The other thing that BPL has to do is perform better than any of the competing systems available. I doubt it can do this, either. Even if it had an edge over cable(I don't think it does anyway) or DSL (it might have a slight edge here) newer future technologies will likely leave BPL short which will allow it to die anyway. In between its deployment and its demise, however, it will do a lot of damage to us. 73, Wade W0EJ/1

Let's hope it fails on its own merits (or lack thereof). People in urban/suburban areas aren't going to sign up unless it's significantly cheaper than cable or DSL (which it won't be) and it's impractical to run it out to Farmer Brown who is 40 miles out of town. So they'll all end up like Manassas.... a solution looking for a problem to solve.

-- Andy Oppel, N6AJO

At 04:59 PM 7/19/2004, you wrote:

...

The BPL industry sure appears to have their PR machine running at high speed. We'll never "win" by trying to correct the inaccuracies but I hate to let them get away with it. Or maybe they're accurate...

Can't we do more "myth busting"?

-- Tom

...

=================================== EEI DAILY ENERGY NEWS Visit the DEN online at www.eei.org/products-den to subscribe, view archives and more. =================================== Monday, July 19, 2004

* Report States BPL Set to Generate $7.5B in Revenue by 2012

Energy Info Source predicted that by 2012 broadband over power lines (BPL) will have more than a 20-percent share of the U.S. market with 73 million access lines generating $7.5 billion in revenue annually. Currently, there are three commercial BPL offerings and nearly 24 utility trials under way, reported Electricity Daily.

Steven Morris, president of Energy Info Source, said BPL should have wide-scale availability in two years. BPL technology provides broadband to rural communities with no current access to cable or DSL, wrote Electricity Daily.

In its BPL rollout, Cinergy predicted 10 percent of eligible customers would sign up the first year with another 10 percent doing so in the second year. During the first eight weeks of availability, 15 percent of Cinergy's eligible customers enrolled, reported Electricity Daily.

-- Electricity Daily, July 19.

===== e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444