Broadband over Power Lines or BPL

Broadband via Power Lines is an interesting idea but it has yet to hit the mainstream on a large scale. It was hyped quite vigorously and with a bit of imagination by a man named Luke Stewart out of Dallas Texas.

Broadband is becoming less of a luxury for people in the United States who even though they may not have it may just as easily steal it from their neighbors via a wireless network card.

Across the globe it's very much still a luxury to have broadband. Since most people do have electric power lines running to their house it sounds like a fantastic idea to provide broadband over these lines. Telecommunication pipelines are expensive to build especially in third world countries but this technology would make it a viable option. You will notice that your house has electrical wires ending in almost all rooms of a residential home. It would be very convenient to already have a broadband hook up available to connect into. Having the infrastructure in place already is quite an amazing accomplishment the power lines are able to provide us. A high speed broadband internet hookup through a power line is just as fast as a cable modem and even faster then DSL service.

What is BPL?

Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) also goes by a few other names and acronyms: Power Line Broadband (PLB), and Power Line Communications (PLC, Power Line Telecommunications (PLT) are terms also used. The most common name that has stuck over time is BPL. There are several different people and companies working on a succesful implementation of this technology. Some people who have hyped the potential profits of this technology were scam artists and succesfully stole millions from willing investers, such as Media Fusion LLC. This bad press does not mean that the technology itself is a scam. Their are several different protocols and infrastructure patents and technologies that have been tested and work. The name for all of these systems is "carrier-current". These systems intentionally conduct signals over the power lines.

Electrons course over low-frequency on the power line which allows broadband data to stream over the higher-frequencies. Utilities send infrastructure maintenance data in small amounts over these electric lines and have done so for several years. By retrofitting the electricity lines with more advanced microchips the electric companies may one day start offering Video, TV and currently broadband internet.

In order to provide broadband internet over the power lines there would have to be upgrades to all the power lines and this could add up but not nearly as much as the telecommunications pipelines cost to be put into the ground. The boxes on the poles and the modems in the homes would probably total about $500 to begin with and would possibly go down as the technology got off the ground. The cost of this technology is a little to high to compete with the current technology although this still remains a good option for those who can't get cable or dsl service to their house.

Utilities are able to manage their systems better by having the data streamed to them on the power lines. Because this has such a benefit relating directly to the management of electricity there remains a high likelyhood of electric utilities investing more money into BPL. Being able to monitor the electricity grid over the power grid network will create a virtual workforce with many less man hours needed. As an example, a customer in a home or commercial business would call to report an outage but this would not be needed with BPL. The data flowing from the home and business would stop and this would be reported to the utility immediatly via their monitoring systems.

In the near future the power companies will troubleshoot broadband service only to discover that there is an issue with the electric line. It could very well be that the technitian will end up troubleshooting and resolving two things at once. The broadband service will help assist in the reporting of new electric outages and exactly where they originated on the power line.

The primary request by utility managers is to develop a system that can accurately manage demand over the power lines. Since commercial companies many times rely on broadband service anyway it may actually speed up the process of developing a two component system that does both electricity transmission and broadband service. This broadband service could then act to send demand data back to the electricity provider. By knowing more about when companies use their peak demand the utility can charge more during the peak times to encourage energy conservation. This minute by minute demand data is already being done wirelessly but it only makes more sense to use existing infrastructure and provide broadband service at the same time..

Right now we are still in the early stages of a fully integrated power line system that can bring broadband to both residences and businesses a like. If the utilities ever begin to see the profit in building up a more reliable data streaming technology over the existing lines we could soon ne approaching a new way having internet service.

Electrical Outlets would be the network jack.

The way it would end up in a home or business would be for the electric wall outlet to be retrofitted with a device that would allow it to operate like a network jack. Sending email through the power outlet seems a little far fetched but it is a very real possibility. You could actually send an email across your electric line. The home could have a virtual network over the power lines in the house to allow all network devices, TV's stereos and other devices to be interconnected in one big network. Home automation software could allow everything to be controlled by one remote and on the internet without a jumble of wires laying everywhere. The best idea for this BPL technology mentioned so far is the ability to provide broadband to rural societies who would not be able to have it any other way.

Radio Frequency interference is a point of contention for many.

The concern is power lines were never made to prevent radiation energy interference. BPL could potentially interfere with radio stations and other radio frequencies using the same range as BPL. Amateur Radio Service could potentially be affected as well. Interference has already been observed interfering with other signals as far as one mile away. This is a significant and serious drawback.

The continued problems that have occurred when testing the technology has made the prospect of BPL's future pretty bleak. This technology may one day break above ground but probably not for another 10 years.