Wes Stewart wrote:
If they can't read my meter remotely how in the hell are they going to
supply me with high-speed data transmission? BTW, I've strongly
suggested that they don't try.

I've done the same with our cooperative here.

Personally, I think attempts to fight BPL through the political system
are a waste of time. The amateur radio community doesn't have the
financial resources to outbid the utilities for legislation.

What *will* stop BPL is economics.

Many of the expenses of offering broadband communications are
independent of transmission technology. Obtaining a backbone
connection, providing mail & web servers, customer support & billing are
all expenses that are the same whether you're providing BPL, DSL, or
cable modem service.

BPL has the additional disadvantage of requiring well-trained personnel
with expensive safety gear to maintain the infrastructure. Most cable
and DSL maintenance can be done on the ground.

BPL is at an advantage ONLY in very rural places, too small for cable
and too far from the CO for DSL. Such places don't have enough
customers to pay for the fixed infrastructure.

IMHO a few utilities will try full-scale rollouts of BPL - and will find
it doesn't sell enough to pay the expenses. It'll go the way of the
picturephone.

=============

If that doesn't work, we can tell the freeband community what's wiping
out 26-29MHz, and post a few photos of the BPL access equipment, and
then be sure to not get anywhere near a power pole without a bulletproof
vestgrin...

--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com