First Canadian High Speed Internet over Power Grid

oO0(MjB)0Oo writes "Sault Ste. Marie, a northern Ontario town, is going to be the first installation of BPL (Broadband Power Line technology) in Canada. As reported in the Toronto Star, wireless access points will be set up along medium-voltage power lines, providing roaming capability throughout the city to all users."

Comments

Awesome!

[Xoder]

But I have to wonder whether this will increase the noise on the powerlines. The frequency used on the lines is not given, but don't we have enough 2.4 GHz noise in the air? Do we need some bleeding into the powerlines as well?

Of course, that could be my "the Commons is being raped"-foil hat again.

RF interference?

[iantri]

How are they going to deal with RF interference issues? Canadian ham radio operators have very similar rights to those in the US.. the CRTC keeps its regulations pretty similar to the FCC.

Also, will this cause any other sort of interference? My TV reception (over antenna) is already crap because of Ontario Hydro -- I live within 0.5km of the high-voltage pylons and my TV reception is terrible on VHF because of it.. (during the huge power outage last summer, I was able to very clearly receive stations all through New York state)

Re:This technology would not work here.

[gooberguy]

Wrong. If you had read the article, you would know that the power company has put 802.11b access points on their power line towers. The access points are connected to the internet over the power grid, but the customers use 802.11b to get data from their computer to the power lines. There is still the possibility of people stealing bandwidth, but if the network is set up properly, stealing would be a lot more complicated than just running a wire.