Flawed BPL is no broadband panacea

dahamsta

Good overview of BPL, although given my previous standpoint (i.e. none really) I feel the need to point out some flaws, such as...

• He tells us Karen George says it will cost "more" to roll out BPL to rural areas. "More" could mean ten bucks or ten million bucks. Seriously, report the facts or stfu.
• He mentions an OFCOM study but rather than examine and discuss the study itself, he quotes the ARRL's conclusions about the study. Sorry, that's just not how journalism works.
• In general, he doesn't seem to have consulted with the "other vested interests" at all, which makes it a bit one-sided. If he did and they refused to talk to him, he should have said.

In the opposite tack, I'd agree with him on the FCC, in fact I'd extend it to say that the current FCC is the most right-wing they've had in a long time, and there's an awful lot of kowtowing to commercial interests going on since Powell Junior came on the scene.

Still, well worth reading and definitely better than some of the garbage out there on this subject. One of these days a real journalist will do a story and we'll actually get a genuine balanced overview...

adam

Flawed BPL is no broadband panacea

Broadband over power lines has been in the news again recently. At one time BPL was seen as the best way to bring affordable Internet access to poor and rural America: an answer to the technology gap between the haves and the have-nots. Now, thanks primarily to boosters like Michael Powell and Kevin Martin, Powell's successor at the FCC, it's back for another go at the broadband access market. But BPL remains a flawed and controversial technology. Proponents in Texas are pushing a pro-BPL bill past confused legislators in Austin at the same time their counterparts in Washington, D.C., are considering a measure to rescind "BPL-friendly" rule changes made at the FCC last fall.

If you listen to the marketing that surrounds BPL, you can understand why it has supporters. Proponents say that BPL will finally bring broadband access to the poor, the underserved, and to rural areas. They also suggest that BPL will enhance the coming "smart grid" technology which someday will replace our antiquated power systems. The third BPL talking point is that once the technology is flourishing, consumers will benefit from increased competition in the marketplace. Lastly, BPL proponents admit that there is a possibility of interference being generated, but that it will be minor and mainly affect only amateur radio operators who live within close proximity to a BPL-equipped power line. Unfortunately, three of the four talking points are untrue, and the fourth is far from certain.

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