News Video
Thursday, January 04, 2007
By Tim Knauss
Staff writer
National Grid plans to let a small Syracuse company offer low-cost, high-speed Internet service over its power lines in several suburbs of Syracuse.
If all goes well in those areas, the service could be expanded throughout the utility's Upstate service territory. That would give customers the option to plug into their electrical outlets for Internet access, phone service and - potentially - TV programs.
Under an agreement with National Grid to be announced today, New Visions Powerline Communications Inc., a seven-person company based in Armory Square, would lease pole space from the utility for its equipment and use medium- and low-voltage electric wires to send data to homes and businesses.
The deal calls for New Visions to provide service in Geddes, Fairmount and parts of Camillus. Down the road, if both companies agree, the service could be expanded to other areas.
"We're excited that National Grid is affording us this opportunity," said Carmen N. Branca Jr., president of New Visions.
State regulators must approve the deal before it can be implemented. The companies could not predict how long that would take.
New Visions has been working since 2004 to establish Internet service on the village of Solvay's municipal electric system. Solvay was the first utility in the state to attempt widespread deployment of broadband service over power lines.
New Visions expects the long-delayed launch of its service in Solvay to begin within weeks, Branca said.
The National Grid deal would allow New Visions to expand beyond Solvay to serve National Grid customers in adjacent towns.
Broadband over power lines, or BPL, works by coupling radio frequency energy to the alternating current in electric distribution wires. Internet data travel at frequencies different from the electrical current.
To use the service, customers simply attach their computer to a modem that plugs into any electrical outlet.
Thanks to technological improvements over the past few years, BPL advocates like Branca expect the electric grid to compete with phone and cable systems as a third major provider of Internet access, including voice and video services.
Just this week, Gov. Eliot Spitzer drew attention to the lack of affordable high-speed Internet in some New York communities and promised to find solutions. Branca said broadband over power lines could be a solution.
New Visions advertises a price of $28.95 per month for high-speed Internet service (up to 5 megabits per second, upstream and downstream). If customers combine Internet with phone service, the monthly bill is $56.90 a month.
Unlike many providers, New Visions charges the same price for residential or small business customers, Branca said.
But the Internet business is increasingly competitive in many areas, and power line providers face a tough fight for customers, said Brett Kilbourne, director of regulatory affairs and associate counsel at the United Power Line Council in Washington, D.C. He predicted that consumer demand would be strongest in rural areas that are under-served by other providers.
Consumerdemand is not the only factor driving adoption of the technology, however. Many utilities are interested in what BPL can do for their internal operations by improving their ability to read meters, detect outages and manage equipment maintenance, Kilbourne said.
"A lot of what's driving it is utility applications," Kilbourne said.
A year ago, TXU Corp., the nation's sixth-largest electric utility, announced plans to establish broadband over power lines across most of its Texas network, making it a "smart grid" while also supporting Internet service for its customers.
National Grid has no immediate plans to use New Visions' equipment for internal applications, but it might consider that option, said Alberto Bianchetti, speaking for the utility.
In September 2004, then-Gov. George Pataki came to New Visions' office at 227 W. Fayette St. to announce a $300,000 state grant to help the company establish its network operations center. At the time, New Visions expected to begin providing service by January 2005.
But the launch of service has been delayed repeatedly by changing conditions in the industry, Branca said.
Technology improvements have multiplied the power of the equipment while shrinking its size, a mixed blessing in that it spurred Branca to thoroughly redesign his Solvay network twice during the past two years.
At the same time, the Federal Communications Commission has developed regulations for BPL equipment to prevent interference among BPL systems, ham radio operators and certain government agencies, all of which operate in the same range of frequencies.
New Visions had connected only a few customers in Solvay before FCC rules issued in July required re-certification of the equipment used there. The manufacturer expects certification soon, after which New Visions can resume connecting customers, Branca said.
New Visions will hire about 10 employees in the coming month to support the rollout, he said
Thursday, January 04, 2007
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I definitely agree Spitzer's efforts to set up small reigional high speed internet connection services in Syracuse. Recently America has been falling behind in high speed internet services. Japan has better internet services than in America! It is amazing how a small country like Japan with less manpower than America is able to provide better internet service. Despite the fact that Japan has a much smaller region to set up internet networks, America, as a superpower should still be equipped with the most updated technology.
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