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Good BPL Comparisons

Are power lines Internet's future? With broadband over power line (BPL) in the news over the past two weeks, this article from the Austin-American Statesman, my hometown paper, is timely for a review of the technology. More importantly, the article provides handy comparisons with DSL, Cable, Fixed Wireless and Satelite - the prinicpal competition for BPL.

One conclusion of this good overview is that while BPL may be coming on strong and hitting its stride, it may prove to be a case of too little too late, given the market penetration of the two dominant technologies, DSL and Cable. But, as usual, there is another perspective.

BPL proponents disagree, of course.

The recent interest from the big tech companies shows that the technology still has plenty of promise, said Brett Kilbourne, director of regulatory services for the trade group United Power Line Council. Along with Google and IBM, Motorola in May announced it was developing BPL technology and said it was teaming up with a rural South Carolina utility to launch BPL broadband service. Last year, Mitsubishi Electric Power Products Inc. also announced it was exploring BPL technology.

At the same time, Kilbourne and other proponents say, there are still plenty of households - 13 million by some counts - that aren't able to get broadband access because cable and telecom companies don't offer it in their areas.

Also driving interest in BPL are recent court decisions that limit Internet companies' access to cable and phone lines.

See for yourself.

Posted on July 17, 2005 at 01:26 PM

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