Power Grid Internet Service goes live in Cincinatti

[Pahreyia]

http://equipped.msn.com/article.aspx?aid=4

Broadband Internet
Plug and Play
Coming to a power line near you?
By David S. Bennahum
Reprinted with permission from Slate.com

Roughly 50 million homes in the United States connect to the Internet through broadband, typically cable or DSL (but to a limited degree satellite as well). Although that sounds like a lot, it's still a far cry from the nearly 70 million homes with dial-up connections. But this month, a new service is being rolled out that, over time, could dramatically change the economics of broadband Internet and transform what is largely a duopoly between cable and DSL into a competitive market.

The new option: connecting to the Internet through electrical sockets. In this scenario, the home user plugs a specialized modem into the wall socket and is immediately brought online at speeds up to 3 megabits per second, as fast as any broadband service on the market today. Known as " broadband over power lines, " or BPL, the service is currently available to 16,000 homes in Cincinnati.

Marketed under the brand Communications (http://www.currentgroup.com/), the Cincinnati offering came as something of a surprise. For years, the idea of delivering Internet access through power lines has been stymied by engineering problems that until recently seemed intractable. As far back as March 2000, CNET reported that companies were close to delivering high-speed Internet access through power lines, but nothing came of it. It's taken four years to turn the theory into commercial reality. Current Communications won't reveal the specifics of what made its technology perform as promised, but in general terms, what's historically hindered the deployment of BPL is that the electrical system was designed to transmit electricity and nothing else.

Don’t be shocked
Two major obstacles make transmitting Internet signals through power lines a difficult proposition. The first is that power lines are designed not to interfere with other electromagnetic signals, such as radio and television. Metal wires made of aluminum and copper (the stuff that carries electricity) are also natural antennas. So, utility companies, in order to comply with FCC regulations over what gets broadcast where and how, learned to shield their systems from producing interference with these other licensed signals. A properly built electrical grid transmits electricity at a frequency of 60 hertz. In principle, those same wires could carry another signal, using a different frequency. The problem is that could jam up things like TV and radio transmissions.

Current Communications figured out a way to transmit Internet signals along another frequency — it won't disclose which, other than to say it's somewhere between 1.7 megahertz and 30 megahertz — and to comply with FCC regulations that the signal not interfere with other transmissions. And in February, the FCC ruled that BPL systems could go forward, clearing a major regulatory hurdle. The road's not entirely clear for the technology, however. The FCC has acknowledged that BPL transmission may interfere with amateur ham-radio broadcasts, and that problem will likely need to be solved before BPL can become as common as cable and DSL connections.

The other major technical challenge for BPL systems is that utilities "step down" electrical power from 10,000 volts to 120 volts before electricity enters the home. This is done through a transformer (visible on telephone poles as a kind of big metal bucket). By figuring out a way for Internet signals to bypass the transformer, Current Communications can bring BPL into the home without the risk of bringing along deadly 10,000-volt electricity with it.

Current Communications and Cinergy, the Cincinnati utility that's providing the electrical grid for the service, tested the system for a year in 100 of the city's households. In addition to the 16,000 homes currently eligible for the service, they plan to offer it to 55,000 homes by the end of the year. Cinergy says it intends to bring BPL, in a second venture, to the 24 million American homes in rural communities that either have no broadband option or just one (typically DSL).

Current Communications, meanwhile, intends to mimic what it's done with Cinergy throughout the rest of the (non-rural) country: partner with utilities to bring BPL to as many American homes as possible. It won't be the only one trying. A company called Amperion has rolled out a BPL service in Ontario and is in trials with EarthLink and Progress Energy to test a similar system in North Carolina. Last October, the city of Manassas, Va., signed an agreement with Powerline Communications to offer every household BPL access by the end of this year. Another entrant into this field is Ambient, which is undergoing field trials in Alabama in conjunction with a subsidiary of the utility Southern Co.

How fast can it go?
For the moment, though, more households can buy BPL from Current Communications than from any other company. Current offers three price ranges based on speed: One megabit per second costs $29.95 per month, 2 megabits per second costs $34.95, and 3 megabits per second costs $39.95. This is about the same speed and price as DSL and cable, but there's one important difference. Current Communications delivers a "symmetrical" service, where your upload speed is as fast as your download speed. Cable and DSL are "asynchronous." Your download speed may be fast, but your upload speed is only a fraction of that —typically 80 percent or 90 percent slower. (Satellite upload speeds are even worse.) The ability to deliver synchronous speeds is unique to BPL, and more and more Internet users require a fast upload speed to get the most out of the Net. File-sharers upload files all the time, but there are other examples. Internet telephony requires some amount of uploading anytime you're on the phone, and video instant-messenger applications upload data, too.

