Broadband-over-Powerline Experiences? 56
tarp asks: "I'm moving to the City of Manassas, Virginia, where ZPlug offers BPL (Broadband over Power Lines). The city was the first in the nation to offer BPL as an alternative to DSL or Cable. They claim a 300 to 500 kilobit per second connection speed, and rock-solid performance since the only downtime would be when the power grid goes down. BPL is also rolling out in other locations, despite campaigns by amateur radio enthusiasts to stop it due to interference. Anyway, have any of you used BPL, and is it something I should try rather than getting a DSL or Cable connection?"
Reliability? yeah right... (Score:3, Insightful)
Plus it's relatively new technology. I bet there will be horrible times if you ever need to call tech support.
Re:Reliability? yeah right... (Score:2, Insightful)
from what i've experienced, cable service doesn't go down because the servers go down. it goes down because something cut a line somewhere. if it's a server, they would be able to swap it out instantly. if they have any kind of a data center, they alrea
Re:Reliability? yeah right... (Score:1)
Re:Reliability? yeah right... (Score:3, Insightful)
The power company has to connect to the rest of the internet somewhere right? So think of how that could fail.
The power company probably puts lots of equipment in the same server room. What if both redundant air conditioners go down?
What if an admin screws up with their BGP?
So the statement that implies downtime only when power grid goes down is really stupid.
Re:Reliability? yeah right... (Score:2)
Also when they bag the whole idea (Score:5, Insightful)
How is this legal? (Score:4, Interesting)
How strong is the interferance?
How far from the power lines does it extend? (Of course power lines are everywhere, so even a 10 meter wide stretch of interferance would be significant.)
Re:How is this legal? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How is this legal? (Score:1)
Re:How is this legal? (Score:2)
It can get *really* bad, bad enough to block out the WWV time signal, which is a 10kW signal. Ham power limits are set at 1.5kW, but most hams transmit 5-100W signals.
Re:How is this legal? (Score:2)
ARRL link [arrl.org]
Re:How is this legal? (Score:1)
300-500 kbps (Score:2)
Re:300-500 kbps (Score:1)
Re:300-500 kbps (Score:2)
Re:300-500 kbps (Score:1)
Re:300-500 kbps (Score:2)
Check the availability of cable first (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Check the availability of cable first (Score:1)
They also lag to hell sometimes. (like tonight)
Re:Check the availability of cable first (Score:2)
Grab.
Bleeding Edge (Score:5, Insightful)
That might be applicable for surfing, but anyone who has is a chronic early-adopter has been burned by New-Amazing-Technology(tm) time and time again (My father is one of these, he's purchased betamax machines, laserdisc players, Newtons, eBooks, etc.).
Unless there is a truly compelling reason to go with the new, different technology (i.e. it's either this or 56k, or its marginally cheaper), stick with what works.
I would write more, but my Commodore-64 is acting up.
An alternative to DSL or Cable? (Score:3, Insightful)
How can that compare to the 2-6Mbit of DSL or the ~3Mbit of Cable?
Plus it makes the radio enthusiasts pretty pissed off.
I'd stick with what's been tested. For now, at least.
Re:An alternative to DSL or Cable? (Score:2)
Re:An alternative to DSL or Cable? (Score:1)
Re:An alternative to DSL or Cable? (Score:2)
Security (Score:2)
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Re:Security (Score:1)
Re:Security (Score:1)
Re:Security (Score:1)
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Re:Security (Score:3, Insightful)
Once you send your data to that box on the pole it is on an untrusted network. You don't know what is going to happen to it or who can look at it so it really doesn't matter if it is encrypted or not.
The main reason you would want to use some sort of encryption in this scenerio is for access control. If the ISP thinks that MAC authenticaiton (which is exceedingly weak) is sufficient to keep too many people from using the service without paying, then it's probably good enough.
Re:Security (Score:1)
I would not do such things if I were you (Score:3, Informative)
I would be very cautious about being an early adopter of this unproven technology. The equipment is first gen, the service techs are green and the speed doesn't sound very impressive. If that's all that's available, then I'd make sure I didn't get locked into a contract if I were you.
I went to DSL Reports [dslreports.com] and they don't even list it as a category yet, FYI.
I should also note that while the power grid is still pretty sturdy, this speaks nothing of equipment failures, and it would seem that power goes out more often than land-line phone service or cable from what I've seen. Of course, I'm basing this on Las Vegas where most of the lines are below-ground, so your results may vary.
It all boils down to this: are you willing to accept the headaches of this new technology, and is the price/performance compelling enough to warrant that risk? Of course, I think this applies to all new technology. *has flashbacks of the "bad old days" of cable modems*
Re:I would not do such things if I were you (Score:2)
Re:I would not do such things if I were you (Score:2)
Re:I would not do such things if I were you (Score:2)
Grab.
Re:I would not do such things if I were you (Score:2)
Re:I would not do such things if I were you (Score:1)
Max Power (Score:3, Insightful)
Unless you have UPS, a generator or are using a notebook, that shouldn't be a problem as your desktop PC wouldn't be working either ;-)
Re:Max Power (Score:1)
of course, the servers would most likely go down in that case too...
Hey... (Score:2)
-THE BIG BUT-
What are they charging in actuality? THAT is the question.
(I can get DSL faster than that your BoP for $27/mo here, and right now I'm sitting in a bar with free wireless and $2 Guinness. Bargain hunt, fella.)
Not just the HAM guys... (Score:5, Interesting)
gus
Radio Interference (Score:5, Informative)
http://vhfgroup.rochesterny.org/downloads/ - A couple of MP3's of the interference.
http://iwce-mrt.com/ar/radio_bpl_deployments_fi
Any wire can act as antenna. Power lines by themselves give off a signal. But because power lines are not perfect antennas, efforts to limit any interference caused by BPL will not be 100% effective. What will kill BPL is if it's starts interfering with emergancy services (FEMA) or consumer products.
Personally, I'd be more concerned about the privacy issues. Any data on the power lines is essentially being transmitted to anyone with a radio who happens to be able to pick up the signal. Spread spectrum technology would help with privacy concerns.
This sounds like a fun project, sniffing traffic from power lines....
Re:Radio Interference (Score:1)
What do you think that happens with your cell phone for example?
Re:Radio Interference (Score:1)
You are forgetting, it works both ways.
So when my hamradio friend keys up his perfectly legal 1500 watt sideband station his signal will leak into the BPL system as much as their intereference leaks out... So not only does BPL ruin his hobby, his hobby will ruin BPL for the whole city (!).
Sure you can legislate ham radio into non-existance. One service down a hundred to go. Then you gotta get rid of all CB linear amps. Then all the power tools (ever fire up an old drill w
well. (Score:4, Interesting)
from what i have read, BoP adds a fair amount of 'white noise' that causes ham radioers and 802.11x users a bit of trouble. These users must boost their signal to compensate and that lowers speed or quality of signal or completely destroys it if the signal were fairly weak in the first place.
I can see how the system would be usefull for those outside cable and DSL grids like rural areas of the US's northwest(montana, wyoming, dakotas) where the distance is too great for the current standards BUT does BoP extend into these areas?
Supplement, not replace (Score:2)