BackMarch 24, 2005
Sanford Nowlin
San Antonio Express-News Business Writer
Castroville City Councilman Darren Bond had heard plenty of complaints from his constituents about their lack of fast Internet service.
Phone giant SBC Communications Inc. offers speedy DSL Internet access in the small town west of San Antonio, but people who live on the outskirts either can't obtain the service or make it work at full speed. And Charter Communications, the city's cable franchisee, doesn't offer cable modem service there.
So Castroville, which has a population of 2,600, is turning to an increasingly popular solution — equipping the city-owned electric utility's power lines to carry broadband signals.
"Being a small community, it's been hard to attract those kind of services from the phone and cable company," Bond said. "I think there's a lot of interest from our residents to see this happen."
More than 40 utilities have experimented with broadband over power lines, or BPL, in recent months. Utilities serving Manassas, Va., and Cincinnati have taken their projects commercial.
Meanwhile, President Bush and former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell have endorsed power lines as a means of bringing fast Internet access to rural residents.
Although broadband access has spread briskly in recent years, some estimate that 60 percent of U.S. ZIP codes still don't have access to cable modem or DSL service.
"It's an economics game in these small towns," said Robert Gwin, chief executive officer of Broadband Horizons, the company that's helping Castroville set up its BPL project. "It just doesn't make sense for a phone company or a cable company to bring their fiber (optic lines) out there."
Gwin's Austin-based company also is conducting pilot projects in the cities of Weimar, Burnett and Blanco. Weimar is the furthest along, with its power grid now delivering broadband to the downtown business district. There are plans to serve the entire 2,200-resident town by early June.
The concept of delivering Internet access over electrical lines has been talked about for years — power companies have long been able to send and receive certain kinds of data over the wires. But only recently has the technology advanced enough that they can effectively carry speedy Internet traffic.
Electrical power and Internet signals can both be carried along copper lines like the ones most power companies use. Both can share the same line, so long as the electric current and the data signal run on different frequencies.
A user equipped with a BPL modem simply receives the data signal from the same wall socket where his or her modem and computer are plugged in.
In most cases, providers offer BPL service for $20 to $60 a month, about the same price range consumers can expect to pay for DSL or cable modem service. Its speeds are comparable to those available with DSL or a cable modem.
Though developing fiber phone or cable lines into a small town can run $3,000 for each home, upgrading the power grid to carry broadband costs only $300 per home, said Sabodh Nayar, operations director for Powerline Telco, a BPL consultant based in Washington, D.C.
Rather than string new power lines, the utility needs only to install equipment — such as an Internet network hub and repeater boxes that strengthen the Internet's signal — on its existing grid. The installation process can take weeks, as opposed to the months or even years it takes to build out a fiber network.
"It's very rare that we can't show a utility that they'll break even," Nayar said. "Even on a very short time horizon."
But not everyone is sure BPL is poised to take off.
The technology has faced opposition from radio operators who argue it can interfere with their signals. And the Texas Legislature is now hearing proposals that could make it more difficult for municipalities to become broadband providers.
What's more, companies trying to bring BPL to market face skepticism from some small city-owned utilities.
"One of the biggest obstacles this technology faces is the conservative attitudes of the utilities," said Nicole Klein, analyst for Boston-based Yankee Group. "After everything else their industry has been through and with the bursting of the tech bubble, they're a little bit wary of investing in the technology."
Analysts also wonder whether BPL will take off outside of small communities.
In most large and midsize cities, both a phone company and a cable company — and sometimes other providers — offer broadband service. And they usually have a substantial head start. Indeed, there already are more than 30 million broadband subscribers across the country.
"Where this is going to work is in the rural pockets that aren't being served," Klein added. "There's really not a lot of market demand for it outside of those areas."
But such talk doesn't quell the enthusiasm of Castroville's Bond.
Until phone and cable companies start bringing fiber into small towns, power lines may be the best way to serve residents interested in speedy surfing. What's more, as businesses decide whether to relocate to the city, many will expect to have broadband access.
"Broadband is like cellular," Bond said. "Once you've used it, it's hard to imagine life without it."
snowlin@express-news.net
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