# DirecTV to offer Broadband and VoIP services



## cforrest (Jan 20, 2007)

*DirecTV to Offer High-Speed Internet From Current Group on Power Grid*

WSJ Subscribers: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118714676340798244.html

Excerpts:

"Under the agreement, DirecTV will market a bundled package of Current's broadband and voice over Internet protocol, or Voip, services under the DirecTV brand."

"The new DirecTV broadband and Voip services will be available to residents in Dallas-Fort Worth area at the end of 2007 or beginning of 2008. DirecTV hasn't determined the pricing yet but says that the package of TV, Internet and phone services will be competitive, compared with those offered by phone companies."


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## MikeR (Oct 6, 2006)

So...this is the company developing BPL with D* investment $. I'd still bet Wimax (Clear) over BPL..but if you don't have fiber -

Interesting partners..
CURRENT Communications Group, LLC was founded by Liberty Associated Partners, L.P., an investment partnership managed by principals with extensive investment and operating experience in telecommunications, media, Internet and related technologies. Through Associated Group, LLC, these principals, along with *Liberty Media Corporation *(NYSE: L), are the primary investors in Liberty Associated Partners. CURRENT is also backed by Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK), EnerTech Capital, General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE), *Google *Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Goldman Sachs & Co., The Hearst Corporation, Sensus Metering Systems (Bermuda 1) Ltd., and TXU Corp. (NYSE: TXU).


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## iceburg02 (Sep 20, 2006)

CURRENT only offers service in Cincinnati right now with Dallas coming online soon. Doesn't really help a whole lot of D* customers right away...they better have a very aggressive rollout plan if they want this to succeed.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

It's not the first time they've been into internet, anyone remember DIRECWAY (now called HughesNet)


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

lamontcranston said:


> It's not the first time they've been into internet, anyone remember DIRECWAY (now called HughesNet)


Don't forget they bought a DSL company called Telocity and offered DirecTV DSL. It was a great service, too bad they pulled the plug on it.


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

lamontcranston said:


> It's not the first time they've been into internet, anyone remember DIRECWAY (now called HughesNet)


Before Direcway it was DirecPC, which I used until DSL became available. Worked well for what it was in its day. It is going to be a tough way to go to put together a "bundled" program.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

The DirecTV Press Release:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=127160&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1040569&highlight=


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## txtommy (Dec 30, 2006)

davring said:


> Before Direcway it was DirecPC, which I used until DSL became available. Worked well for what it was in its day. It is going to be a tough way to go to put together a "bundled" program.


Still works well for those of us who have no other option except dial-up. The speed is ok but downside is the FAP (fair access policy) which only allows a certain amount of download per day. Not good for streaming video or music so I have to keep an eye on the kids.


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## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

I really hope this works out and it does not take to long to make it to all markets. I will switch from Comcast internet the day it is in my market.


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

BPL has its problems and may not be viable in the long run (several "experimental" systems have pulled the plug, pardon the pun). 

I switched from DSL to Clearwire a few weeks ago and am impressed. I wonder what sort of bundling discount there may be once Directv is on board with them?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

I have changed the title of the thread, to make it more noticeable.


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## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

I do have one question and it probably is a stupid question. But since it will be internet of powerline how much power is it going to use? Is the electric bill going to go through the roof every month?


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## k5cc (Nov 23, 2002)

This should stir up the amateur radio community in the DFW area. The American
Radio and Relay League has lawsuits going about interference to amateur
radio from internet over power lines. Jack K5CC


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

It's a high frequency signal superimposed on the power line (similar to DSL on a phone line). There will be a modem-like device to strip this off to ethernet. There isn't much current involved. I suspect they have to bypass transformers somehow.


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## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

I wonder if this would allow those that don't use the net or broadband at home to get the "on demand" service.... Just curious.


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## tfederov (Nov 18, 2005)

How would the fair use affect VOD? Kind of a conflict of interest limiting the amount you can download each day and push VOD. Also, what type of download speed are we talking?


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## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

tfederov said:


> How would the fair use affect VOD? Kind of a conflict of interest limiting the amount you can download each day and push VOD. Also, what type of download speed are we talking?


I believe they were refering to DirecWay... After so many downloads, in a given time frame it slows your connection down, Voip or Fios wouldn't.


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## iceburg02 (Sep 20, 2006)

They currently have a 3mbps plan for $39/mo. I didn't see the upload speed listed.


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## jwd45244 (Aug 18, 2006)

iceburg02 said:


> CURRENT only offers service in Cincinnati right now with Dallas coming online soon. Doesn't really help a whole lot of D* customers right away...they better have a very aggressive rollout plan if they want this to succeed.


