12-mile
loop of fiber that Princeton installed last year as a means of
attracting industrial development. After one factory left town in 2003
and the manager of another complained about the town's lack of advanced
communications infrastructure, the city decided it needed fiber, said
Mayor Keith Cain.

"We already had our own electric utility, so that gave us a real
advantage," he said. Since the city installed fiber and started testing
BPL the local cable and phone operators upgraded their systems and cut
service rates, he said.

One downside to Princeton's BPL experience has been an inability to get
enough equipment to begin the commercial rollout sooner, Cain said. The
town's BPL vendor ran into financial difficulty and stopped producing
equipment while it went into reorganization.

Under new ownership, the vendor now says it can ship the products
needed for the rollout, said Steve Brust, vice president of Connecting
Point Community Centers, the Internet service provider that manages
Princeton's broadband service.

"The equipment works fine, but it's proprietary," Brust said. "There
are a lot of companies in BPL right now, but there are no standards and
no one company dominates the market."

Lack of standards is common with any new technology, said Raymond
Blair, vice president for BPL initiatives for IBM Corp. Broadband
technologies like Wi-Fi that are based on standards enjoy popularity
because the equipment is interoperable and less expensive than
proprietary systems.

At least three industry-based committees are working toward BPL
standardization, Blair said. The emerging industry should benefit from
their work within a year or two, he said.

"The best case for BPL right now lies in creating a smart electrical
grid," Blair said. Utilities can spot trouble, read meters, improve
efficiencies and generally boost reliability once they install fiber to
monitor their grids, he said.

Once BPL standards are in place, equipment costs will drop, making a
stronger economic case for offering high-speed Internet to residences,
Blair said.

Robert Lieberman, a member of the Illinois Commerce Commission, said
the state has $5 million it will award to projects intended to extend
Internet connectivity.

There will be another $5 million available next year, and he hopes that
some BPL projects will receive a portion of that Digital Divide
infrastructure funding.

Also, Lieberman said, the ICC and state lawmakers need to provide
incentives to electric utilities to install smart grid equipment that
makes BPL to residential customers possible. Texas lawmakers recently
adopted such incentives, and legislators in New York are considering
doing so, he said.

Power lines aren't the Internet's only new avenue into homes. There's
also interest in using natural gas pipelines.

Broadband in gas, or BiG, has been proven to work in concept, although
field trials haven't yet been launched, said George West, a senior
analyst with West Technology Research Solutions, a market research firm
based in Mountain View, Calif.

BiG would rely upon ultra-wideband radio waves traveling through gas
pipes to bring Internet to customers. The Federal Communications
Commission approved ultra-wideband applications a few years ago but
requires they operate at very low power to avoid interference with
wireless phones and other appliances.

Pumping ultra-wideband signals along gas lines buried underground would
shield them from interference, enabling them to operate at higher
power, West said. "BiG has the potential to serve 18 million homes by
2010."

The ICC's Lieberman said he is intrigued by BiG.

"I'd love to see a project with People's Gas or Nicor to test this," he
said. "My theory is the more pipes you have to bring the Internet to
customers, the better for everyone."

This is just great! Next they will be offering DSL through the sewer
lines. But, then again, this would be redundant!

FC

Sorry...finger fumble.

--
Walt Novinger
Raleigh, NC USA
Kenwood R5000, Ten-Tec RX-320, RX-340
Sherwood SE-3 Mk III, Kiwa MAP, Timewave DSP-599zx, JPS ANC-4
"Walt Novinger" wrote in message
om...
off 2203?


--
Walt Novinger
Raleigh, NC USA
Kenwood R5000, Ten-Tec RX-320, RX-340
Sherwood SE-3 Mk III, Kiwa MAP, Timewave DSP-599zx, JPS ANC-4
"policy-ham" wrote in message
oups.com...
Electric lines and gas pipes will carry Internet to Illinois town
By Jon Van
Tribune staff reporter

November 26, 2005

PRINCETON, Ill. -- Starting in December this town of 7,500 will begin
offering high-speed Internet service over the electrical lines that
power the city.

It is among a handful of communities nationwide to plunge into a new
technology called broadband over power lines, or BPL, that competes
with Internet connections provided by telephone and cable TV operators.
Combined with wireless technologies, broadband service delivered over
power lines--and perhaps one day even through natural gas
pipelines--raises the likelihood that going online anywhere at any time
for very low cost will soon be a reality.

