Tech Forum

JamesAnderson wrote:There's one I've heard little about, and that's BPL, or 'Broadband over Power Lines'. The FCC approved that a couple years back, but have not heard of any BPL ISPs in Utah yet.

There's two sides to the interference issue mentioned by Mikerowaved. It seems that some systems were also susceptible to moderately powered transmitters.

I'm of the opinion that it's too little too late. The interference issue can be solved, but the system is shared bandwidth and the speeds are not impressive. It needs amplifiers to go any distance so it's not well suited for remote/scattered areas (too much equipment for too few subscribers). But in areas where it can work well, it's competing against DSL and Cable. I also have my doubts about it's ability to scale. Nobody is going to run more power lines to get more bandwidth.

I'm a ham, so I have concerns and I keep my ear tuned that way. But so far all I remember hearing is pilot projects are ending with no deployment.

The last I had heard about it out here (california) was.....

Harmonics issue are solveable, speed is mediocre, but the support costs are prohibitive. We are seeing new neighborhoods going fiber and old neighborhoods using wireless broadband.

I know we're not in Utah but thought this might help explain why BPL is not readily available.

Your explanation tells it all. That may be the real reason why I do not hear of BPL anywhere. I knew of it from FCC documents that set up the rules for it in the first place that I found while looking for broadcasting rulemakings, etc., on that agency's site.

WiMAX could be available in most larger US markets by the end of the year. I have learned that throughput speeds are anywhere from 1mbps to 5mbps on average, although the claim of 70mbps at 50 miles has not been proven yet. Some have reported 10mbps at 2 miles from the transmitting tower in question, but I have not seen consistent studies or user experience yet.

For now, go with cable/fiber. That will give you what you need at present. Eventually we'll have better options among the wired and wireless providers to make a better decision, you can always change providers later if at the time it is deemed necessary to do so.

JamesAnderson wrote:Provo's iProvo will soon have this speed, but there are questions about this company in the media given some issues in the recent past.

The most unfortunate part of using iProvo is that there is currently only one ISP that will do internet only. That ISP is Mstar and they insist that church buildings are businesses so they charge $40.00/mo for 2 Mbit service on a year long contract. There has been some talk about Xmission getting on as an ISP through iProvo, but it seems to be stalled.

rpyne wrote:there is currently only one ISP that will do internet only.

What are the other ISPs offering? Are they more expensive or not compatible with what's needed?

We looked into Comcast for our broadband connection a while back and the installation costs were very prohibitive. There is no cable connection to the building so there was going to be a lot of trenching and other installation activities that not only cost a lot but would have had some short term impacts on the astheics of the site. It was much easier to do DSL since the wiring is already in place.

I'm meeting w/ out SC and SP tonight to work things out- thank you all very much for your insight.

Here are a couple of things that can help:
1) always ask for the account to be set up with the tax-free status
2) there is now a link on clerk.lds.org that takes you to www.xilecbroadband.com this is a company that has done business with the Church in the past and should come back to you with 3 or 4 options for broadband in your area with pricing better than you can get on your own (we hope!) They understand how things work and will give you some options. You are not obligated to use one of their services, but the hope is that their pricing will motivate you to do so. This service should work in the US and Canada only.
Thanks,
Troy

tsheffield wrote:there is now a link on clerk.lds.org that takes you to www.xilecbroadband.com

Where can I find this link? I'm looking to see where it is but I can't find it.

RussellHltn wrote:Where can I find this link? I'm looking to see where it is but I can't find it.

Follow the Meetinghouse Internet link from the main page on clerk.lds.org to display the article "Introduction to Meetinghouse Internet." Then down near the bottom of that page is a section titled "Ordering." The last sentence of that section says:

For assistance in identifying and evaluating broadband options in your area, click here for a comparison.

The "click here" link takes you to Xilec Broadband.