Understandably, utilities will be closely watching the way Cinergy works with Current Communications. If BPL is a hit with Cincinnati consumers, and it causes no problems when it comes to maintenance of the electrical grid, then it's hard to imagine why any utility would refuse to offer a similar service. BPL may even provide utilities with a benefit beyond additional revenue: The same system that transmits Internet data can be used to remotely monitor household electricity usage, obviating the need to send a technician out to inspect the household meter. The system can also provide detailed feedback on electricity usage in real time, which could potentially detect brownouts before they escalate into blackouts.

If BPL takes off, cable and DSL (along with satellite) will face even more pressure to lower prices while simultaneously increasing speed. That's the dynamic that made much of the rest of our technological world — from DVD players to personal computers — as cheap and ubiquitous as electricity.
David S. Bennahum is a contributing writer with Wired and the author of "Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace."

We've all heard of the potential of this kind of service, but what I want to know is how badly it can affect the power delivery system. Generators in California were already working overtime last year with rolling blackouts. If adding a new frequency to the carrier lines, can this cause further issues with blackouts?

[Bubba Grizz]

I have Road Runner now but I never got an option to pick my speed. I pay about $45 a month for it. Are the speeds on this socket thing comparable?

[Kelshara]

RR speeds vary tremendously from place to place. I have insanely fast connection here where I live (which surprise me since it is a college town..), but it is a heck of a lot faster than they guarantee and way faster than I had in Texas.

[Jassun]

BPL is a concept that has been around for many years now. Although Current Communications may have devised a means to overcome some of the technical issues blocking BPL's initial implementation on small trial basis, there are still severe secuirty risk and physical limitations that will most likely prevent BPL from ever being used more widespread.

from http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/5208-6118- ... 03&start=5

BPL is Both Insecure and Vulnerable
--------------------------------------------------

BPL, Broadband over Power Lines, is NOT a secure Internet and data comminations network; moreover, whilst it is widely known that BPL causes widespread interference to radio and communications services, it is less well known that BPL, too, is very vulnerable to interference from external EMR (electromagnetic radiation) sources. (And it is especially so if the interfering EMR signal falls within certain parts of BPL's broadband frequency spectrum.)

I covered this issue in more detail in my main post, 'BPL, What an Incredible Shambles!' and I provide you with logical reasons why BPL is both NOT secure and yet very vulnerable to external interference. In essence, BPL's inadequacies have to do with the fact that a 19th-Century designed power grid is ill equipped to handle complex high-speed Internet data networks designed to work with 21st-Century transmission systems. The mains power grid is a remarkable technology in its own right, its longevity a remarkable testament to that genius Nicola Tesla, and it stands almost alone as the most enduring and reliable of modern engineering enterprises. However, in spite of its many glowing attributes, the power grid uses high power technology that is incompatible with complex broadband data signals, (which normally travel as tiny voltages along specially shielded cables over comparatively short distances where, at the receiver, they have to be regenerated to protect their integrity before being retransmitted onwards).

Combining such extremely disparate services is seen by many engineers and systems implementers as a folly in the extreme, and one where the motives and integrity of its promoters (and those regulators who approved the BPL concept without adequate and widespread trials), ought to be brought into question and ultimately be held accountable.

BPL is a very unsatisfactory kludge born out of an unusual confluence of disparate and ill-matched ideas together within a mixture of odd economic conditions, excessive greed, traditional telcos being caught without adequate or appropriate technologies, together with users' insatiable and unquenchable demands for high-speed Internet services. BPL is neither the correct nor an appropriate solution for the shortage of distributed high-speed Internet services, and if introduced in any significant amount, its service life will be short and troubling.

Ultimately, BPL will have to be replaced with more appropriate technologies such as fibre, which has both excellent EMR/EMC (interference) parameters and a much higher intrinsic bandwidth. Also, fibre can be easily installed so that it presents a more amenable and appropriate engineering environment to work within. Moreover, where and when appropriate, fibre technologies can be relatively easily adapted to DIY kits for use within rural communities where large instrumentalities, telcos, ISPs etc., have little financial incentive to venture into.


BPL and the Vulnerability of Your Personal Data
----------------------------------------------------------------

Essentially, BPL signals traverse over an extremely insecure network. BPL's insecurity is brought about principally by the fact that powerlines are totally exposed. Whilst powerlines are installed in ways that offer physical protection from electrical shock, they are essentially 'open' systems to the accompanying BPL signals by virtue of their total lack of conductive electrical screening. BPL signals can and do radiate everywhere from the powerlines that carry them, and they take your private data and information with them when they do. BPL signals can even radiate as far as overseas: the high frequency nature of their signals--similar in wavelength to those used in shortwave radio broadcasting--makes them radiate with great efficiency, as the powerlines act as very effective antennas.

BPL's high radiating efficiency means that much of the signal that was supposed to be confined between your modem and its final Internet destination actually wafts of into space necessitating the BPL operator to inject even more signal level into the powerlines to ensure sufficient signal for efficient network communications. Meanwhile, the large radiated signal will cause considerable interference to legitimate radiocommunications users who have been using these licensed and internationally agreed frequencies for about a century.

