Broadband Internet through an electric socket

[mol3000]

More than a million customers in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana will have the option of plugging into broadband Internet access through a standard electrical outlet this month. The alternative to cable and DSL is considered a boon to rural customers.
The service, called Broadband over Power Line (BPL), will be provided by a partnership of Current Communications Group and Cinergy Broadband. Critics have complained that BPL interferes with ham radio transmissions.
According to Current Communications, consumers will be able to plug a HomePlug power line modem into any electrical socket in the house without professional installation. Depending on connection speed, it will cost $29 to $39 per month.


man i cant wait until everybody can get this...... it will be perfect>>>> DOES ANYONE HERE HAVE IT YET?????????

[lordsmurf]

This sounds fake.

[bbllc]

Duke Power will be doing a test in Charlotte NC

[ZAPPER]

I hope I can upgrade from 110 to 220 or 480. I also bet that 3-phase needs a special converter!

[BJ_M]

This sounds fake.

nope its real ....


though plugging a modem in 120V seems a little weird ...

plus - power lines are the noisest things around in terms of just about anything ...

i also dont get how this works through stepdown down transformers

[lordsmurf]

Dammit... can't make fun of people now that plug the computer in the wall and think it magically has Internet. That used to be fun as a tech support op.

So how'd they do this? I thought the tech was impossible... well, thought the same about DVD-R/+R (DL)... and we know how that turned out...

[ZAPPER]

I knew that you could send line trace signals, but it looks like it may be true. current has a dotcom explaining it. I should have kept out of this one!

[gmatov]

This is nothing new. Another HPN card, Home Phoneline Network. They were limited to 10mbps, and were also Cat 5 as a regular NIC. I u7sed them in my daughter's house before I bought them a hub and wired them throughout the house.

I am assuming the data flow will, actually, be on 220, as hose wiring is 2 separate busses. If you had a house wiring wireless security system, like X10, you would be told to put a 100mfd cap across the buss bars, just 2 adjacent breakers, to enable both busses, make them continuous.

I'm sure this will come down on both legs, or they will have a hell of a lot of tech calls when you move your 'puter to another room, receptacle.

You'd have a 60 cycle hum, probably, if you were in low freq., but as DSL works with hi freq data, and low freq voice, what's the prob?

Jeez, we're wired into every house in the nation, outside Appalachia, why ain't we in this Internet thing? Found money!!! Tack 20 bucks on their electric bill.

Cheers,

George

[n6nfg]

The frequencies used are from a few Mhz up to around 80 Mhz. The potential for radio interference extends to any service using frequencies in this range, including Ham radio and public service radios (taxi, CHP, CB, police, fire, etc). Alot of public service agencies have moved to the higher VHF (above 150 Mhz), but for those that haven't, the potential is there.

[gmatov]

N6,

No, I was speaking of interferencs for your connection, not your possibly contaminating the airwaves. Heck with them. Just so mine works.

And if my neighbors garage door opens and closes when I push my button, well, just so mine doesn't when he pushes his button.

Me, me, me, y'know?

Cheers,

George

[MOVIEGEEK]

George(aka gmatov) you're always good for a laugh.

Broadband from AC is a great idea.Sending data and voice through AC isn't new,you can buy a GE "Instajack" for your telephone at any department store.

www.powerlinephones.com/

[gmatov]

Geek,

Of course it isn't. This stuff has been circulating since the dawn of file transfer over ftp. Almost every house in the USA is wired for electricity, compliments of a Democratic President FDR ( little dig at Solar,ignore it)

The signals do not come down as 220-440, they come down as hi freq, piggyback, absolutely no ibrerference from the line voltage, 60 cycle, and totally isolated, you won't get electrocuted picking up your mike or grabbing your mouse.

Boy, wouldn't it be nice to have a competor for, in my case Comcast, who say, "Well had to run all that cable, so we should be able to charge enough to get our investment back." But the wire was run 30 years ago, and now we send data through it, "Well we gotta change all that cable, so we orta be able to charge enough to recoup our investment."

Squat down in a public lavatory, or sure'n hell, a "business man" is going to see just how deep you are. And not your pockets.

I probably shouldn't add this, but a man and his wife were driving down a road in DC and saw some nekkid men chasing and grabbing each other, and giving a ream job, and the guy says, "Hmpphh, look at all those Democrats screwing each other.", and his wife says "Now , dear, they're 100 yards away, and naked, how do you know they're Democrats?", and the guy say "If they were Republicans, they'd be screwing us."

Cheers,

George

Locked, maybe.

[lordsmurf]

how do you know they're Democrats?", and the guy say "If they were Republicans, they'd be screwing us."

And to think I used to question your political views.
That's a good one I'm sure to retell.

Nah, don't lock it. :P

[gmatov]

Smurf,

Oops, I let it slip, did I?

Cheers,

George

[ice-berg]

indeed this is not new.

its has been working in the uk for a couple of years now, although it has limitation. and its not as simple as plugging directly to the socket, you must also have a specific modem.

moreover this type of connection covers a small area, meaning that an isp must have special equipment in the nearby radius for the surrounding users to benefit. so this technology is mainly dedicated to rural areas where dsl technologies do not exist.

[gmatov]

Ice-berg,

Re-read the first post. Their roll out is in 3 states, not a hamlet here and there. They want to cover everybody, not just those who fall through the cracks and can't get a DSL line. Can't make money just getting the unfortunate few, gotta go for 'em all.

In the same vein, you can't, in the states, get DSL unless they have specialized equipment spotted around, meaning at every CO. Service deteriorates with distance from the CO.

Read dslreports.com and look at the speed tiers as they drop with distance. Generally, they cannot even consider you if you are more than 18000 feet from the CO, and at that distance you might get lucky and get 384K.

No different, really, from your old 56K modem handshaking and deciding the line conditions would only work properly at 21.6K, or whatever.

You may, someday see this. Think of it as a good thing. They call it competition. If the Telco screws you, and you have an alternative available, you're gone, so maybe they'll clean up their act, maybe even up your speed and drop your price..

Cheers,

George

[alenhard]

Ice-berg,

Re-read the first post. Their roll out is in 3 states, not a hamlet here and there. They want to cover everybody, not just those who fall through the cracks and can't get a DSL line. Can't make money just getting the unfortunate few, gotta go for 'em all.

I think he was referring to his specific situation in the UK...

[gmatov]

Alen,

His second para says it is only applicable in rural, special situations.

UK was nor mentioned in the original post to this thread, but Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, etc., so they are not talking, again, of getting the orphans.

No one wants orphans, they'll do a roll out, if at all, with the masses in mind, and if they can give you as much or more for as much or less money, they might eat into the monopolies that already exist, Telco, CableCo.

Good for you and me. Bad thing is, my electric power goes out a hell of a lot more often than either my phone or cable. (Unless, of course they're sneaky about it and only go down when I'm not around to notice, and with electric, all my digital clock bearing devices tell on 'em. )

How they get through the transformer, I do not know, but telephone lines all have signal repeaters, also, so can't be that difficult. So, as a matter of fact, do fibreoptic cables. They don't go 1000 miles without boosting.

Cheers,

George

[Timmychuck]

Read this http://www.detnews.com/2003/technology/0304/10/technology-132996.htm

[FOO]

I worked on designing equipment for this for many years along with
numerous other people. It is very difficult . Most people have given up.

[drewson99]

my dad had a router based on this technology, it worked for him.