Slashdot Mirror
AT&T Begins Testing High-Speed Internet Over Power Lines (reuters.com)
AT&T has started trials to deliver high-speed internet over power lines. The company announced the news on Wednesday and said that trials have started in Georgia state and a non-U.S. location. Reuters reports: AT&T aims to eventually deliver speeds faster than the 1 gigabit per second consumers can currently get through fiber internet service using high-frequency airwaves that travel along power lines. While the Georgia trial is in a rural area, the service could potentially be deployed in suburbs and cities, the company said in a statement. AT&T said it had no timeline for commercial deployment and that it would look to expand trials as it develops the technology.
"We think this product is eventually one that could actually serve anywhere near a power line," said Marachel Knight, AT&T's senior vice president of wireless network architecture and design, in an interview. She added that AT&T chose an international trial location in part because the market opportunity extends beyond the United States.
"We think this product is eventually one that could actually serve anywhere near a power line," said Marachel Knight, AT&T's senior vice president of wireless network architecture and design, in an interview. She added that AT&T chose an international trial location in part because the market opportunity extends beyond the United States.
Ham radio interference problem solved?
Or do we have to pay to fund for emergency communications now/screw Ham?
In the US, there's a swath of radio band that is reserved. First for the US government (e.g. military), then for licensed amateur radio operators. I think there's a tertiary option where if $user only uses less than some-small-number-of-miliwatts. But the higher precedence one trumps the lower ones.
If this is going to be on ham radio frequencies, hams are going to essentially be able to cite FCC regs and say "shut that shit off" due to interference. Hams are GOOD at triangulating interferance, and if they discover it's coming from *all around them* they're going to speak up *quick*.
Remember, Hams are folks who have spent their own money to get radio gear, and then use that radio gear to provide emergency communications in the event of a disaster. On 9/11 I took my handset to the local hospital in case land line phones and cell phones went down. Fortunately I wasn't needed, but ... you do not want to fuck with free emergency communications.
da w00t. mtfnpy?
This would be a hideous EMI generator. It would be insecure by design.
Power lines are not designed to be constant impedance, and not designed to propagate high frequencies.
Ever hear a high voltage power line insulator sizzle when it's raining? That sort of noise will wipe out any information being transmitted down the line.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
As well as Power over Ethernet have been solved problems for at least 10-15 years.
The title option is waveguided maser transmission of digital signals over powerline, essentially the same as cable TV only using power lines instead of coax. The issues with it include radiated energy from long distance power lines (which as a result of the length of the lines can act like HUGE miles spanning antennas), the inability to hop transformers (meaning you need hardware at every transformer in order to continue communicating over higher/lower voltage links, similiar to cable with its distribution boxes up on the telephone poles), and last but not least competing standards for the communication protocols, each of which can interfere with other units on the same line.
By doing this they will require building out another cable-like medium plugged directly onto the high voltage lines, where failures could knock out some or all of the electric grid. EM interference which could cause degradation for HAM operators, wifi users, or microwave/satellite internet users, some of whom may have it as their only means of communication. And lastly: yet another proprietary standard locking people into equipment which is only suitable for the one purpose, interferes with alternatives and is being used to cover for the fact that AT&T got paid billions for a fiber rollout wherein they pocketed the money and then charged us all up the ass for shitty copper connections anyways, until verizon gave them the bright idea that if they pull their copper they can claim previous restrictions on them were tied to the copper and not to their status as a private communications company with monopoly status over multiple regions.
Many of those "terrorists" were once called "freedom fighters" ...
They are NOW called Freedom Fighters.
Just not by us.