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BPL Powers Off
In article , Robert Casey
writes: Wi-Fi "nodes" need the same cable or fiber optic feeds as BPL does but then the costs of implementation go 'way down below the costs of implementing BPL. BPL is a hard-wired very localized system with toxic side effects. A single Wi-Fi node can serve dozens of users simultaneously over some pretty big areas without any wires. Huge pluses vs. BPL. I think we are in agreement. The costs of the feed would be the same, the costs of the "modems" would be similar. Maybe. A BPL modem has to be across the AC line, which brings in a whole bunch of safety issues. The big difference is that Wi-Fi should be able to handle much more bandwidth in the part between the individual Wi-Fi "modems" than the part between BPL "modems". Both use either the existing slice of radio spectra (somewhere up in the microwave bands) or existing power wires. But that would leave out laptops running off batteries (unless BPL fesses up to being a radiator and that laptop actually transmits a signal thru an antenna to be picked up by leaky nearby power wires being fed by a BPL system, and visa versa. Then the entire camel gets into the tent...). Then it's not incidental radiation anymore, but intentional. Another big difference is that a Wi-Fi modem bought here in EPA today can be used all over the country if I sign up with the right provider. A BPL modem for a particular system doesn't work on BPL systems by other companies. Wi-Fi is already "on the shelf" vs BPL which would have to charge more to pay off the development costs, or the providers would have to front a huge investment that may never pay off. Most of this country's major airports have Wi-Fi nodes ("hot spots"). Drop into yer seat in the podium areas, fire up the laptop and catch up with your e-mail or whatever. Sixty bucks for the modem and yer online. And they're already on the shelf and in use. Ditto the Starbucks stores, truck stops, etc. It doesn't take much of a stretch to imagine that the basic technology can be deployed over huge swaths of users at low installation costs. One inexpensive little black box up a pole per block or on cell phone towers in urban and suburban neighborhoods, etc. Supposedly one inexpensive BPL box on a neighborhood power pole is the equivalent. And every user needs a BPL "modem" as well. These would cost about the same as Wi-Fi and offer inferior service. Depends on the system. And the BPL injectors and extractors have to be insulated to stand the MV distribution voltages. And the power line has to be clean enough not to interfere with BPL signals. 73 de Jim, N2EY |
(N2EY) wrote in message . com...
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/07/28/5/?nc=1 73 de Jim, N2EY http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/08/06/2/ There goes another one! This time it's one of Mikey's BPL poster children who bailed out. .. . . works for me . . ! w3rv |
Brian Kelly wrote:
(N2EY) wrote in message . com... http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/07/28/5/?nc=1 73 de Jim, N2EY http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/08/06/2/ There goes another one! This time it's one of Mikey's BPL poster children who bailed out. . . . works for me . . ! Good to see they gathered the "valuable information" and still pulled the plug. Obviously if it was such a good thing, they would have announced their immediate plans to expand the service area. Took 'em $500,000 dollars to find out exactly what we told 'em would happen. I'll offer to consult with these Powerline companies for 20 percent of that cost. One more battle....... - Mike KB3EIA - |
Len Over 21 wrote:
In article , Mike Coslo writes: One more battle....... ...with you on the sidelines egging on the fight? Now be honest, Leonard. Isn't that the sum total of your involvement in amateur radio? Dave K8MN |
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The City of Grandhaven, MI has just set up WiFi for the whole area, and
Ottawa County is taking about doing the same for the whole county. How could any local entity (govt. or otherwise) do this using satellite? The cost of launching a satellite is too high. Aren't the existing staellite Internet services (DirecWay -- is there any other?) slow and expensive, and require a large outlay up front for equipment? Alan NV8A On 08/14/04 05:47 am S. Hanrahan put fingers to keyboard and launched the following message into cyberspace: Wires for any type of communications purposes are already on their way into history. BPL was stillborn from the gitgo. The future is satellite. Wi-Fi will just be a fad like the laserdisc. |
Minnie Bannister wrote in message ...
The City of Grandhaven, MI has just set up WiFi for the whole area, and Ottawa County is taking about doing the same for the whole county. There ya go! How could any local entity (govt. or otherwise) do this using satellite? The cost of launching a satellite is too high. Aren't the existing staellite Internet services (DirecWay -- is there any other?) slow and expensive, and require a large outlay up front for equipment? They can take any number of routes into existing satellite capabilities which are both inaccessible and unaffordale out here at the RRAP consumer level. Very hypothetical example: Podunk Hollow County ND pays some first tier commercial ISP which has a connection into the INTELSAT network and pays them $10,000 a month for their connection. Could be AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, etc. Then Podunk Hollow County becomes a local non-profit ISP which puts up a bunch of Wi-Fi nodes, signs up 2,000 of it's citizens as subscibers to it's service and charges them ten bucks a month for the connection. The $10,000 "profit" they appear to be getting in this scenario actually goes into initial capital investment recovery, the sinking fund and the system operating and maintenance expenses. Alan NV8A w3rv On 08/14/04 05:47 am S. Hanrahan put fingers to keyboard and launched the following message into cyberspace: Wires for any type of communications purposes are already on their way into history. BPL was stillborn from the gitgo. The future is satellite. Wi-Fi will just be a fad like the laserdisc. |
On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 07:31:31 -0400, Minnie Bannister
wrote: How could any local entity (govt. or otherwise) do this using satellite? The cost of launching a satellite is too high. Aren't the existing staellite Internet services (DirecWay -- is there any other?) slow and expensive, and require a large outlay up front for equipment? Easy, they (local entity) won't have to. Sure, there's DirecWay, then there's Starband, and soon there will be a third player, WildBlue. Alan NV8A Stacey/ AA7YA |
S. Hanrahan wrote in message . ..
On 2 Aug 2004 08:25:26 -0700, (Brian Kelly) wrote: Wires for any type of communications purposes are already on their way into history. BPL was stillborn from the gitgo. The future is satellite. Wi-Fi will just be a fad like the laserdisc. Probably not - that is, if we're talking about customers directly accessing the satellite. While there's definitely a future for satellite comms, the "last mile" problem combined with the enormous bandwidth of fiber limits its usefulness as a general-purpose broadband access method. Say you orbit a new, state of the art satellite. How much bandwidth can it provide to how many customers? Compare that to what is available in a single fiber. Also remember that once the duct is in place, pulling another fiber isn't that expensive, and that new technologies permit more bandwidth in existing fibers. -- One thing the BPL folks downplay is that they really only use the power lines for customer delivery (the "last mile" or so). Which could almost always be done better by some form of Wi-Fi, DSL, cable, or (yes) satellite. 73 de Jim, N2EY |
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