Web Access Over Power Lines

anaesthetica writes "The CSMonitor is reporting that power companies may now be able to break into the internet provider market, giving consumers a third option, outside of telephone and cable companies. From the article, "Broadband over Power Lines (BPL), with investments from big-name companies including Google and IBM, is beginning to move beyond small trial projects to deploying systems for large communities." Earthlink may offer BPL as soon as next year. Apparently, a major source of opposition to BPL is operators of ham radios."

Comments

You mean like my local HAM operator?

[brokeninside]

I used to have a guy that lived in my neighborhood that broadcast his HAM with enough power that I heard him over my old fashioned wired telephone. If he broadcast while I was dialing, it screwed up my call completely. If he was busy with a monologue, I even had trouble getting a dial tone.

If this were the only HAM operator with such an attitude, I'd probably have a lot more sympathy for their plight. But I grew up in the city with an annual HAMfest. My overzealous neighbor was certainly not the only HAM operator that tended to interfere with me and my neighbors.