Pittsburg suburb gets BPL on August 8

Super low cost BPL is coming to a Pittsburg, Pennsylvania suburb, and the rollout may have caught the local ham radio community off guard.

According to an article in the July 22nd edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Duquesne Light has announced that it will begin to offer wireless Internet service to about 2,800 customers in the Monroeville area. The BPL will provided by Duquesne Broadband. This is described as a joint venture between the utility and BPL Global Internet.

And how cheap is low cost? Beginnig on August 8th Duquesne Broadband will be offered in two areas with residential customers and a limited number of small commercial customers with a basic monthly service at a speed of 500 kilobits per second for only $19.95. A $29.95 per month premium service will operate at speeds of 3 megabits per second, A decision whether to expand to other neighborhoods served by Duquesne Light will be made in six to nine months.

Amateur Radio Newsline has learned of one ham who works about a 20 minute drive from the initial test area. Reportedly, he's made plans to listen and log any interfrence. A rival power company in the region, Allegheny
Power, has no BPL plans due to technical and regulatory issues.

(WN3VAW, Pittsburg Post-Gazette)
Amateur Radio Newsline

Other recent stories..

Other News Stories

• Get our news headlines for your website - click here
• Submit your news story - click here