[ale] PowerLine Networks

[Mike Harrison]

> i'd be curious to know if any HAM radio operators have had issues with
> the powerline internet.  i seem to remember it being a pretty heated
> issue a few years back.  is this the same tech?

They were more concerned with PLC at the utility T&D (transmission and 
distribution) level, as they were putting a faily large signal on the 
powerlines so that it would (attempt to) hop pole mounted transformers.
It creates a fair amount of RF buzz. Think bad high freq flourescent 
ballast noise with a lot of power.

Most implementation of PLC (Lontalk for example), keeps the modulation 
power down low enough to not hop pole mounted tranformers (or at least, 
not well, although they do).

Personal experience: PLC works barely well enough at low speeds, (< 9600 
baud) but the variables of using it for high speed vary a LOT. Wiring, 
inductive and capacitive load/noise, funky aluminum wiring, power factor, bad 
grounding, that noisy leaky 20 year old washing machine motor..
and a lot of: Oops, these two outlets are on different phases.
All makes it less desirable for home networking that 802.11x in many cases.

It's bad enough that when putting in in-home displays for "smart meters"
we'd rather run a physical cable from the electric meter to the in-home
display, in some cases from the pole to the home (meter on pole), rather 
than use PLC to reliably communicate from an electric meter to a small
keypad/display unit in the home. PLC seems to fail when you need it the 
most, and we've used several methods and chipsets.

And in a trailer home (aka "manufactured housing") PLC is almost 
guaranteed to not work.. especially when the baseboard electric
resistance heaters turn on.

Again, personally, at home.. all the tech is in one main room,
and it's all Cat 5 and/or WiFi. It's a small house and that works
well enough for us. We have one TV/42" monitor and it's pseudo-mythtv box 
are rarely on.. outside of work I seem to be becoming a luddite.

--Mike--  aka mike.harrison at utiliflex.com