Actually Current's BPL roll-out in Cincinnati is extremely limited. (just a few neighborhoods). It is unclear if this roll-out is continuing as the power company in Cincinnati is now owned by Duke Energy. Duke has been silent about BPL since the acquisition.


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## jwd45244 (Aug 18, 2006)

iceburg02 said:


> They currently have a 3mbps plan for $39/mo. I didn't see the upload speed listed.


BPL is symmetric so if you have 3 MBs down you get 3 MBs up, also


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## MikeR (Oct 6, 2006)

k5cc said:


> This should stir up the amateur radio community in the DFW area. The American
> Radio and Relay League has lawsuits going about interference to amateur
> radio from internet over power lines. Jack K5CC


+1. Just do a quick google and see the hits with Amateur Radio BPL. It appears that Current Group is one of the few (only?) that is being proactive and meeting with Amateur Radio groups.

Found this presentation from the Current group. It appears they may have touting their success eliminating the interference issue. (Page 8)

Current avoids issues by using low-band VHF (30-50 MHz) instead

Current Group also sells "smart monitoring" equipment that is their entry into using the powerline.

from another article


> The technology is already being used in Manassas, Va., and Cincinnati, Ohio, and more than 40 trials are under way throughout the country


this comment From the trials in Cincinnati (Dec '05)


> We've had Current's BPL service in Cincinnati for about a year now and it's excellent. Fast download speeds (2-3mbps), blazing upload speeds (3-4mbps), fixed IP, and no bandwidth limits for under $45 a month. The fact that it comes in through a wall outlet is interesting, but not particularly important IMO


 DS2 is the leading equipment supplier, providing 200mbps modems for the backbone.



> (Late '05) Today's BPL networks run at about 45 Mb/s. Depending on factors such as how many households are sharing that pipe, each user gets under 3 Mb/s. That's competitive with cable and DSL, but it won't remain that way for long, and it's woefully inadequate for triple plays. (The BPL industry is putting the finishing touches on a video-friendly BPL standard, HomePlug AV.) At a BPL trade show earlier this year, 22 Mb/s was held up as the new benchmark for all access technologies.
> 
> "That included high-definition television, voice calling and Internet service," says Jay Johnson, president of JMA Consulting, which specializes in BPL. "BPL will bring that much two-way bandwidth to homes well ahead of cable, DSL, satellite and WiMAX. The Home Plug 1.0 standard allows for 14 Mb/s today for in-home use, while the access equipment on the grid passes data significantly faster."





> it will be able to feed 200Mbps in the future, so it has the headroom to far exceed DSL and Cable for speeds to the house.


White paper- Broadband technology overview from Corning ('05) - they love fiber...with good reason.

Edit: State of NJ BPL White Paper

from reading the NJ paper...looks like Wi-Max could be implemented in the last mile, particularly attractive (read: $$) in rural markets.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

davring said:


> Before Direcway it was DirecPC...


And after it was DirecWay, it became HughesNet.


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## Spanky_Partain (Dec 7, 2006)

Sure hope it comes to the Austin area as well.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Wonder how far out in DFW their abilities reach? Entire DMA or just the basic Dallas and Ft. Worth areas?


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## Bijou Media (Jul 28, 2007)

What will happen with D* s deal with the telocos? Just curious I know it's only one DMA, but if profitable they will be looking to move into other markets quickly.


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## Meklos (Nov 7, 2006)

What is the definition of a transmitting antenna? RF energy at 'some' frequency fed into the end of one or more unshielded, unbalanced wires of sufficient length (related to the frequency).

What is BPL? Feeding data via an RF signal over various frequencies across (long, unshielded) power lines.

From an RF perspective, BPL is basically an RF transmitter that transmits digital signals (viewed as noise from those who do not want to receive it) utilizing frequencies that they do not have 'license' to broadcast on. Cable systems use some of the same frequencies... except their systems are shielded so as not to let any RF energy be transmitted from their systems. They are required to keep RF from transmitting out of their lines.

Power companies are currently being given a pass to broadcast 'trash' across vast swaths of frequency ranges, including military, public service (fire, police, etc), weather service, amateur radio, FAA air coordination, commercial, international short-wave and others. Anyone who is authorized by the FCC to be on these frequencies will find themselves partially or totally unable to communicate once these systems are turned on. And yes, there are mechanisms by which they can have the system 'not' transmit on certain frequencies to try to limit the interference, but it does not eliminate it.

