Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Earthlink Invests In Broadband Over Power Lines

Posted by timothy on from the keep-your-jacks-straight-please dept.

prostoalex writes "Earthlink dedicated $500,000 to delivering broadband connections over power lines by launching a test drive of the technology with Progress Energy in North Carolina. 500 homes involved in the projects can sign up for promotional pricing of $20/month, which after 3 months will be changed to $50/month. No word on bandwidth provided, but Ambient Corp., which provides technology for the project and accpeted EarthLink investment, claims data rates exceeding 10 Mpbs."

23 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. Interference problems... by detritus` · · Score: 5, Informative

    Once again the interference point has to be brought up, the company uses 5 - 70 Mhz, which dumps inteference out on the following bands:

    Several Amateur Radio bands (1.8, 3.5, 7.0, 10.0, 14.0, 18.068, 21.0, 24.9, 28.0, 50.0 Mhz)
    shortwave radio (7-14 Mhz)
    older cordless devices, such as phones (49 Mhz)
    CB Radio (29Mhz)
    Military communications (several)

    And there's probably more, but i'm too lazy to dig them up...

    --
    drunk chemists
    1. Re:Interference problems... by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the FCC will have to mandate retrofiting the powerlines with some sort of sheilding.

      by the time this gets to most people, it will cost 70 bucks a month I bet.

      --



      I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
    2. Re:Interference problems... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well here we go again, the same old argument : ham is old, Innurnet is shiny and better, so screw the hams. I'll sum up the arguments why hams should have their bands untouched by BPL (or any other interference for that matter):

      - Hams are useful to the community : they do aviation security radio watches, can relay messages from people at sea, and are often the last communication medium when all else fail. You don't believe me and that's normal, because it's never happened to you (or me, I'm too young). But I bet resistant fighters during WW2 really did appreciate, for example.

      - There are a lot of great technical advances that were made by hams, playing and experimenting on their allocated bands. To deny them the bands just so you can d/l pr0n in the middle of Alabama means to deprive the entire scientific and technical community of these discoveries.

      - Hams have been using their slices of the spectrum for decades, and had to work and pay for the privilege. In short, if nothing else, I'll say we were here first, and so we do have some rights in the matter.

      There are many other reasons why ham bands should be left alone, but this is /. and I don't want to bore you all.

      73 de F8EJF

    3. Re:Interference problems... by abcxyz · · Score: 4, Informative

      That only implies direct interference, if you were to look at the even/odd harmonics for those frequencies then the "potential" for interference could be greater. I'm a geek and broadband kinda person, and enjoy my DSL. This might turn out to be a wonderful last mile solution, but the concern from a ham radio perspective is that if it does cause wide spread interference then there's the possiblity of impact to the emergency services provided by amateur radio. Just a thought from a "Ham"

      -- w1rww

    4. Re:Interference problems... by brain1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      At least one thing will come of this. When the equipment begins blacking out HF spectrum, the furor should put this half-baked technology out to pasture once and for all. Imagine overseas flights using 10MHz HF SSB communications not able to get clearance to enter US airspace because their comms are blacked out by this garbage?

      If this gets to the point that it's deployed in my area, I plan to become *extremely* active on the HF Amateur Radio bands with *full* legal power. If it means fighting fire with fire, then by all means I'm prepared. They operate under the part 15 "non interference" rules. I operate under full FCC license to transmit. IOTW, I win. Hmm... when is the next DX contest???

      To quote Part 15: "must not interfere" means that they legally cannot interfere with my operation, and "must accept any interference" means that if I kill an entire neighborhood's internet feed, that's just the breaks. They cant stop my transmissions as long as I am complying with the rules and regs.

      But, being a realist, I suppose that once "big business" gets involved, then all they have to do is throw money, and they have plenty, at lobbyists and get congress to pressure the FCC to toss us hams off the air. Sadly, amateur radio does not have the status it once had.

      Comments?

      de N5DH

    5. Re:Interference problems... by Sleeper · · Score: 4, Informative

      For those who think HAM operators have no foundation behind their objections to BPL please visit this site and see results of actual studies on interference.

      There is a lot of additional issues surrounding BPL. Such as the fact that power market is regulated and comunications market is not. Utility companies are going to finance their excursion into broadband internet access out of your pocket even if you are not going to use it.

      --
      - Back off man. I am a scientist
  2. Error in summary by Mieckowski · · Score: 5, Informative

    The article says that after the first 3 months the price will be $39.95, which is about $40/month rather than $50/month.

  3. In the projects? by Larry+David · · Score: 4, Funny

    500 homes involved in the projects can sign up for promotional pricing of $20/month, which after 3 months will be changed to $50/month.

    Yo man, here in the projects we can't even afford $10 for groceries, and yo want us to shell out $50 a month on broadband? I don think this is gunna fly, man!

  4. Didn't we just hear about how dangerous this is? by paroneayea · · Score: 5, Funny

    Like how the combination of power lines and ethernet was supposed to grow cancerous tumors out of your eye sockets that develop into tentacles that molest japanese schoolgirls? I'm pretty sure there was just a story about that on slashdot just a bit ago.

