Jump to content

Power Line Communication?


Põdi
 Share

Recommended Posts

My ISP just announced that they will be providing Power Line Communication from the 1st Nov. I really don't know much about it, except it's an Internet connection via your power outlets, and it's bloody quick. Other than that I'm pretty clueless. Anyone care to enlighten me?

[ 09-26-2001: Message edited by: Paddy Gregory ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Hellbinder[CE]

There have been a few "rumored" developments in this area over the past 2 years. I had taken them seriously at first, but after talking to a few electrical engineers had thought they were just "rumors"

The system that I had been researching as a possible solution for the company I work for used a unique approach. They encoded data on the magnetic field surrounding power lines. Origionally power line data transfer was thought impossible due to Tansformers and other devices inhibiting the data flow. The way around this is to encode the data in the field generated by the immense current being transmitted. The problem with this method is that every 60, 120, 240,(x per second) or whatever frequency the power is "flowing" the flield colapses as its signal hits Zero.

A brilliant team of engineers (living in texas) employed by the federal government have been working on overcoming this problem for years. I had heard that 2 years ago they made a breakthrough, but later chalked it up to rumor.

the system once perfected has a range of over 3000 transmission miles, with a bandwidth of 3.5gbts. a T1 is 1.5mbits for comparrison. That being delivered to every house on the power grid within the town supporting the system.

apparently they have done the impossible....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if that's the same as what my ISP is offering, that's why I was interested in the technicalities. They did a feasibilty trial in a town a few miles away, and everything obviously went according to plan. They are offering several packages from basic private use with a maximum of three separate connections to a business solution with up to 30. The speed varies from 394kps for the cheapest to a lot more for the top business package. Here's a link for those who read German. You pay a monthly flat rate and then a certain cost per MB over 6GB downloaded for the private package. You also have to buy the initial hardware and it could work out quite pricey.

No more modem cables, plug your PC in any room in the house which has a power socket and have instant internet access. I'd never even heard of rumours about this kind of stuff till I heard it on the radio last night. Intriguing.

They will be offering an ADSL service in the next month or so, which might work out cheaper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LOL Badgerious!

Can you imagine what kind of viruses would be designed for the water-web?

Zap ur heiny, it-came-from-the-jhon, steelmeeseehnginBCM, unzipaturownrisk, etc.

Not to mention the junk mail you would get from AOL and E-Teens....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Menchise:

Anyone getting SPAM on their SMS yet? It's only a matter of time.

Yeah, every time I cross the border from Belgium driving into Luxembourg

You get 2 sms's. first to tell you entered 'luxembourgh telephone territory' and the second is SPAM!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Trying to steer the thread back on topic.......

Did a bit of research, the data is transmitted as short wave radio signals down the powerline, or something like that. I have no idea how you go about doing that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll have to check more into this. Right now from what I have learned with CISCO, the step after ETHERNET is supposed to be FIBEROPTIC. Um, from what I understand about voltage, current, etc. I'm not sure how this transmission is possible across power lines as Electronic noise, and your physical medium on your PC would be incompatible. You would need a special Chassis just to rig up a non-fatal connection to a power outlet, and even then, signal degredation, and speed limits according to process times still apply. The 3-4 GBPS would no doubt degrade after everything is said and done to alot less.

I may be wrong, but I will check more into this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is some kind of expensive piece of hardware between the socket and the PC which decodes the signal. Like I said, the study in the local town apparently went extremely well, so obviously they have solved the problem of noise and signal degradation (don't ask me how though).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a look around for more info on this topic as I vaguely remember one of the UK power distribution companies doing field trials in a limited area 3 to 4 years ago but I never heard an more and don't know the outcome.

So those who are interested have a look at these sites.

http://www.intellon.com/

http://www.darc.de/referate/ausland/plc/

I found many more this Beta testing teaches you to search thoroughly

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if I'm gonna sign up for it or not. It's quite an expensive initial set up fee (~$400) for hardware and installation and then a monthly flat rate (~$35). I'll see what price they offer for ADSL when they start it, then decide. One thing about PLC is that it's symmetrical ie download speed = upload speed, that's gotta be good for gaming yeah?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PLacing data streams on power lines isn't really all that hard, or even a new idea.

The power grids in the USA are all running on a 60hz sine wave, which makes for a very stable carrier signal. They can piggyback just about any signal they want on there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The pricing for ADSL just got announced over here by the national phone co. its dear enough £150 setup fee and £100 a month with a per MB cost on downloading after a certain limit has been reached. How does this compare with elsewhere or are we getting screwed over here (AGAIN!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, in Switzerland bluwin (Swisscom Internet) offer ADSL for the following prices:

256kps service:

Sfr 149 initial set up

Sfr 64 per month up to 3000MB, then Sfr 0.05/MB

Sfr 15 rental for modem.

512kps service:

Sfr 94/month for 6000MB, all other costs the same

You also have to sort out your owm Ethernet card.

So yes Emmett, I think you're getting screwed.

(Sfr 1 = ~0.40£ = ~$0.70)

My ISP (sunrise) prices wil probably be similar to this, if not less. They are usually pretty competitive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...