Also, with little effort, every snoop, voyeur, credit reporting bureau or law enforcement agency will be able to read and capture your private electronic data; moreover, this 'wiretapping' can be undertaken at a considerable distance from the powerlines without your knowledge and without any direct physical connection to the power line. (Note: low-level communication signals normally traverse from one location to another along shielded cables and DO NOT radiate, as the signal is constrained fully within the cable. Other cabling systems are even more secure, for instance, fibre optics are very much harder to wiretap, whereas BPL is just ready for the taking.)


BPL's Vulnerabilities
---------------------------

Similarly, BPL can itself be easily interfered with. Foreign signals that enter from outside of the network can jam it and easily stop it from working. There is a huge number of potential ingress points that an interfering signal could find its way into a BPL network, such as power outlets, exposed wires, switch boxes, ducting, plugged-in electrical appliances, etc., that's just about anywhere where power cables are physically located. Also, a jamming signal within close proximity of a BPL-carrying cable can radiate directly into its BPL network and interfere or jam it. There is no need for any physical connection to be made to the powerlines, as encoded signals can be quite vulnerable to interference, so not much signal needed to cause a complete network failure. Signals of such low level can easily radiate directly into power lines without any physical connection under the right circumstances.

Any interfering signal, whether intentional or not, injected into a BPL-carrying power line power outlet (or just simply induced into the power line) will have the capacity to bring a BPL service Internet node to an immediate and complete halt, thus perhaps disrupting several thousand Internet users. Jamming will be an extremely effective way of instantly stopping BPL services.

If the jamming were an intentional hack attack, the hacker or terrorist would most likely be skilled in attacking the most vulnerable parts of the BPL signal. Essentially, he'd optimise the jamming interference so that very little of its signal would be needed to bring the BPL network to its knees. With very low jamming power, the hacker would need very little resources to succeed. Even then, the jamming circuits would likely be powered by the very power that accompanies the BPL signal. BPL is an ideal combination for attack because it will be such an easy target.

(Note: the BPL service consists of two-way signals that link to and from your modem, they traverse along the powerlines to a convenient place for the power utility company to connect the BPL to the rest of the Internet, this node point could be quite some miles from your house. It is here that your Internet connection is multiplexed (combined) with the many other messages coming from all other subscribers attached to your sector of the power grid. Depending on the type of BPL system you have, and how your power utility or ISP operator values economies of scale versus network and service level efficiencies, the number could amount to quite some thousands of subscribers or even more.)

I reiterate again, BPL is NOT an appropriate technology to use for Internet services. Fibre, or it in combination with specialist 'Last-Yard' wireless connections, is the correct and sensible way to engineer our way out of the BPL dilemma.





Grahame Wilson
Sydney, Australia.

wilsongr@ozemail.com.au

[Winnow]

This is about the same speed and price as DSL and cable, but there's one important difference. Current Communications delivers a "symmetrical" service, where your upload speed is as fast as your download speed. Cable and DSL are "asynchronous." Your download speed may be fast, but your upload speed is only a fraction of that —typically 80 percent or 90 percent slower. (Satellite upload speeds are even worse.) The ability to deliver synchronous speeds is unique to BPL, and more and more Internet users require a fast upload speed to get the most out of the Net. File-sharers upload files all the time, but there are other examples.

/droooooooooool

I don't care if all AM/FM stations go away, we all become sterile and grow hair on our tongues....upload speeds of 3 megabits per second is the win! Sign me up!

[VariaVespasa]

Jassun- Dont think much of that article you referenced. The writer is waaay too hung up on the physical limitations of the system (transmitting low power signals on high power lines, interference with other communications etc), which by the very nature of getting it running and approved by the FCC (which the Current Communications tech has been) flat out DO NOT EXIST. He even inserts a paragraph about it in the section he titled to be about security. Obsess much?

His general diatribe and attitude about greed, engineers dont like it (when obviously at least some do) etc, doesnt inspire me with confidence in either his impartiality or knowledge. I'm assuming thats an older article, since it spends so much time saying "it cant be done" when it now obviously can, but even so the guy sounds sorta out to lunch...

Security of the data and vulnerability to jamming/interference are much better questions, and I'd be interested in finding out more, but this guy has already tossed his credibility as an authoritative source. Anyone have anything somewhat more neutral about the technology and its data security or jamming vulnerability?

*Hugs*
Varia

[Kylere]

What is funny about the rant against access over power lines is that other than the voltage/amperage involved everything in that article is true of cable net access. Interference, easy snooping etc.

Cincinnati is an odd duck, it is technologically ahead of the rest of the mid west by a decade. I miss that town, we had SDSL and ADSL for under 50 a month back in 97 while the rest of the country was still paying 1500 a month for ISDN or using dialup.