City takeover of BPL has some concerned

By KIPP HANLEY
Published: October 14, 2008

Broadband over power line technology is still alive in the city of Manassas thanks to a recent city council vote.

But the scope of its future should be limited, according to some council members.

On Sept. 22, the council voted 4-2 to assume control of the technology formerly provided by a company called ComTek. The assumption of this control means that the city will have to use a small percentage of its electric department reserve fund to pay for the service for the next six months.

The city will, in turn, charge a nominal amount for the service.

ComTek was supposed to sell the technology — used to provide basic Internet capabilities to residents and businesses — to Smart Grid LLC. However, the deal fell through this year.

Instead of axing the program right away, the council decided to keep the service for the roughly 675 customers until April, when it will be on the budget cutting room floor for fiscal 2010.

One reason to keep the technology is that the infrastructure already in place would be suited to take on the Advanced Metering Infrastructure system that’s been proposed by the city’s utilities department.

A $5 million project, the AMI system would allow residents to monitor their utility usage in real time. Utilities Director Mike Moon said the city is also looking at other infrastructure options for AMI, including wireless.

But for the purpose of accessing the Internet, broadband over power line does not look too promising. BPL is competitively priced when compared to what companies like Verizon and Comcast charge for their Internet service, said Moon.

But it does not have the bandwidth to support major downloading or video streaming, something that is becoming increasingly popular these days with the younger generations of users, said Vice Mayor Andrew Harrover.

Harrover said his affirmative vote to continue the service had to do with common courtesy for those who use the service, and for the future of the AMI system.

But Harrover said he has a fundamental problem with the city providing this service for Internet purposes.

“The philosophical question is should the city be in Internet business and the answer is no,” Harrover said.

Councilman Jonathan Way, who voted with Mark Wolfe against assuming control of the service, agreed with Harrover.

“If we really feel compelled to compete, we should do so with modern, fast and reliable technology,” Way said. “The current operator of the BPL system cannot make a go of it and wants out. There should be a lesson hiding somewhere in that fact.”

Dave Sumner and George Tarnovsky, two area advocates for shortwave radio, fought BPL a few years ago because the new technology was interfering with their radio frequencies.

That technology has improved so that there is less interference.

Tarnovsky said he has no problem with using BPL for automated metering.

However, Sumner argues that BPL isn’t more competitively priced than other Internet providers and Tarnovsky said BPL technology is nowhere close to what other companies provide.

“Using BPL for phones and Internet is pushing it to the limit,” Tarnovsky said. “It’s like using a bicycle to drive into D.C. for work.”

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738.