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ShaolinTiger Forum Fanatic
Joined: 18 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:07 pm Post subject: Broadband over power lines trial goes commercial in Scotland |
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Scottish Hydro-Electric (SH-E) is to begin full-scale commercial trials in the summer of a broadband service provided directly over electricity power lines.
Stonehaven in Scotland has been named as one location taking part in the trial. Another town in Hampshire has also been earmarked for the trial, although the company has said it will wait a couple of weeks before revealing its identity.
The technology being used is called Powerline Communication (PLC) and uses the utility's existing electricity network to deliver broadband to homes and businesses.
PLC sends the broadband signal along the electricity wires and cables and directly through standard electrical sockets. It can also provide Net access in both directions at speeds up to 2000kbps.
The cost of the service for those taking part in the trial in expected to be around £25 - £30 a month although the pricing has yet to be finalised.
Said SH-E's director of telecoms, Keith Maclean: "This is an affordable service that will allow almost every home and business in Stonehaven to surf the net, download files and play on-line games even faster than someone in a town or city."
If successful, SH-E could begin rolling out the service commercially from next year.
SH-E's decision to press ahead with a full commercial trial follows the successful completion of trials in Crieff and Campbeltown.
For more information go here. ®
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/22/29669.html
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Networkguy Trusted SF Member
Joined: 29 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: UK
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:15 pm Post subject: |
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If this goes country wide, it's going to kill all other broadband offerings dead.
After all, 2mb up and 2mb down, £30 a month and the ability to deliver it to any property in the UK that has mains electricity. Plus on top of that, it's very cheap (compared to DSL or cable) to provide
Of course BT & the cable companies could drop their prices but then they would not be making a profit.
Bring it on
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ShaolinTiger Forum Fanatic
Joined: 18 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:16 pm Post subject: |
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Yeh i've been waiting for this for ages, I think it's a GREAT idea.
Every home in the country, cheap and high bandwidth, w00t bring on the 10MB
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Networkguy Trusted SF Member
Joined: 29 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: UK
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:20 pm Post subject: |
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As I understand the technology, 10mb is just not possible so there is still a market for business users using other transmision methods so it looks like this will be mainly for the residential market.
Besides, although the infrastructure is already in place, the electricity companies will still have to pay out for DNS, Mail and other servers plus of course a great big internet pipe.
Having said that, 2mb for the home should keep most people happy.
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ShaolinTiger Forum Fanatic
Joined: 18 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:22 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not sure, I think they'll be able to squeeze more out of it, even if they can't it's going to push everyone else into a a price dropping frenzy and hopefully should get high speed into everyones home a lot sooner.
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Rayxen Just Arrived
Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1 Location: Australia
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 2:55 pm Post subject: |
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Meanwhile us Australian's are sitting at home downunder with only 2 cable providers, and a handful of ADSL providers charing outrageous prices with capped speeds and downloads. If this take off, I wonder how many years it will be until it reaches Oz. I know i'm being pessmistic, but I have full rights to be when we're paying $50US for 3gig per month @ 7c/MB after the 3gig. This is a great country but the broadband options suck.
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ShaolinTiger Forum Fanatic
Joined: 18 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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Rayxen wrote: |
Meanwhile us Australian's are sitting at home downunder with only 2 cable providers, and a handful of ADSL providers charing outrageous prices with capped speeds and downloads. If this take off, I wonder how many years it will be until it reaches Oz. I know i'm being pessmistic, but I have full rights to be when we're paying $50US for 3gig per month @ 7c/MB after the 3gig. This is a great country but the broadband options suck. |
OMG that's shocking..
People are complaining like mad here about a 1GB a day limit..
I'm hoping to get DSL by the end of the month and that'll be uncapped 512k for £22 a month.
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myhatisred Just Arrived
Joined: 11 Jan 2003 Posts: 0
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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I was reading a while ago, instead of using the actual power wires, they were using the elcrotmagnetic field around the power wire to get the data transfer as high as 2gig/sec. About a year ago, they were having field tests in Arizona
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ShaolinTiger Forum Fanatic
Joined: 18 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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Heh this is mad though:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2822333.stm
6.7 gigabytes of data across 10,978 kilometres (6,800 miles), from Sunnyvale in the US to Amsterdam in Holland, in less than one minute
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Networkguy Trusted SF Member
Joined: 29 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: UK
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 12:03 am Post subject: |
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I saw this a few days ago and fail to see what the song and dance is about.
I mean, a typical backbone runs at 9.2 gigaBITS per second so the above figure could be transmitted around the globe in less than 10 seconds.
Maybe I have missed something here.
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Rayxen Just Arrived
Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1 Location: Australia
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 2:42 am Post subject: |
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Networkguy wrote: |
Maybe I have missed something here. :? |
The fact that it was done over 10,978 kilometres???
ShaolinTiger wrote: |
OMG that's shocking..
People are complaining like mad here about a 1GB a day limit..
I'm hoping to get DSL by the end of the month and that'll be uncapped 512k for £22 a month. |
Yup - I realise that, we're definately very far behind in the broadband scene and there's little that can be done about it. There is simply not enough competition around to lower the prices. That's why I can't wait for any new technologies that come out.
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Networkguy Trusted SF Member
Joined: 29 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: UK
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 2:52 am Post subject: |
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Rayxen wrote: |
Networkguy wrote: |
Maybe I have missed something here. |
The fact that it was done over 10,978 kilometres???
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Still nothing special. Thats only Europe to the US which is where a lot of the backbones run anyway (at gigabit speeds).
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myhatisred Just Arrived
Joined: 11 Jan 2003 Posts: 0
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 3:48 am Post subject: |
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Networkguy wrote: |
I mean, a typical backbone runs at 9.2 gigaBITS per second so the above figure could be transmitted around the globe in less than 10 seconds.
Maybe I have missed something here. |
A typically backbone can run much higher than 9.2 gigabits/sec, an oc768 line runs at 40 gbit/sec
http://www.mwee.com/mwee_news/OEG20011113S0008
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Networkguy Trusted SF Member
Joined: 29 Apr 2002 Posts: 16777215 Location: UK
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 11:48 am Post subject: |
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myhatisred wrote: |
Networkguy wrote: |
I mean, a typical backbone runs at 9.2 gigaBITS per second so the above figure could be transmitted around the globe in less than 10 seconds.
Maybe I have missed something here. |
A typically backbone can run much higher than 9.2 gigabits/sec, an oc768 line runs at 40 gbit/sec
http://www.mwee.com/mwee_news/OEG20011113S0008 |
It can but TYPICALLY they don't (but they will in the future when capacity dictates). Now we have optical switching in the core of a lot of networks, you can just add another channel to your DWDM MUX and away you go (of course it is not as easy with long haul underwater cables)
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Rayxen Just Arrived
Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1 Location: Australia
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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Networkguy wrote: |
Still nothing special. Thats only Europe to the US which is where a lot of the backbones run anyway (at gigabit speeds). |
I'm just guessing.... maybe it was the first *documented* - as in, they timed it.??
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