Princeton, IL: Broadband over power lines will expand into full southern part of town

Princeton Internet project on track

Broadband over power lines will expand into full southern part of town
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
BY ERINN DESHINSKY
OF THE JOURNAL STAR

PRINCETON - An Internet provider in Princeton has begun its next phase providing a cutting-edge technology to a growing number of residents in the Illinois Valley community.
Princeton is one of the first cities in the nation to offer Internet users broadband over power lines (BPL), a relatively new technology allowing users to connect to the Web by simply plugging their computers into their power outlet.

By March, most Princeton residents in the southern part of town will be able to hook into the service, said Steve Brust of Connecting Point in Peru, which offers the IVNet BPL service packages.

Brust told the Princeton City Council on Monday the company will be expanding the service from the southwest quadrant, which was used as a testing area, to the full southern portion of town.

This keeps the project, started more than a year ago, on schedule to be finished later this year. IVNet and city officials have been working for about two years on bringing the new technology to Princeton.

The city-owned electric utility installed about 14 miles of fiber optic cable through the city's power grid as a backbone for the new technology. The broadband signal runs over the fiber optic lines and branches into the homes and businesses for speedy connection over the power lines.

Brust said the company's equipment has also been certified by the Federal Communications Commission regarding interference with amateur radio frequencies. Many amateur radio operators complained to the FCC the new BPL signal caused interference as it ran from the fiber optic cable over the power line to the modem. The FCC put new regulations on BPL equipment in November 2006, but Brust said Princeton's hardware has been approved.

Broadband over power lines rates compare with several DSL and cable Internet providers in the area, creating another competitive price to help drive down costs, said mayor Keith Cain, who installed BPL in his home last year.



Source: PEORIA JOURNAL STAR