The Princeton service, which began testing this spring, is being
watched by small communities across Illinois. One member of the
Illinois Commerce Commission hopes other towns will experiment with BPL
to spread Internet connectivity and drive down costs.

About 15 customers are served by Princeton's BPL test deployment, which
demonstrates the service is robust and works well, said Jason Bird,
superintendent of Princeton's municipal electric utility.

"From the utility's standpoint, this hasn't been difficult," he said.
"The equipment is similar to what we work with every day."

Customers seem to like the service, especially the in-house portability
BPL offers. A computer can move from one room to another and go online
simply by plugging its modem into any electrical outlet in the house.

"I'm much more active on the Interent now because the speed is much
better than with dial-up," said Leslie Lund, who began using BPL in
March. "I don't get interference, even when my husband uses his power
tools."

The electric line connections get their Internet signals from a 12-mile
loop of fiber that Princeton installed last year as a means of
attracting industrial development. After one factory left town in 2003
and the manager of another complained about the town's lack of advanced
communications infrastructure, the city decided it needed fiber, said
Mayor Keith Cain.

"We already had our own electric utility, so that gave us a real
advantage," he said. Since the city installed fiber and started testing
BPL the local cable and phone operators upgraded their systems and cut
service rates, he said.

One downside to Princeton's BPL experience has been an inability to get
enough equipment to begin the commercial rollout sooner, Cain said. The
town's BPL vendor ran into financial difficulty and stopped producing
equipment while it went into reorganization.

Under new ownership, the vendor now says it can ship the products
needed for the rollout, said Steve Brust, vice president of Connecting
Point Community Centers, the Internet service provider that manages
Princeton's broadband service.

"The equipment works fine, but it's proprietary," Brust said. "There
are a lot of companies in BPL right now, but there are no standards and
no one company dominates the market."

Lack of standards is common with any new technology, said Raymond
Blair, vice president for BPL initiatives for IBM Corp. Broadband
technologies like Wi-Fi that are based on standards enjoy popularity
because the equipment is interoperable and less expensive than
proprietary systems.

At least three industry-based committees are working toward BPL
standardization, Blair said. The emerging industry should benefit from
their work within a year or two, he said.

"The best case for BPL right now lies in creating a smart electrical
grid," Blair said. Utilities can spot trouble, read meters, improve
efficiencies and generally boost reliability once they install fiber to
monitor their grids, he said.

Once BPL standards are in place, equipment costs will drop, making a
stronger economic case for offering high-speed Internet to residences,
Blair said.

Robert Lieberman, a member of the Illinois Commerce Commission, said
the state has $5 million it will award to projects intended to extend
Internet connectivity.

There will be another $5 million available next year, and he hopes that
some BPL projects will receive a portion of that Digital Divide
infrastructure funding.

Also, Lieberman said, the ICC and state lawmakers need to provide
incentives to electric utilities to install smart grid equipment that
makes BPL to residential customers possible. Texas lawmakers recently
adopted such incentives, and legislators in New York are considering
doing so, he said.

Power lines aren't the Internet's only new avenue into homes. There's
also interest in using natural gas pipelines.

Broadband in gas, or BiG, has been proven to work in concept, although
field trials haven't yet been launched, said George West, a senior
analyst with West Technology Research Solutions, a market research firm
based in Mountain View, Calif.

BiG would rely upon ultra-wideband radio waves traveling through gas
pipes to bring Internet to customers. The Federal Communications
Commission approved ultra-wideband applications a few years ago but
requires they operate at very low power to avoid interference with
wireless phones and other appliances.

Pumping ultra-wideband signals along gas lines buried underground would
shield them from interference, enabling them to operate at higher
power, West said. "BiG has the potential to serve 18 million homes by
2010."

The ICC's Lieberman said he is intrigued by BiG.

"I'd love to see a project with People's Gas or Nicor to test this," he
said. "My theory is the more pipes you have to bring the Internet to
customers, the better for everyone."

On 26 Nov 2005 12:48:03 -0800, policy-ham wrote:

"I'm much more active on the Interent now because the speed is much
better than with dial-up," said Leslie Lund, who began using BPL in
March. "I don't get interference, even when my husband uses his power
tools."

Fire up a full-power 1500W RTTY transmitter on 80 meters next door
and see if she can make the same statement.....

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

I don't know about other areas but
here in NC, our gaslines are plastic.

Even the larger mains are all plastic
pipe.

