Looks like a reasonably well balanced article. David’s quotation was right on target as one would have expected.

Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director

5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040

E-mail: k8je@arrl.org; Tel:  513-459-0142

ARRL Great Lakes Division

ARRL, the Reason Amateur Radio is!

Members, the Reason ARRL is!

-----Original Message-----
From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org]
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 9:20 AM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:13628] Houston BPL story

A number of you were contacted by a Houston reporter yesterday. Here's the story that he appears to have been working on.

Dave K1ZZ

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3613035

 Jan. 25, 2006, 8:03PM

CenterPoint pulls back on broadband testing
-------------------------------------------

Delivery over power lines not likely for now

By JON PAUL MOROSI
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Last year, residents of a Greenway Plaza-area neighborhood served as
the test group for CenterPoint Energy's Broadband over Power Lines
technology. It navigated the Web more rapidly than on a standard
broadband or DSL connection, using modems that simply plugged into
their wall sockets.

The faster pace, it seems now, was only fleeting.

Emily Mir Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Houston company, indicated
this week that while the company is "still evaluating" this technology
and will not release its findings until next month, CenterPoint is
unlikely to offer it to consumers as a means to surf the Web.

Other utilities have made similar decisions.

"Clearly, this is a market a lot of utilities have bounced in and out
of," said David Willis, chief of communications research at Gartner.
"The timing in this is difficult, because they're in the midst of a
price war between DSL and cable.

"The best strategy for a utility company is to go where there is no
competition - underserved, possibly rural areas."

Others have tried

CenterPoint's anticipated decision is "very common" among power
companies that have ventured into this market, according to Christy
Rickard, an associate analyst at Kagan Research.

Those who have continued to market broadband over power lines are
largely in rural areas. Rickard said four of the nation's five
commercial developments in the technology are in smaller communities,
including two in Virginia and one each in Illinois and Michigan. The
other is in Cincinnati.

North Texas will soon be home to another exception. Later this year,
TXU Electric Delivery plans to begin installation of
broadband-over-power-lines technology, which will ultimately become
available to 2 million subscribers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

TXU's partner is Current Communications Group, which will be
responsible for the retail Internet offering. Hearst Corp., the parent
company of the Houston Chronicle, is an investor in Current.

Carol Peters, a TXU spokeswoman, said Current will use TXU's lines "as
a highway to deliver their product." And through Current's technology,
TXU will be able to replace standard meters with more sophisticated
automated models.

CenterPoint is expected to use broadband over power lines to track the
health of its equipment, an approach that would bring "a significant
return on investment," said Joyce Putscher, principal analyst for
In-Stat. The technology will also improve monitoring of remote meters.

By using broadband to track their infrastructure, Putscher said,
utility companies may prevent blown transformers and replace them at a
lower cost.

HAM radios affected

But in some cases, this technology has had adverse effects on other
forms of communication, including HAM radio. David Woolweaver, a
Harlingen resident and National Association of Amateur Radio member,
described the phenomenon as "a major problem."

"Many BPL systems are terrible spectrum polluters," he wrote in an
e-mail Wednesday. "In some cases, the spectrum pollution is so
significant as to interfere with emergency and police communications."

Peters, however, said Current's operation in Cincinnati has not caused
any complaints in 18 months.

"We don't foresee any problems from HAM operators," she said.

This service is currently available to 67,000 homes nationwide, Rickard
said, and between 2,000 and 5,000 subscribe. The service costs between
$25 and $45. Rickard said some industry observers believe it will not
become viable unless it costs less than the available broadband
options.

"Over the next few years, it should become more affordable in rural
areas," Rickard said. "It's still a nascent technology. They're working
out the kinks."

Brought to you by the HoustonChronicle.com