DirectTV CEO Chase Carey said at a conference this week that the largest US direct to home satellite provider will try out broadband over power lines in a few cities later this year.
And in that simple statement he may have delivered the biggest body blow to WiMAX in the US that he could have, and in particular to Craig McCaw’s Clearwire and any of its suppliers. A test would be tried later this year in one of the top 50 cities in the US and would need to cover an area of at least half the city, Carey said.
I realize this blog isn’t about competing within some time-sensitive marketplace – and the topic deserves discussion. It’s just a chuckle to see The Register finally noticing Carey’s statement – 4 days after Reuters carried it.
They do pat themselves on the back a lot!
They compete in someways, but in someways they don’t. WIMAX is wireless, broadband by A/C outlet is not.
Still, the more options for broadband, the better for the consumer.
I don’t get why DirecTV (satelite, ‘wireless’) would be interested in – or competent at handling – a technology that is by definition ‘wired’. But as #2 said, the more options the better!
3,
The reason is that the power cord isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so if you have to plug it in, at least you only have to use one cord. Power over Ethernet is a similar philosophy from the other direction, it sends 14 W (soon 30+ W) of power over a CAT5 signal cable.
Although D* is putting time and energy into hotter satellite technology – alliances with firms like WildBlue, for example – unless we come up with warp speed communications technologies, sat comm is limited in what can ever be done with gaming and VOIP by latency.
No more latency in powerlines than any other hardwired solution.
As a strictly casual observation made over time, I have to express solidarity with SN’s (the blogger’s) apparent belief that when an illustration directly relevant to the story is unavailable, a good photo of a mature Catholic schoolgirl is nearly always the next best choice.
Keep up the excellent work, Steve 😉
6. She’s geeky, that makes it sort of relevant, right?
Why do this is a city where broadband is already available? Why not do it in the rural areas where no boadband options exist?
IMHO, the best thing DTV is going to do is add 100 or so channels of HD. I’m spoiled rotten… I can’t stand 480i anymore.
BPL is going to kill most radio communications anywhere near the power lines….
I guess we could live without Amateur Radio, but you might want to check with your cellphone operators and the local Public Safety agencies to see how their wig-wag flags and smoke signals systems are doing.
Regards,
Stu.
Without doing more research, I understand that the electrical wires “leak” and effectively broadcast the signal to anyone wanting to pick it up. That would negate any confidential information being carried. Maybe they have found a solution though.
Small, fast electric motors (like blenders) also play havoc with data signals, or they did the last I looked into powerline data systems. And both the leakage Mr. Fusion mentions and the interference aren’t always confined with the source building, but can get out into an entire neighborhood. Maybe those issues have been dealt with by now, though. Been awhile since I looked at this technology.
Count the mixed metaphors, why should this reporter get our respect?:
“The head and shoulders certainty for DirecTV to take its one way pay TV service and turn it into a two way triple play, was a deal with Clearwire and there is no question that such a deal would have been the making of McCaw’s new baby. He recently signed a deal with AOL to get the marketing muscle of AOL behind the Clearwire broadband push, but would have loved even more to get the DirecTV marketing engine on his team.”
#11, Mr. Fusion, ever tried Hamachi VPN? AES 256-bit encryption to your secured server, and it’s free.
This makes me wonder what their deal with Qwest in some(?) areas. I have DirecTV, and use Qwest for landline service, and they offer one of those ‘bundled’ packages… Internet DSL and landline, with a discount ($5) for DirecTV.
J/P=?
OK, this sounds a little nuts, but I’ve wondered if you could deliver broadband through the water pipes.
I know the water, itself, probably wouldn’t conduct well enough but what about the water pipes, themselves? They are steel or copper, right?
I’m sure this idea can’t work but I’m not sure why not.
A large number of water pipes are plastic.
17. “A large number of water pipes are plastic.”
But if we shot the pipes with a blast of tetrion particles and then inverse phase induced the warp core, we just might be able to pull it off.
#18 SN (if that really is your name), I’m getting my phaser out right now and setting it to “kill” just in case you’re trying to trick us into signaling the Klingons.
#18, SN, you know you can’t inverse phase induce the warp core — that would result in a plasma breach and destroy the bio-neural circuitry. I’m certain you meant to reverse the polarity of the main deflector using a polaron particle burst in order to generate a graviton phased cascade inducing a negative verteron flux in the plastic, making it superconductive.
#17 – My water pipes are glass.
How quickly we forget:
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=10687
20. “I’m certain you meant to reverse the polarity of the main deflector using a polaron particle burst in order to generate a graviton phased cascade inducing a negative verteron flux in the plastic, making it superconductive.”
For a guy named Bubba you know way too much about Star Trek!
#23, SN, I was just a kid when TOS went on the air. Roddenberry was a genius, using Trek to disguise the most controversial social issues of the day. I’m honked because there’s no new Trek show on TV.
Some on the ‘net, tho. A few are quite good and have original stars and writers supporting the work (including Gene Roddenberry, Jr.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_fan_productions
And yes, it’s tough to be an astronomer when you’re known as “Bubba.” 🙂
I live out in the middle of BFE and it would be a godsend if this came to fruition. I am absolutely thrilled to be getting sub 1 mbps speeds through my sub-standard DSL.
24. “And yes, it’s tough to be an astronomer when you’re known as “Bubba.””
I’m imagining a movie starring Larry the Cable Guy and Rupert Everett.
[totally off topic]
#26, SN, what’s the difference between Larry the Cable Guy and an astronomer named Bubba? They both have night jobs, but one makes a boatload of money
And Foxworthy: You might be a redneck if that new 1 meter telescope is focused on the trailer park 30 miles away. And that quantum mechanic fixed my ’57 Chevy, now I just get in and I’m in a whole new place. etc. etc.
I can’t wait to hear Rupert (Prince Charming) in “Shrek the Third”. And, yes, I look just like him (or maybe an older Carl Sagan.) 🙂