Subject: [NEXTEL-1] ARRL responds to Wall Street Journal Article on BPL

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 19:17:08 -0500

ARRL Responds to Wall Street Journal Article on BPL

NEWINGTON, CT

Mar 3, 2004

The ARRL has responded to a March 2 Wall Street
Journal article, "The Web's New Outlet," that presented 
a one-sided, rosy picture of Broadband over Power Line
while avoiding any mention of its interference potential.

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, has faxed a letter (
http://www.remote.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/03/03/104/letter.pdf)
 to the editor of the New York-based business and financial
publication to point out some of BPL's shortcomings,
which were largely missing from the WSJ report.
 
"Any listing of the pros and cons of using power lines to deliver
broadband services must mention its major disadvantage: it pollutes the
radio spectrum, interfering with nearby radio receivers," Sumner said.
"The only known exception is a microwave system being developed by
Corridor Systems of Santa Rosa, California." 

Sumner pointed out that BPL involves sending wideband RF "over
unshielded wires that were not designed for the purpose." Owing to the
laws of physics, Sumner continued, these power lines function much like
antennas, and BPL signals passing through wires in the vicinity can
interfere with radio reception. 

"The frequencies in question are used by public safety agencies, the
military, aeronautical and maritime services, broadcasters, radio
astronomers, radio amateurs, and others," Sumner noted. He said BPL
system designers have had only limited success in resolving the
interference issue by notching certain frequencies. 

"Yet BPL implementation cannot go forward without solving it, because
for very good and obvious reasons it is a violation of FCC regulations
for a BPL system to cause radio interference," he went on. "If BPL
causes interference--and it does--the BPL system must be shut down."
Sumner included references to the ARRL's BPL Web page, which documents
HF interference the League monitored at four BPL field test sites last
fall. "In his letter, Sumner suggested that there are better choices
than BPL, even from the standpoint of business and economics."
 
The WSJ article, in the paper's "Marketplace" section, focuses on the
announcement this week of what's said to be the largest rollout to date
of BPL by Cincinnati-based utility Cinergy Corp and its BPL partner
Current Communications. Cinergy and Current Communications hope to be
offering the service to between 60,000 and 1.5 million Cincinnati-area
customers by year's end and eventually to some 24 million potential
customers elsewhere who are served by smaller utilities. 

While the article concedes that BPL "is unproven in wide use," it also
cites FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Ed Thomas, who
called the technology "ready for prime time." Thomas stopped short of
saying that the same was true for the BPL industry, however. It also
quotes Cinergy Executive Vice President Bill Grealis, who called BPL
"the last-mile solution" and said the service--at between $30 and $40 a
month--would be "cheaper and faster than DSL or cable." 

In his letter, Sumner suggested that there are better choices than BPL,
even from the standpoint of business and economics. "Potential investors
in broadband delivery alternatives to DSL and cable would be far better
off considering the various methods of delivering fiber-to-the-home in
densely populated areas," he concluded. "For rural areas, adaptations of
wireless LAN technology are generally recognized as offering far more
promise than BPL." 

http://www.remote.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc#video

http://www.remote.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/03/03/104/?nc=1

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2004 12:00:11 -0500

Anyone know if this response was actually published in the Wall Street
Journal?
Regards, Alan - N3HOE
<[email-masked]>

--------- Original Message ----------
From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 19:17:08 -0500
Subject: [NEXTEL-1] ARRL responds to cArticle on BPL

NEWINGTON, CT

Mar 3, 2004

 

 

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