Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) is a potentially serious threat to the usability of amateur radio HF and VHF bands, as well as HF and VHF bands used by the federal government, the military, the Red Cross, and commercial shortwave broadcast stations.
While no BPL systems have been deployed for commercial revenue service, several telecom and utility companies have begun trials to determine the effectiveness of this means of broadband Internet access. In the Bay Area, AT&T and PG&E have begun a trial in Menlo Park, and have distributed Internet telephones to about 100 customers as the first stage of the test.
In this Inquiry Regarding Carrier Current Systems, including Broadband over Power Line Systems, the FCC describes the technical details of how BPL works, and the problems it seeks to address.
This PDF outlines the structure of the BPL test planned for Menlo Park. The test area is bounded approximately by Willow Road, Gilbert Street, Nova Lane, Middlefield Road, and Concorde Drive. This test will operate using frequencies ranging from 1.705 to 80 MHz, plus the 802.11b frequencies in the 2.4GHz band.
