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12Mbps Powerline Broadband Trial Unveiled

Posted by Zonk on from the sign-up-now-for-this-incredible-tv-offer dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The tiny state of Tasmania in Australia has kicked off the country's first commercial powerline broadband trial. The service is capable of providing Internet connectivity of up to 12Mbps but during trials, it will be limited to 4Mbps. Costs will range from $12 (A$15) to $67 (A$80) per month for speeds between 256Kbps and 4Mbps. Powerline broadband has received wide support from leading vendors including Intel, Motorola and Cisco Systems -- all of whom support an organisation called the HomePlug Powerline Alliance."

11 of 316 comments (clear)

  1. Doesn't this frighten anyone... by Nuclear+Elephant · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...that our once thought unfounded fears of someone programming our toaster to eat our dog are not not-so-radical?

    1. Re:Doesn't this frighten anyone... by Nuclear+Elephant · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Offtopic? You pansy. I'm being serious. Once this becomes commonplace, the old sci-fi troll we all thought was stupid and not technically feasable act of hacking into computer systems and messing with people on an entirely spooky level seems pretty doable once this becomes commonplace. How will we know that certain appliances aren't really network conscious? E.g. an override to turn a garbage disposal on remotely while someone's hand happens to be in it, or for the stove to fire up to enormous levels of heat as part of a now network-based assassination attempt. It all seems a bit too spooky to me. Yesterday, I could wake up and be confident that my stove wasn't going to blow up the house because it simply didn't have an ethernet cable. Some time in the future, smart stoves might be susceptible to hacking.

    2. Re:Doesn't this frighten anyone... by RicktheBrick · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Everything that uses electricity should be online at least locally. Even the electrical receptacle should have unique address so they can be idenified. The computer should know exactly what is drawing electricity and exactly how much is needed. Any variation would require a remedial action. Every receptacle would not have any current to it until something which has communicated with the circuit breaker with what it is and how much current it requires. Any product that is always plugged in such as a television or a stereo would require a password to work when it has lost power for more than a few seconds. If it does not get that password it just would not function. I would think one could eliminate alot of electricutions and electrical fires. I would also think one could eliminate most of the incentive that some people have to break into other's homes as electronic products would have no resale value without the proper password. They even could be made to report their location to authorities after they have been stolen.

  2. Those MB per month limits are awful by Shivetya · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://www.tastel.com.au/bpl/price_broadband.html

    I bet I can do that in a day or two just patching a game? Or am I reading it wrong?

    --
    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
  3. Just makes sense by Joe+Random · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Broadband over powerlines makes a whole lot of sense. Currently if you want broadband you have to run cable from your local cable provider, phone line from your local phone company, optical fiber from . . . whoever might offer that service (not an option in most areas, including my own, so I'm not sure), or you'll have to set up a satellite dish and worry about weather effects.

    But what's the one thing that all computers have in common? They use electricity! And even if you're generating your own, you're still likely hooked up to the grid so that you can sell your excess back.

    I can definitely see broadband over power lines being a big hit in developing countries, since they won't have to worry about the added infrastructure for connecting their residents to the Internet. Add voice over IP and you end up with VOIPOPL: Three products for the price of one (give or take a bit of added overhead).

  4. Re:Sad... by MBCook · · Score: 4, Interesting
    You'd think all the communication problems post-Katrina would have taught people something too. I've heard all sorts of stories of people not being able to communicate, police walkie-talkies being useless after a few hours when the battery dies, etc. Considering hams that prepare for this kind of thing know what they're doing and are supposed to prepare and be ready for having no electricity and such.

    This was a big PR chance. I heard in some areas the ONLY way to get messages passed (especially "Is my brother OK" type Health & Welfare traffic) was by hams.

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
  5. 400 Mbps! by op12 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The article alludes several times to the higher possible speeds:

    According to Ehrenfeld, the BPL service will be capable of providing an Internet connection for homes and businesses that is "vastly quicker" than the 24Mbps maximum possible with ADSL2+ technology, which uses analogue telephone lines. Such speeds are so far only being offered by only a couple of ISPs, with several more offering speeds up to 12Mbps.

    But what really caught my eye:

    "engin and Mitsubishi Electric engineers have worked closely together in both Australia and Japan to incorporate engin's VoIP technology in the 200Mbps BPL product developed by Mitsubishi," said a statement from the VoIP vendor on the trial.

  6. Radio Frequency interference by kb1cvh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Will this deployment of Broadband over Powerline cause interference to radio services and be subject to interference from radio services ?

    The American Radio Relay league has information on BPL in the USA at

    http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/

    The Australian Government has information on BPL at

    http://www.acma.gov.au/ACMAINTER.2490560:STANDARD: 2099729486:pc=PC_2845

    --
    Peter AI6PG
  7. A couple of questions. by Chocolate+Teapot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A couple of years ago I did some work for these guys. Their products were great, but ISTR that only about 6 homeplug devices could be used on a given circuit. OK, things will have moved on a bit in that time, but I wonder what the limit is now. Also, they would not work across a transformer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but where I live every neighbourhood has a step-down transformer to convert the high voltages used to transport electricity over the grid to something that won't fry any poor bugger that gets within a few feet of it.

    --
    Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise. - William Shakespeare
  8. What's the real capacity by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How many people share a powerline? More than share my cable loop? How much capacity per subscriber?

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  9. Re:Ham radio? by techiemac · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It should also be noted that currently Ham Radio has currently shown itself to be the only reliable form of communications in New Orleans. People who say that Ham Radio is dead need to understand that it is not dead, it's currently evolving and still provides an essential service from providing early warning on severe weather incidents (skywarn) to disaster recovery to simply talking to interesting people. Cell phones simply do not provide adequate coverage and reliablity during emergency situations.
    It currently is also evolving within the digital realm to provide everything from high speed data over the air (HSMM working group in the ARRL) to VoIP interconnects between repeaters over the Internet.
    Hopefully something can be reached that provides for a BPL system that does not cause interferenece with Ham Radio (this system might... didn't read the spec). If it does, I would rather have Ham Radio over BPL simply because it really doesn't bring very much to the table.