[R-390] The politics of BPL

[Bob Camp]

Hi

If you follow the REA analogy (and I think you are correct) BPL is an  
interesting thing. REA was funded with a lot of government money. The   
economics of running big long power lines out into the middle of  
nowhere is highly questionable unless you charge a fortune for the  
power.

Last time I checked the population of the US has shifted a bit since  
the 1930's. What ever the economics looked like back then they don't  
look any better today. If you want a bit of proof hop in the car and do  
a quick ride through western Kansas and eastern Colorado. Probably a  
good idea to set aside more than one day for the trip. There are a  
whole bunch of empty towns out there. In between the empty towns there  
are a lot of empty farm houses. Welcome to the era of the corporate  
farm.

I can understand how as an equipment supplier the idea of putting in  
miles and miles of gear is a "good thing". What I still am unclear on  
is just how many paying customers there are for this kind of thing. You  
have cable companies in towns with no gas station so the customer  
density is pretty darn low past the end f the cable.

One other observation. A surprising lot of those "past the end of the  
cable" folks seem to own hf radios. Some are SWL's, some are CB'ers and  
some are Hams. Then there's the guys who watch the dams at the Corps of  
Engineers lakes. I wonder what that 40 meter dipole on *all* their  
offices is for .... I'll bet more than one is hooked up to an R-390 ...

I'm not sure their intended customers are going to welcome BPL with  
open arms. This is certainly true if they understand what the trade off  
is.

Here's the other driver on BPL. It's down at the bottom of the blurb  
from the Orlando show: Voice over IP = cut the local telephone company  
out of the picture. The local operating companies are the last profit  
making part of the phone business. The long distance thing is so down  
in the dirt now that there's no money in it. The reason the local phone  
companies still make money is that they have been *good* at stomping  
the competition in voice connection to the home. Hmmm.......

	Take Care!
		
		Bob Camp
		KB8TQ



On Jul 11, 2004, at 9:48 AM, Terry O'Laughlin wrote:

> My friends in regulatory politics tell me BPL is being sold as the new  
> REA, Rural Electrification Authority.  Bring broadband to the country  
> folk!  This is especially galling because I remember my years of DXing  
> in the country - hearing longwave stations from Europe deep in Midwest  
> US because the noise level was so low.  You think we have noise now,  
> wait until BPL crisscrosses the country on those long rural lines.   
> Talk about an antenna farm!
>
> Best,
> Terry O'
> WB9GVB
>
>
>
> At 08:40 AM 7/11/2004, you wrote:
>> There is a BPL conferenc in Orlando this month.  Interesting insight  
>> into
>> the mindset of BPL marketing:
>>
>> http://www.iqpc.com/cgi-bin/templates/document.html? 
>> topic=233&event=4929&document=41137
>
>
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