BPL: More Power to Texas Internet Users?
Category: Internet...
Posted Monday, December 19, 2005 at 09:30 AM [GMT-6]

Potentially exciting news from electricity provider TXU Corp.: beginning in 2006, 2 million homes and businesses in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and "other Texas communities" will be offered Broadband over Power Lines (BPL), via an agreement between TXU and CURRENT Communications Group.

BPL is essentially the use of existing power lines to provide high speed internet access. It's an attractive idea because of the almost univeral reach of the existing infrastructure and the ability to turn your home's electrical wiring into a full-fledged information network. The utopian view is that any properly equipped device plugged into a standard A/C outlet could immediately "communicate" with every other device on the local power grid without requiring any additional wiring. "Plug and play" takes on a whole new meaning. Thus, your digital TV could network with your computer; your coffee maker could network with your bedroom alarm clock; your refrigerator could network with your hair dryer (I'm not saying how any of this might actually be useful). Of course, as with any new technology, there's still some uncertainty in terms of reliability, cost, speed and some other technical issues like interference with radio transmissions.

Also, there are several competing technical standards for BPL, and they're all new enough that there's no guarantee as to which -- if any -- end up being the final standard. CURRENT uses the HomePlug® power line modem standard, and it has some heavy-hitters as backers (like Intel, Motorola, Comcast, GE, Sony, Linksys and more). It's also telling that one of the investing companies in CURRENT is Google.

Interestingly, the HomePlug Alliance focused first on intra-home networking (see my appliance-to-appliance examples above) and has only recently formulated a BPL standard for bringing broadband into the home. The HomePlug AV specification was approved by the Alliance board in August, 2005. While neither the TXU nor the CURRENT new release states that HomePlug AV is part of the services being offered in the new arrangement, it is implied by the phrase "...including the triple play of voice, television and high speed access..." That sneaky reference to "voice" is VOIP, meaning, of course, internet telephony.

Due to the lack of specificity in the press releases, I can't tell if TXU's west Texas customers will be part of this initial rollout. Regardless, it's a fascinating development. I'd be interested to hear if any Gazette readers have had experience with BPL.

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During World Tour '04, I stayed in a hotel in Pierre, SD that had BPL. The front desk handed me a box roughly the size of an old-style cable converter and asked if I needed a CAT5, which I didn't; installation was a simple matter of plugging the box into the wall, plugging a CAT5 into the appropriate connector, and flipping the switch. Speed was good enough (upwards of 1.5 mbps) and didn't fluctuate very much.

Admittedly, I got only a couple hours' use out of it, but it was enough to persuade me that the technique was viable.

Posted by: CGHill at December 19, 2005 09:51 AM

It certainly sounds like a fantastic concept, though I have had any number of situations where the power line went out and the phone (for broadband) didn't.

With a UPS, I was able to stay online for some time and finish what I was doing. I don't think that would be possible using BPL.

Posted by: Mr. Freen at December 19, 2005 11:24 AM

Actually, Mr. Freen, I'm not sure that the transmission of the data signal requires that electricity be flowing. My understanding -- and I'm certainly open to correction -- is that BPL is simply using a different (very low) frequency on the power infrastructure grid to provide the communications signal.

It's an interesting question, and what I've written is based only on what I've been able to infer from what I've read...I couldn't find anyone who's addressed the question head-on.

Posted by: Eric at December 19, 2005 11:36 AM

Sign me up.....

Posted by: Wallace-Midland Texas at December 19, 2005 04:32 PM

Sounds tempting, doesn't it? There might be some benefit to sticking with TXU after all.

Posted by: Eric at December 19, 2005 05:07 PM

Since I live in Fort Worth, I assume it will become availible to me. I doubt I'll sign up. I've got a neighbor that doesn't secure his Wi-Fi. My laptop gets the signal plenty good enough. So, as far as internet connection, I'm set. Unless of course my neighbor moves.

Posted by: John Peter Smith at December 19, 2005 06:07 PM

Ah, zee eenternet...she just flies een from zee air! Ees theese a great country or WHAT?!

Posted by: Eric at December 19, 2005 07:49 PM

If they can do BPL for less $$ than DSL the sign me up too.... The more choices in broadband providers the cheaper the cost, right????

Posted by: shannon at December 21, 2005 08:19 AM

Not necessarily; we're dealing with a utility company, remember? ;-)

Posted by: Eric at December 21, 2005 07:58 PM

No. No. No. No. NONONONONONONONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Keep the interference off the power lines! All our radio communication is based on notching around the interference that all our damned power lines pour out at 60 hertz. Now we have to start shielding against even MORE?

Cable lines are shielded. That is great for broadband. Telephone copper is shielded until it gets to your house. Good. Electrical lines? Unshielded all the way. This is easily the worst idea they've come up with in a long long time.

Posted by: Phelps at December 30, 2005 01:24 PM

Oh, don't hold back...tell us how you really feel about this. ;-)

Posted by: Eric at December 30, 2005 06:12 PM
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