Broadband provider to drop BPL
in New York trial community
The broadband provider that's been testing BPL in the
village of Penn Yan, New York, reportedly plans to
"move away" from that technology.
The Western New York community of some 5,000 residents has been considering
various proposals with Data Ventures (DVI) to offer broadband service.
A BPL trial has been underway in Penn Yan for several months. The village
reportedly would get 10 percent of the generated revenue.
According to an article in the July 28 edition of the Finger Lakes Times
Online, DVI now is proposing to employ wireless mesh "WiFi"
technology instead of BPL.
ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, congratulated Penn Yan Mayor Douglas
G.Marchionda Jr and DVI for going with wireless broadband instead
of BPL.
"Not only will your citizens receive better service, but a serious
radio spectrum pollution problem has been averted as well," Sumner
said in a fax to Marchionda and to DVI CEO Marc Burling. "We hope
that other communities will be able to profit from your experience."
Sumner raised the issue of
interference complaints from the Penn Yan BPL trial with Marchionda last
April.
The Finger Lakes Times report quotes Burling as saying that his company
didn't feel BPL was "commercially deployable." He also cited
issues with the BPL trial including security concerns and interference--which
will not be an issue with the wireless system.
Burling told ARRL that the Penn Yan BPL system remains on line but would
be shut down once DVI starts deploying its wireless system. As for BPL,
"We are going to sit back and wait for an official ruling from the
FCC and go from there," Burling added.
Penn Yan already has rejected two DVI proposals to bring high-speed Internet
service to the community, the newspaper said. Village officials reportedly
met again with DVI representatives this week. DVI is partnering with Nortel
to offer the wireless service.
In a March 23 article "In This Power Play, High-Wire Act Riles Ham-Radio
Fans," Wall Street Journal reporter Ken Brown described a "firestorm"
of protest from amateurs when Penn Yan approved the BPL test plan.
ARRL also has learned that Energy East - a cooperative of New York State
Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas & Electric - decided against
deploying BPL in their Western New York service area. Energy East based
its decision in large part on the high levels of radio frequency interference
an engineer
and company officials observed during a visit to the Penn Yan field trial.
On July 29, Grand Haven, Michigan, announced that it had become the first
community in the US to deploy a WiFi
network that blankets the city and up to 15 miles off shore in Lake
Michigan with broadband Internet access.
For more information on BPL, visit the "Broadband
Over Power Line (BPL) and Amateur Radio" page on the ARRL Web
site.
Sorce: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The
American Radio Relay League
|
