Texas BroadBand over Power Line Information

Broadband by 2007: A Look at the President's Internet Initiative by James L. Gattuso, John M. Kneuer, David McIntosh, Harold Furchtgott-Roth, and Peter Pitsch
Heritage Lecture #852 October 26, 2004

The Real BPL Story  

Of the thousands of comments filed with the FCC in the rulemaking proceedings, the vast majority have opposed BPL, primarily on the grounds of documented interference or carefully analyzed interference concerns.  The BPL industry has made the claim that interference issues have been resolved, but to date, no more than a handful of moderate interference cases have been successfully mitigated.  In other cases, despite the cooperation between the involved utilities, the complainant and the involved BPL manufacturer or service provider, interference remains only partially corrected. The mitigation attempted by the industry has, to date, generally fallen short, with incomplete solutions that still leave some spectrum unprotected or with insufficient "notching" that reduces the interference, but still leaves it a a level that continues to cause some harmful interference and continues to generate formal interference complaints by radio operators.

In comments to the FCC, Brett Kilbourne, Director of Regulatory Services and Associate Counsel of the United Power Lines Counsel (UPLC) called Amateur Radio "a misinformed set of armchair amateurs that still use vacuum tube transmitters".

The UPLC also characterized the NTIA and the ARRL as having "clearly unrealistic expectations" and the NTIA of "overstating the risk of interference by BPL" and seeking to place "undue operating restrictions and impose arbitrary measurement guidelines that threaten to delay the deployment of BPL or to preclude it altogether".

In a growing number of cases, those utilities that have undertaken pilot projects have terminated those projects, sometimes early.  Those that have provided ARRL with statements about the reasons have generally cited interference and economic reasons for their decision not to pursue BPL at this time.

National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative / National Rural Electric Cooperative Association - Discusses interference risk and economic factors from the point of view of the rural electric utility
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516183016

International Municipal Signal Association - Interference concerns related to low band signaling applications
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516182973

Aeronautical, Inc: - Discusses the interference risk from BPL to aeronautical communications
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516214698    
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516214701   
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516214699    
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516214700

Association of Public Safety Communications Officers and National Public Safety Telecommunications Council 
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516182864

APCO Region 21 Frequency Advisory Committee
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516089417

Missouri State Highway Patrol:
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516182881
Interference concerns to low-band VHF police communications

Disaster Emergency Response Association:
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516182714

National Telecommunications and Information Administration  - Discusses risk to government and private-sector emergency communications
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/2004/bpl/index.html
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516182830
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516212607