BackWEIMAR - The concept of plugging in your computer to an electric wall socket for both power and access to high-speed Internet service at the same time is starting to become a reality in communities across Texas.
Already gaining popularity in parts of Europe, broadband over power line, or BPL, high-speed Internet service is gaining more and more acceptance in the United States. Weimar and Flatonia are two of the communities looking at it as a potential source of quicker computer access and a possible revenue stream for the city.
Weimar is conducting a test of the system with Broadband Horizons, a Blanco-based communications firm. The idea of providing such a service grew out of an interest on the part of the city to upgrade its already existing utility system.
"They actually contacted me," City Manager Randal Jones said. "I was looking for a way to remotely read electric meters and you can do that with the technology we're talking about. But you can do more and they wanted to run a pilot program here and in the city of Burnett."
The Associated Press recently reported that Burnett is now making such high-speed Internet service available to about 120 homes.
Jones said his city is also offering it on an extremely limited basis in its downtown area.
"We have a T-1 (broadband line) coming into city hall," he said. "And they needed access to such a line for this system to work. There is a booster station tied into the city's utility lines that connects back to a T-1 line."
Broadband Horizons owner Bobby McClung said the key to the system is gaining access to those power lines. He said that when fully implemented, his company would arrange for necessary T-1 lines and would then work out an arrangement with the city to provide the other infrastructure improvements necessary, in particular the booster stations. Those stations have to be located about every square mile.
"This technology isn't as new as you would first suspect," he said. "Cities are already using some low and medium bandwidths for monitoring systems. This technology is new in that it taps into the higher bandwidths. And it's proven technology. There are already 15,000 people using it in Mannheim, Germany. And while new to the U.S., the city of Manassas, Virginia has already committed to deploying it."
Under his business plan, McClung is hoping to deploy the system into eight
to 10 Texas communities in 2005 and have more than 50 cities signed up in 2006.
He is also looking at expanding operations into Oklahoma and Kentucky.
"We are expanding rapidly," he said. "We are already in the letter of intent stage with four cities, Flatonia, Hondo, Bastrop and Bridgeport and are beginning those discussions with six to eight others."
So while Weimar is running the test program, Flatonia City Manager Robert Wood
said his city is probably closer to reaching an agreement with Broadband Horizons.
While residents in Weimar have access to high-speed Internet through its cable
provider, Wood said his city doesn't have that access at this point in time.
"We've got a lot of people monitoring what we do right now," he said. "For rural communities, there aren't many options and that makes this a great option."
Wood explained that he has been in contact with the city cable television provider Cebridge Cable and SBC about broadband service. He said neither could give him a time frame as to when the city could expect to see the service extended to Flatonia.
"Right now, the only high-speed service available is a wireless service
that relies on line-of-sight technology and is only available in a limited area,"
he said. "I can get it here at city hall but I live in the city limits
and can't get it at home."
Both Wood and Jones realize being able to provide broadband service is something
their cities need to be able to offer in their efforts to attract economic development.
"You've got to think outside the box sometimes to get that edge or even keep up," Wood said. "You've got to be able to offer the kinds of goods and services that are being offered in other places. If you can't, people are going to skip you. And high-speed Internet is one of those services."
But the appeal isn't only for economic development. By implementing the full system, cities can use it as Jones originally planned to monitor its own electric system. It has the ability to not only read meters but also monitor the system and identify potential problem points or the location of a system breakdown that results in a power outage. It also represents a potential cost savings.
"The city of Burnett spends $35,000 a year just on meter readers," McClung said. "And in a lot of the smaller cities, those meter readers are generally employees of the utilities or public works departments who can be better used in other capacities."
The system also could provide an added revenue stream for the cities. McClung said that he has developed a cafeteria plan to determine the initial investment cost a city is willing to make tied to how much revenue it can generate.
"If we make all the improvements, we would probably be looking at a standard franchise fee of 2 to 4 percent," he said. "If a community is more aggressive and is willing to finance the infrastructure improvements and boosters, that could climb as high as 30 to 40 percent. The level of the city's investment will determine the amount of revenue sharing. And the big thing about this system is that the largest part of the infrastructure, the utility lines, are already in place and already connected to each home and business."
McClung added that the program offered by his company to install the hardware for the booster stations and power line connections is designed to allow a city to recoup those costs in the first seven years of a 10-year contract.
"After that, everything's gravy," he said.
And the idea of collecting that gravy appeals to city managers.
"Right now cities expenses are going up, particularly because of unfunded state and federal mandates," Jones said. "And you don't want to raise taxes any higher than you have to. That means you have to come up with systems that can not only create savings but also generate new revenue streams."
Broadband Horizons' concentration on approaching smaller cities is based on several lines of reasoning, among them the fact that many of those cities own their electric distribution systems. Other factors include the lack of available broadband service and a streamlined decision making process.
"If you took this proposal to a city the size of Austin or San Antonio you'd end up with a lot of resistance," he said. "First, they already have multiple providers for the service. And then they take a lot more time in reaching decisions, particularly when you're talking about a project of this kind. It might take you two or three years before it comes to a vote. In smaller cities, the city councils and city managers are used to making these kinds of decisions on a much quicker basis."
In several ways, McClung said that the smaller cities choosing to deploy the system will actually wind up in a position where they will put themselves ahead of the big cities on the technology curve. And that has to do with not only using power lines but also how the system taps into them. The computer connection for BPL is a modem-sized box that plugs into the electric system. Each of those boxes is assigned an Internet account with his firm. The box can be plugged into any wall socket in that city and there is an instant, high-speed connection.
"For example, if you are an insurance agent you can take your laptop and your modem box with you on client visits," Jones said. "You get to a person's home or business and you can plug in and you're on-line with full access to your system."
Barry Halvorson is a reporter for the Advocate.
Contact him at 361-798-3888 or hvilladv@txcr.net.