[HCRA] We may all love Google, but...

[Rick Lindquist, N1RL]

To help put this into perspective: 

First of all, Google was one of the investors of the reported $100 mil.
It did not front the entire amount. (This is how rumors get started.)

Second, Current Technologies is--in a way--one of the lesser offenders
in the BPL world. Current adheres to the HomePlug Alliance (HPA)
standard--worked out with prompting from ARRL, actually--that notches
out Amateur Radio frequencies in the spectrum it uses for BPL. This is
one of the reasons Cinergy has not had any (or very very few--I'm not
aware of any, however) complaints from radio amateurs in its Cincinnati
deployment area--which is really pretty minimal overall. This article
makes it sound like a grand enterprise, but while there are tens of
thousands of *potential* customers, folks in Cinergy's service area
certainly have not been signing up in droves for BPL service. (Chances
are they already like the cable or DSL service they've got now.) Best
estimate is maybe 1000 subs (they'd predicted 20,000 after the first
year). Cinergy won't say, which tends to confirm the figure is about
right. There's a ham radio team in the Cincy area keeping an eye (and an
ear) on the Cinergy deployment, however. 

Third, it seems that there are always people around who will pour good
money down whatever rathole happens somehow to look promising (can you
say "greed," boys and girls?). The BPL folks come around with a rosy
business plan and (like Cinergy) flaunt the prospect of millions of
subscribers in several states, blah, blah blah . . . and the venture
capitalists (and the Googles) of the world swoon and say, "Hey, that
sounds really neat!" and they put money into it. Logic goes right out
the window, apparently. Keep in mind that BPL manufacturer Ambient
(Briarcliff Manor, NY, BPL horror show) is an Over the Counter penny
stock worth about $0.25 a share. Big bucks? I think not.

Go figure. There are lots of much better technologies around than BPL,
and my personal prediction is that five years down the road, we'll
wonder why we were ever concerned about it. BPL is going nowhere, but we
have to maintain our vigilance for now.

73, Rick, N1RL 

-----Original Message-----
From: hcra-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:hcra-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Kevin F. Berrien
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 5:06 PM
To: HCRA Maillist
Subject: [HCRA] We may all love Google, but...

______________________________________________
-------Hampden County Radio Association-------
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It seems Google has invested with others some $100 million in BPL.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5777917.html
------Hampden County Radio Association-------
An ARRL Special Services Club for over 50 years
------------http://www.hcra.org------------
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