BPL - Broadband Over Power Line Growth To Explode
The “third wire” is coming. As some in the industry are calling BPL - Broadband Over Power Line the third wire, PC World scooped the following.
“We are at an inflection point in the industry,” agreed Ralph Vogel, spokesmen for Utility.net, a Los Angeles-based BPL integrator. “Its position is similar to that of DSL in the late 1990s: people have heard of it, and while we were previously not quite there yet with the technology, we are now.”
In fact, one technology consultant in Cincinnati had this to say about his BPL internet connection. ‘”It seems equivalent to standard cable service and a little faster than standard DSL,” he noted. “But the speed is not asynchronous, meaning you get the same speed upstream and downstream.” “I can’t get same bandwidth for any price close to it from another carrier,” he said.’
His Broadband over power line connection runs at a speed of roughly 3M bit/sec. Consider that speed is heading both upstream, and downstream, BPL offers a considerable advantage over cable internet connections that cap the upstream speed significantly.
Add the flexibility of having the internet connection available through any power outlet in his house, and you have a no-brainer for internet hungry consumers. Current estimates project the growth of the current 150,000 customer base, to exceed 2.5 million in just four years. This, according to Chris Rodin, analyst at Parks Associates in Dallas, Texas. Barhorst receives his internet connection from the utility Duke Energy. The internet service is handled by the company, Current Communications, located in Germantown, Maryland.
March 12th, 2007 at 7:49 am
The latest FCC statistics on broadband deployment show that BPL enjoys 0.008% of the broadband lines in the US.
March 12th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Thanks for the stat Allen.
BPL deployment definitely pales in comparison to cable and dsl alternatives. It will be interesting to see what growth actually occurs. Hopefully, it’s growth combined with agreements between those parties, for and against BPL.
May 31st, 2007 at 5:00 pm
I currently get about 6.5M bit/sec with my roadrunner connection. Are there plans on upping at least the download speeds in the near future?
May 31st, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Hi Clayton! I would suggest giving roadrunner a call for that specific question regarding their service.
In general terms, the speed of cable broadband can theoretically support up to 30 Mbps. Of course you’re sharing the pipeline with others currently, and won’t see those speeds.
Thanks for stopping by.
June 1st, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Actually I DO see those speeds. But my question was for BPL. Will BPL be raising there speeds in the near future?
June 3rd, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Gotcha. Yes. Work is being tested on second generation chip sets. I’ve read where throughput could reach 200Mbps. In reality though, the end user would see speeds between 10-20Mbps. That’s plenty fast for carrying high quality digital video.
You may be interested in work (X2) being completed by Ambient, whose technologies have been FCC certified.
http://www.ambientcorp.com/PDFs/Certification_PR_060907.pdf
Some of the problem with research has been the requirement to reduce power because of ham radio interference. That’s a topic in itself. 2nd generation technologies will hopefully get past that hurdle.
Every area has there own challenges. Utilities must evaluate their own technological framework, face established cable and dsl competition, and make sure their implementation doesn’t interfere with existing technologies, ie. ham radio operation.
It’s coming slowly.