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Downsides to Power Grid as Internet
Cites concerns about interference, eavesdropping.
Letter to the Editor
As discussed on Coast To Coast AM (coasttocoastam.com),
there seem to be significant issues or drawbacks with sending Internet signals
over the power grid.
 The
main issue, as understood by me, seems to relate to the fact that the power grid
is unshielded. Thus it would arbitrarily radiate the high frequency signals
(high in frequency compared with the 60 Hz power "signal"), resulting
in severe interference for AM broadcast signals (at least), including very
specifically short-wave and amateur radio transmissions/reception.
This is a bad idea (whose time will hopefully not come about at all) put forward
by the FCC and by the power companies as a way to increase their revenue at
the expense of significantly disturbing the electromagnetic environment.
I believe this technology has already been tried in various European and
Japanese situations, and soundly rejected because of this very issue.
Another issue is the potential ease with which one's Internet traffic might be
able to be monitored when communicated over the power lines, the signals being
freely radiated as already mentioned.
Yet another issue relates to the ease with which Internet-based "spy"
devices could be placed in innocuous electrical appliances (e.g., toasters) and
utilized without the eavesdropee having the slightest idea of their presence.
"Searching for "broadband
over powerline" or "broadband
over power line" on Google brings up a number of links, including the
one provided below. Although its a bit technical in its discussion level
(being intended for electrical engineers), it does illustrate some of the pro
and con attitudes:
http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/Index.cfm?AD=1&ArticleID=8487
This article seems to indicate that the proposed plan(s) would be to use fiber
optic cable to move the signals, except when getting near to the house, at which
point the signal would be inserted into the power line. This looks (smells)
technically a lot like what is done already by cable companies (in terms of how
the signals are moved over the majority of their distance), so one might ask,
What's the point in this? So that the signal can enter/leave via an
electrical plug, rather than via the cable connection (or the DSL connection)?
The technology thus would better be understood to be not "Internet
communicated over the power grid", but rather "Outlet access to the
Internet". Also, it's clear that this Internet access would not be for
free, and also that it would require some sort of DSL modem-like access box to
send and receive the signals. So, again, what's the point of pushing this
questionable method of disturbing the "electromagnetic environment"?
This link references an on-the-air interview regarding the interference effects
of the technology: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2004/03/20.html
A link is provided on that page to download a video clip with a demo of the
extent of the interference.
Please make an effort to research and report on the downsides of broadband
powerline technology.
DKJ in PDX, (President of a small electronic test instrumentation company)
# # #
CONTACTS:
Requested to not post contact info.
Related Links
See also
Page composed by Sterling
D. Allan Aug. 18, 2005
Last updated August 20, 2005
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