BPL will loose money bigtime, and
the utilities that go online with it will
siphon money from other ratepayers
to pay for the starup and the shutdown of
bpl.

gus

Just wait until Ma Bell finds out. After all the telephone lines are
upgraded to fiber optic, they will start selling power over TP.


--
"From spongecake to satellites, it's gotta be Krebstar"

At that distance you don't even need a 100 watts to elimate their interent
completely. The old saying if it causes interference it can be interfered
with. I had a leaky cable company amp on the power in front of my rural
house. And every time I keyed up on 2 meters everyone up and down the street
lost their cable. And they did hear me clear as a bell too, turned out there
wasn't anything any government agency would do ecept tell the complainers to
call their cable provider. They had it fixed in hours after that. They have
no protection from interference on a closed system and had they interferred
with my 2 meter station they would have had to shut it down immediately as
they are not to interfere outside of their system period.
My neightbour had one of those internal broadband system for distributing
interent with in his house over the power lines. I caused him so much grief
and it turned out the units where not legal in Canada or the USA. Turned out
they were a cheap Chinese copy of a system that was approved but operated in
near the 2.4 ghz on a very low level hardwired system. He called to file a
complaint and the Industry Canada (Canada's form of the FCC) they wanted the
number off the sticker on the back of it and then paid him a visit a couple
of days later. I knew the inspectro so he stopped over for a visit and a
coffee and told me all about what had happened. It pays to have friends in
the right places, hi, hi.
I don't think this BPL is going to make it as the technology is not yet
prefected to the point where they will not cause interference on very broad
spectrul of the hf, vhf and uhf bands. Motorola has the means and the
technology but their system works up in the giga hertz where the bandwidth
can be used without interferrring with hardly anything or anyone. Why do you
think it's been outlawed in Japan and Austrailia, specially Japan the most
advance electronics country in the world. do you honestly think it will last
in North Amercia in either country. Do you remember how much of the radio
frequency spectrum is assigned to the military, well do you think they will
tolerate any kind of interference at all? Not likely and they will make darn
sure you don't have the ability to in the future as well.
And then there are the other countries of the globe, it is written that
no country shall willingly or unwillingly cause interference with the radio
service of another country. Also there is the hf radio broadcast spectrum
that is very much a part of the 40 meter band, do you really think they will
tolerate interference. It's the bottom line, if the USA and Canada adopt the
idea that we can interfere with anyone else, I wonder how long our
exportable products will be sold in those countries. Without exports where
will our economies go, who's going to be able to afford to pay for an ISP
who caused you to loose your job.

Sorry about the long windedness, but this is going to disappear, for one do
you really think the airline industry will put up with an ISP interfering
with their comunications, not likely. And that's just one example, there are
the police, fire and ambulance, the FBI, CIA, RCMP, FAA the list could go on
and on.
Before long those that choose to turn it on will have it shut off more than
it's on. And then it becomes a black hole for the investors.
If they can put internet 100 miles outside of Anchorage Alaska, or on Elsmer
Island, which is 300 miles south of the North Pole where there are no hydro
poles or wires, they can put it anywhere without interfering with anyone.

I'm gone

EasyRider



"Phil Kane" wrote in message
ast.net...
On 26 Nov 2005 12:48:03 -0800, policy-ham wrote:

"I'm much more active on the Interent now because the speed is much
better than with dial-up," said Leslie Lund, who began using BPL in
March. "I don't get interference, even when my husband uses his power
tools."

Fire up a full-power 1500W RTTY transmitter on 80 meters next door
and see if she can make the same statement.....

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

policy-ham wrote:

Electric lines and gas pipes will carry Internet to Illinois town
By Jon Van
Tribune staff reporter

November 26, 2005

PRINCETON, Ill. -- Starting in December this town of 7,500 will begin
offering high-speed Internet service over the electrical lines that
power the city.

It is among a handful of communities nationwide to plunge into a new
technology called broadband over power lines, or BPL, that competes
with Internet connections provided by telephone and cable TV operators.
Combined with wireless technologies, broadband service delivered over
power lines--and perhaps one day even through natural gas
pipelines--raises the likelihood that going online anywhere at any time
for very low cost will soon be a reality.

The Princeton service, which began testing this spring, is being
watched by small communities across Illinois. One member of the
Illinois Commerce Commission hopes other towns will experiment with BPL
to spread Internet connectivity and drive down costs.

