Public Power

for today's wired world

technology continued...

It should be noted that because of the congestion that exists at 2.4gHz, the FCC has opened up a few other frequencies to similar rules. However, cheap consumer receivers are not available for those frequencies. Receivers in use for those frequencies in rural areas run between $300 and $600. Such consumer cost significantly deters deployment. The FCC is expected to open up other frequencies in both flavors over the next few years as the channels used for non-digital television are retired. Early deployments of wireless grids that deliver Internet signal are sometimes called Wi-Fi and have met with varying decrees of success. Over the next years, providers such as Sprint are expected to market a beefed up version of wireless nicknamed WiMax, likely using licensed frequencies, that may be able to deliver a fully converged signal of video, Internet, and voice.

 

The second emerging technology is called Broadband over Power Line, BPL for short. It retrofits the other wire on the poles and in the alleys, the power line. The technology has been developed where Internet signal can now skip around the electric transformers. Previously the transformers blocked the signal. It requires periodic booster stations along the line. The signal follows the power line into the consumer premises where a cheap plug-in type receiver takes it out of an electric outlet and transmits it to the consumer’s devices over wire or a small 2.4 GHz wireless radio. There are several large deployments of BPL and the technology shows promise as competition with wireless, DSL, and cable modems. Because Nebraska is an all-public power state, BPL is currently outlawed under a legislative policy that prevents all public entities from deploying “a capability of a capability” for retail or wholesale broadband. Recent Majority and Minority Reports by a legislative task force, a filed initiative petition, and interest by community developers and the public promise strong debates on this policy over the next two years.

 

For purposes of completeness, satellite technology should be mentioned. For it to function at all, a dish must have a clear view of that portion of the southern sky where satellites can maintain geo-synchronous orbit. Geo-synchronous orbit only occurs above the equator at an altitude of about 22,000 miles. At Nebraska’s latitude, the signals have to pass diagonally through a thick swatch of atmosphere, and are easily blocked by land features and terrestrial obstacles. While its download speeds can be good, power constraints, competition with periodic interference from cosmic radiation and solar activity, and the finite speed of light all result in technical issues that make it unsuitable for many Internet related functions, such as a competitive Voice over IP alternative to the old dial-tone system.

 

DSL, Cable modems, and BPL are all retrofits on an infrastructure designed, for the most part, to do something else. While each can serve a useful function, neither they nor wireless are comparable with fiber to the door. They are all secondary technologies which can serve a valuable role in the present, but which are wholly inadequate for the future. Few will disagree with the position that communities that will prosper in the future are the ones that recognize that reality today.


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latest news

11/13/2007
Nebraska petition to lift BPL ban faces dramatic obstacles.   Read more.

10/21/2007
Our petition drive is picking up more and more attention as a real good idea.   Read more.

12/19/2006
Task force vies to set Nebraska BPL ban in stone.   Read more.

12/06/2006
Nebraskan Group Seeks Vote on Municipal Broadband Rules.   Read more.