DirectTV turns focus to power lines for broadband

DirectTV CEO Chase Carey said at a conference this week that the largest US direct to home satellite provider will try out broadband over power lines in a few cities later this year. And in that simple statement he may have delivered the biggest body blow to WiMAX in the US that he could have, and in particular to Craig McCaw …

[Anonymous Coward]

Gone to meet its maker

Before further regurgitating whichever desperate powerline vendor's marketing puff is really behind this, you might want to ask Scottish+Southern Electric how they're doing with their "full commercial rollout" of powerline in the UK (starting in a couple of Scottish towns, and Winchester, back in 2003 iirc). SSE Telecom even used to be leading members of the PowerLine Forum www.plcforum.com around that time (check the wayback machine) but they're not visible anywhere in this market now. However there's still an interview with SSE's powerline spokeschief on ISPreview: http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/power/

Where are they now, and why? And where is the kit (which was actually on loan to SSE from the powerline vendors, according to the vendors own info, hmmm).

If Verizon (?) are making FTTH economically practical in the US, what hope is there for the economics of PLC in those same areas?

[Tom]

Broadband over Power Line isn't...

...Broadband, or over Power Line.

It tries, but really doesn't deliver. For the price they pay in the connections to medium and high voltage power lines, they could have easily installed simple fiber optic lines, or similar on the same overhead power poles. Why bother with little transmitters and expensive connections to power lines for something that hasn't the bandwidth of 30 or so DSL lines (to serve hundreds of customers). It makes little sense other than political for those who like to have "plug-in internet".

Nice try, but no cigar!

Remember power lines are for power, not the internet.

[A J Stiles]

BPL = BAD

Broadband over power lines is an exceedingly stupid idea which should never have been allowed off the drawing board in the first place.

*If* it were implemented, and *if* it actually worked, it would create serious amounts of electromagnetic interference, which would be absolutely inescapable anywhere you went.

Let's just forget about BPL and municipal wireless, and begin bringing fibre-optics to the doorstep (full duplex, 1:1 contention and symmetrical or dynamically-assigned asymmetrical speeds please; some of us want to run servers). And while we are busy digging up the streets, we also should install compressed-air mains in densely-populated residential areas.

[NoWires]

Title

BT have or are about to issue a notice on the European journal that states their interest in rolling out fibre to the doorstep to certain selected new build developments. The problem is going to be getting the service providers to change their exchange equipment to deliver internet and telephony services over fibre rather than copper.