    --
    http://mediagoblin.org/
  5. Bandwidth Capping by Mork29 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    claims data rates exceeding 10 Mpbs

    You know that you won't actually get 10Mbps for this, because the ISP's end bill and equipment needs would be to much. That's why all of the DSL/Cable companies have started sending acceptable usage warnings to their customers because they used up all of their unlimited bandwidth (God I love irony) (God I love being an agnostic who says God alot). Any who, as far as I know, this tech was meant more for giving broadband to them crazy country foke who ain't got them thar new digitized lines.... Right? Anyway, what is the range of these lines? How far away can you live from a "hub" or how exactly does that work....

  6. Mpbs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mega promotional bull shit?

  7. Won't the internet just go *down* more? by Rockenreno · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Pun intended. High winds or storms can knock out power lines, causing people to lose power, but if the ethernet connection is hooked up to said poles, we'll lose internet as well. Oh, whoa is me. Then again, I suppose that unless you keep a generator to run your computers in case of a power outage, it wouldn't really matter if the internet is not working while you're power is out. It's the principle that matters though!

    --

    Forecast for tomorrow: A few sprinklings of genius with a chance of DOOM!
    1. Re:Won't the internet just go *down* more? by gricholson75 · · Score: 5, Funny
      Oh, whoa is me.

      Keanu is that you?
  8. Tinfoil Hat^WSteel Helmet Time by sirReal.83. · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe I'm paranoid, or maybe I just read an article about certain magnetic fields damaging brain cell DNA. I don't remember though, because I just shaved with an electric razor. Damnit. Seriously, can we just get over this and invest in some Fiber to the Curb (FFTC) or Fiber to the Home (FTTH)?

  9. Not as cool as AOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They've been advertising some new broadband over automobile solution that looked pretty fast.

  10. Completely naive question... by dnaboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not knowing much about how broadband really works, can someone explain to me why this wouldn't have the same limitations as DSL? So, with DSL there's a restriction on how far someone can be from a main telco box. Intuitively it would seem that broadband over power lines would hve the same issues, thus making it no more appealing to deliver broadband to the boonies than DSL, which the telcos have balked at due to cost. Thanks

  11. Whenever I read 10 mbps by SharpFang · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I add "...to Provider's nearest host".

    In my town great most providers advertise like this. They just install ethernet lines between people's houses. And then say, 500 customers, each on 10 mbit line are all plugged into one 1mbit line connecting with the rest of the world.
    Yeah, transfers like 1KB/s are quite common.

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  12. I don't buy this article at all. by maeltor · · Score: 5, Informative

    I work for IDACOMM. We are CURRENTLY doing testing with both Ambient (to the plug) and Amperion (wifi) and let me just say....Ambient doesn't work. The technology is just way to infant. We were lied to by their sales, president, and engineering departments about how far along their "techology trials" in New York were. We currently have about 50 people deployed on Amperion, and it works a lot better. We are working towards "to the plug" techology, but we know that it is going to be for a lot harder than these articles claim.

  13. Mpbs? by mr_jim83 · · Score: 5, Funny

    exceeding 10 Mpbs.

    For when you need 10 Million PBS stations.

  14. Re:just one pipe by taped2thedesk · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm hoping for power over cable line. The cable company isn't screwing me enough as it is.

  15. Will 220 give me 20Mbps? by chamilto0516 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I think this came from a Scott Adams (he was the telco industry and not yet the famous comic strip writer that we know and love) book, or maybe I heard it from somewhere else but it made sense: The challenge for telco's doing HighSpeed (DSL) was that they had mastered two-way personal communication but only at very low speeds. The phone system was designed for calls averaging only 3 minutes long. The cable companies knew how to deliver media, but only in one direction.

    My power company only delivers 3 things: high bills (like I will want to give them extra money), power and, my favorite, power spikes (I've gone through two coffee pots, 3 baby monitors and a dozen AC adapters for various things). Yes, the equipment is built by someone else but it will be installed and managed by people that are delivering the first and third things above. This does not have warm and fuzzy written all over it.

    We'll for some, a 3rd choice will be welcomed to drive rates down. For other's at least a single choice will be welcomed. More power to them.

    --
    Magic Eight Ball: Outlook not so good., Hmmm, how about Excel and Word?
  16. This is a Bad Thing (tm) by sheapshearer · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Great... Now when a thunderstorm makes a tree fall on a powerline, I will loose:
    • Electricity
    • Phone (VOIP)
    • Cable TV
    • Internet.
    How is broadband over powerlines going to be affected by redundant power systems? My understanding is that unless you live in the sticks, there is supposed to be more than one path for electricity to reach your area...
  17. Re:Audiophile rant by lurker412 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, I'm sure that the folks who sell cables for $500 a foot will come to the rescue with $15000 power filters. Nothing but the best, right?