Hong Kong launches powerline broadband

Coyote

Hong Kong launches powerline broadband

After a two-year trial, Hutchison Global Communications (HGC) has launched a new type of broadband service for residences using the electricity supply network.

The Li Ka-shing fixed-line unit began to promote the PowerCom technology, owned by Cheung Kong (Holdings), after it bought out CLP Telecom in the summer. The service was launched last week in selective areas such as Whampoa Garden in Hunghom.

The service, a first for Asia, is an alternative way for users to access broadband, and poses a new threat in the already competitive broadband market. It offers 1.5 megabits per second service at a monthly cost of HK$138 (US$17.70) in a market with prices ranging from HK$68 (US$8.70) to over HK$200 (US$25.60). Users are required to lock into a seven-month contract in return for a modem, or power socket.





"This technology is now right for the Hong Kong market," said a HGC official. "We will launch in selective estates before a gradual launch in other parts of the territory."

HGC would use its brand name for marketing the PowerCom Internet technology, which transmitted data, voice, and image via the electricity supply network.

The official said HGC could provide a service of up to 10Mbps, leveraging on its fibre-optic network.

In August, Cheung Kong Enterprises, a joint venture between Cheung Kong and its associate Hongkong Electric Holdings, bought 81 percent of PowerCom Network Hong Kong from CLP Telecom.

As of the end of October, Hong Kong had 872,000 residential broadband users, up 46 percent from the beginning of the year.

Coyote

yellum

Hutchinson. Very interesting.

zynaps

I contacted ESB Telecoms a week or two ago and tried to get in touch with someone on their fibre network project, getting a call back about a week later from some guy saying he'd get someone to send me info about it on Monday.
They did, and it was a readymade doc with general info about the project, and a bloody 1.5 meg powerpoint presentation of a single image with about 4 colours which could probably fit into a 50k gif. Arr!

Anyway, I then asked them by email why they had not pursued (if they had even considered) the possibility of providing internet connectivity to their own customers, since they had all this lovely fibreoptic cable on their pylons they were using to sell bandwidth to carriers with.
I also asked them about powerline networking and suggested it as a method of last-few-metres distribution.

No reply yet... I can't see why they would not be interested in the idea though, it's not like they really have competition.
And they have cable access to basically every house/business in Ireland...

zynaps

cherrio

I have seen this stuff (or very similar) for sale in the states when I was there last summer.

It allows you to plug the 'server' into the wall and then you can create a network in your house. To every room that has a plug. Pretty neat!

But I think there are some security issues, as the network extends around 150 - 200 feet from the server, so possibly reach into another persons house.

But sure would be nice to see another competitor liven things up in the stagnant pool that is Eircon/Esat

STaN

this technology has an upper limit of 1.5mbps.

It would also involve a huge upgrade of the transmission network and lines into peoples homes. Im sure if the goverments gave them hundreds of millions it would be an option.

zynaps

From what I read... which wasn't a lot, once the signal passes over a transformer or whatever circuit breakery stuff might seperate the houses, the signal gets largely attenuated, and they're encrypted anyway so any signal received by others just looks like noise.

The homeplug specification which I had a look at deselects carriers on frequencies that have heavy interference on the fly, and switches two encoding techniques called DQPSK (differential quadrature phase shift keying) and DBPSK (differential binary phase shift keying), the second being more robust and... slower, I guess.

So it sounds cool to me... in their specification they say "The raw bit rate using DQPSK modulation with all carriers active is 20 mbps. The bit rate delivered to the MAC by the PHY layer is about 14 mbps."

...If the ESB could come in, get fibre to our households and give us an easily accessible always on house-wide internet connection capable of nearly 2 megs per second, I'd be running after them

It's good to fantasise, no?

zynaps

PiE

What, an Irish company try something innovative?

You really are fantasising :]

zynaps

If we expect and accept the worst, we're more likely to get it... I'd rather contact them and try to persuade them to do something interesting than sit there and despair about how bad the situation is

Not getting at you PiE, I just like the feeling of trying to do something, rather than sitting here getting pissed off at eircom and esat.

zynaps

BKtje

Didn't the ESB try something like this a few years ago?
I thought they stopped as each metal pole acted as a giant transmittor when the data ran over it whihc interefered with , errr, everything.
That would mean replacing em all first?

or was that a different project?

SkepticOne

Originally posted by B-K-DzR
Didn't the ESB try something like this a few years ago?
I thought they stopped as each metal pole acted as a giant transmittor when the data ran over it whihc interefered with , errr, everything.
That would mean replacing em all first?

I don't think it got that far in Ireland. I remember something someone posted here about street lamps interfering with radio signals but that was not in Ireland.

Moriarty

The ESB are the only semi-state company that has its stuff together. The company is run well and innovation is incouraged - the BoD and management in general arent complete muppets.

From what i have heard though, they dont want the work associated with providing a direct consumer prodoct. Its far easier, and i would think more profitable, to deal with other businesses than to deal with residential customers.

Boston

Originally posted by cherrio
I have seen this stuff (or very similar) for sale in the states when I was there last summer.

It allows you to plug the 'server' into the wall and then you can create a network in your house. To every room that has a plug. Pretty neat!

But I think there are some security issues, as the network extends around 150 - 200 feet from the server, so possibly reach into another persons house.

Sounds to me like a linksys product i know of that lets you run a lan over you home power lines. Nothing to do with ESB.

Bard

Was it not the case that NorWeb in the UK trialled an Internet over power-lines service but found it to be unreliable and therefore not viable as a saleable product?

zynaps

Originally posted by B-K-DzR
Didn't the ESB try something like this a few years ago?
I thought they stopped as each metal pole acted as a giant transmittor when the data ran over it whihc interefered with , errr, everything.
That would mean replacing em all first?

or was that a different project?

I don't really see why they'd have to do that all the way, when they could just run fibre most of the way and just distribute it into this powerline thing at the endpoint somehow...

The stuff I've been looking at (homeplug) isn't only intended for internet connectivity, it's also for home networking and people who want to plug speakers into wall sockets and have them connect to the stereo in another room or something automatically...

I'd be more into the internet thing, obviously :P

zynaps

Valentia

this technology has an upper limit of 1.5mbps

Janey how could we put up with that

sceptre

Originally posted by yellum

Careful now:)

OHP

This sorth of thing Will NOT happen in Ireland for about another 10 to 15 years. So don't hold your breath.

OHP