Powerline Broadband Usecases

Mon Sep 27 18:08:06 UTC 2021

On 9/27/21 10:51, Noah wrote:

> Any references or existing reports on those past decade use cases you 
> could point me too?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_over_power_lines for starters. 
Lots of chatter in the amateur radio community during the times it was 
deployed regarding severe interference, but it essentially didn't work 
all that way and was too expensive to deploy vs. other solutions like 3G 
cellular for similar or better bandwidth at the time.

I'm not aware of any BPL systems still operating over wide range. 
Commercial power lines are a very noisy environment and the entire plant 
is optimized for 50/60 Hertz, not tens of megahertz.

The technology is being used for some narrowband technology like remote 
meter reading and the like, but it just didn't work out for widespread 
use to deploy Internet to homes in the US. There are consumer-grade 
devices for use within a single home like X-10 remote control and 
plug-in Ethernet extenders, but that pretty much dies at the pole pig.

There were a few test systems in the US but they're all dead. According 
to the list below it may be in service elsewhere in the world, but as I 
understand it's typically for use within a single building.

More comprehensive list: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_broadband_over_power_line_deployments

-- 
Jay Hennigan - jay at west.net
Network Engineering - CCIE #7880
503 897-8550 - WB6RDV