About 15 customers are served by Princeton's BPL test deployment, which
demonstrates the service is robust and works well, said Jason Bird,
superintendent of Princeton's municipal electric utility.

"From the utility's standpoint, this hasn't been difficult," he said.
"The equipment is similar to what we work with every day."

Customers seem to like the service, especially the in-house portability
BPL offers. A computer can move from one room to another and go online
simply by plugging its modem into any electrical outlet in the house.

"I'm much more active on the Interent now because the speed is much
better than with dial-up," said Leslie Lund, who began using BPL in
March. "I don't get interference, even when my husband uses his power
tools."

The electric line connections get their Internet signals from a 12-mile
loop of fiber that Princeton installed last year as a means of
attracting industrial development. After one factory left town in 2003
and the manager of another complained about the town's lack of advanced
communications infrastructure, the city decided it needed fiber, said
Mayor Keith Cain.

"We already had our own electric utility, so that gave us a real
advantage," he said. Since the city installed fiber and started testing
BPL the local cable and phone operators upgraded their systems and cut
service rates, he said.

One downside to Princeton's BPL experience has been an inability to get
enough equipment to begin the commercial rollout sooner, Cain said. The
town's BPL vendor ran into financial difficulty and stopped producing
equipment while it went into reorganization.

Under new ownership, the vendor now says it can ship the products
needed for the rollout, said Steve Brust, vice president of Connecting
Point Community Centers, the Internet service provider that manages
Princeton's broadband service.

"The equipment works fine, but it's proprietary," Brust said. "There
are a lot of companies in BPL right now, but there are no standards and
no one company dominates the market."

Lack of standards is common with any new technology, said Raymond
Blair, vice president for BPL initiatives for IBM Corp. Broadband
technologies like Wi-Fi that are based on standards enjoy popularity
because the equipment is interoperable and less expensive than
proprietary systems.

At least three industry-based committees are working toward BPL
standardization, Blair said. The emerging industry should benefit from
their work within a year or two, he said.

"The best case for BPL right now lies in creating a smart electrical
grid," Blair said. Utilities can spot trouble, read meters, improve
efficiencies and generally boost reliability once they install fiber to
monitor their grids, he said.

Once BPL standards are in place, equipment costs will drop, making a
stronger economic case for offering high-speed Internet to residences,
Blair said.

Robert Lieberman, a member of the Illinois Commerce Commission, said
the state has $5 million it will award to projects intended to extend
Internet connectivity.

There will be another $5 million available next year, and he hopes that
some BPL projects will receive a portion of that Digital Divide
infrastructure funding.

Also, Lieberman said, the ICC and state lawmakers need to provide
incentives to electric utilities to install smart grid equipment that
makes BPL to residential customers possible. Texas lawmakers recently
adopted such incentives, and legislators in New York are considering
doing so, he said.

Power lines aren't the Internet's only new avenue into homes. There's
also interest in using natural gas pipelines.

Broadband in gas, or BiG, has been proven to work in concept, although
field trials haven't yet been launched, said George West, a senior
analyst with West Technology Research Solutions, a market research firm
based in Mountain View, Calif.

BiG would rely upon ultra-wideband radio waves traveling through gas
pipes to bring Internet to customers. The Federal Communications
Commission approved ultra-wideband applications a few years ago but
requires they operate at very low power to avoid interference with
wireless phones and other appliances.

Pumping ultra-wideband signals along gas lines buried underground would
shield them from interference, enabling them to operate at higher
power, West said. "BiG has the potential to serve 18 million homes by
2010."

The ICC's Lieberman said he is intrigued by BiG.

"I'd love to see a project with People's Gas or Nicor to test this," he
said. "My theory is the more pipes you have to bring the Internet to
customers, the better for everyone."


BiG? That would be quite a trick around here. Everyone has to use
Propane because there is no underground distribution system.


I saw a recent news story where BPL was shut down in one city because
of technical problems were costing more than they could expect to
recover and that the system was being dismantled.
--
?

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

I saw a recent news story where BPL was shut down in one city because
of technical problems were costing more than they could expect to
recover and that the system was being dismantled.

The problem is that Google invested $100,000,000 in BPL. With that kind of
money it will suceed even if it fails. The only way to prevent it is to
boycot Google and sites with "ads by Google" and let them and their advertisers
know it.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
You should have boycotted Google while you could, now Google supported
BPL is in action. Time is running out on worldwide radio communication.