August 15, 2007
Current Teams with DirecTV for BPL rollout in Dallas - Fort Worth
Could it be true? Coming to any common electrical socket in the Dallas Fort Worth area, a broadband connection. Details are sketchy regarding performance and price. The data I have been able to gather on Current’s pilot project in Cincinnati inspires optimism, since I live in in the Dallas Fort Worth area. One interesting point Current calls attention to in their press release is that the upload and download speed are symmetric - or the same. A real upload pipe is just what VOIP users, gamers and file shares are looking for. The Current service was also supposed to be available from local electric utility provider, TXU. In several attempts over the last year, including one today, I have not been able to find anyone who is normally accessible to a customer in TXU organization that will admit to knowing anything about it.
From my own experience with the the Duopoloy operators in DFW, DirecTV / Current has a ready market for a serious competitor. My fastest “pro” DSL service from AT&T has provided a rock solid 5MBPS sustained download speed, but up speed rarely exceeds 175KBPS, and the “lightning fast” 10MBPS connection from Time Warner rarely exceeds 1MBPS in a sustained download lasting more than a few seconds, with roughly equal upload speeds. Time warner service also has a terrible habit of dying in a rainstorm. The cost of either is just under $60 per month (AT&T pro DSL is actually $34.95, but they require you to rent a telephone line, that is another $20 in its most minimal form). AT&T’s service has been good and responsive, although it did take several calls to get the bandwidth I was paying for correctly “provisioned”, and I can only assume this was an isolated error on AT&T’s part. Time Warner’s service has had me hanging with serious unresolved issues for 3 months now, including a 3 week old unfulfilled order to end service.
Also worth watching: The amateur radio community has been very vocal in their opposition to BPL deployments, stemming from the belief that BPL interferes with Ham radio signals. How will they react to this high profile announcement?
Filed under AT&T, BPL, Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon by admin
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