If BPL is sending data, it is radiating that data as an RF transmission. Whatever frequency is being used by BPL will be trashed by it. Cutting certain frequency ranges out of the system lowers the overall data rate of the system (since you can transmit more data if you have more frequency range available to you, thus a 'wider' signal). So it isn't 'eliminating' the interference, it's just picking and choosing who to interfere with.

And no, there are *no* "unused" ranges of frequencies, even up to 300 GHz. In addition, many of the frequencies used (those below about 30Mhz) are frequencies capable of going all around the world on very low (1-5 watt) power levels. These frequencies are not 'owned' by anyone, but are part of international treaties negotiated to keep the radio world from being an unusable chaos of jamming and noise.

I sincerely suspect that if the frequencies being used by these systems were in the same range as the downlinks from the satellites used by D*, and if the downlinks were being interfered with by RF radiating from house wiring from every house attached to the power company (not just every house that actually receives service), then D* would be first in line saying "No Way!!" to BPL.

But they're not being interfered with, so I guess it's fair game. But the next time your police or fire department isn't able to communicate due to all the noise on the frequencies they use, just sit back and enjoy that high-speed BPL connection.

For those that are interested, here is a link to an archive of test results from live BPL systems, showing exactly what the noise sounds like, how badly it creates interference, how far from the power line the noise travels, and what kind of effect it could have on anyone who uses radio signals in the range they use. The FCC has gotten caught breaking their own rules when it comes to BPL, and they've been brought before a judge to defend their actions. They're sticking their head in the sand, saying that it either doesn't cause interference, or it doesn't cause "that much" interference. They're changing the method by which they measure the interference, and completely ignoring actual recorded evidence that has been presented to them of live interference from BPL systems.


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

jwd45244 said:


> Actually Current's BPL roll-out in Cincinnati is extremely limited. (just a few neighborhoods). It is unclear if this roll-out is continuing as the power company in Cincinnati is now owned by Duke Energy. Duke has been silent about BPL since the acquisition.


Yep, I remember seeing something about this at least 5 years ago in just a couple neighborhoods. You'd figure in that long they'd be in most of Cincy, but I just checked my address and it's not yet available! And I'm not too far outside of the city.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Meklos, what a great description of the situation.

BPL is failing in the locations where it is being tried. It is a good example of how hype can drive an inferior product, but even the false momentum created by the FCC cheerleaders will eventually run out under real-world conditions.

Let us also not forget, the services with which BPL interferes, will also interfere with BPL.


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## jwd45244 (Aug 18, 2006)

While I cannot comment on people and areas where BPL has failed or is failing. In the Cincinnati limited roll-out, it is a complete success, the customers that have it love it and would not go back. I don't know what the roll out here is doing but the HAM operators and others in Cincinnati are satisfied that BPL is not a problem here.

The problem here is that the power company that started it: Cinergy was purchased by Duke Energy and Duke has not said one way or the other abut plans to continue the roll out.


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## Meklos (Nov 7, 2006)

jwd45244 said:


> While I cannot comment on people and areas where BPL has failed or is failing. In the Cincinnati limited roll-out, it is a complete success, the customers that have it love it and would not go back. I don't know what the roll out here is doing but the HAM operators and others in Cincinnati are satisfied that BPL is not a problem here.
> 
> The problem here is that the power company that started it: Cinergy was purchased by Duke Energy and Duke has not said one way or the other abut plans to continue the roll out.


Very true about the Cincinnati rollout. It appears there are several different technologies related to BPL, and they act very very differently with respect to RF.

A good brief explanation of the ARRL (ham radio) position is outlined here. It appears that they aren't using the long medium-voltage wires to transmit the data, and so the 'antenna' portion of the system is much smaller. Also it appears they only use a limited amount of frequency space on the very end of the line to feed the house instead of lots of frequency space to feed the neighborhood.


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## MikeR (Oct 6, 2006)

Meklos said:


> Very true about the Cincinnati rollout. It appears there are several different technologies related to BPL, and they act very very differently with respect to RF.





> Current Technologies, the BPL manufacturer whose equipment is being used in Cincinnati, OH and Dallas, TX uses HomePlug technology on the 240-volt wiring, and 32-48 MHz on overhead power lines. The result? In both cities, BPL is deploying without major interference problems


see post from "W1RFI" from the AARL

Edit:
Couple of other articles.....Google push

Sprint WiMax now Xohm


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## MikeR (Oct 6, 2006)

jwd45244 said:


> Actually Current's BPL roll-out in Cincinnati is extremely limited. (just a few neighborhoods). It is unclear if this roll-out is continuing as the power company in Cincinnati is now owned by Duke Energy. Duke has been silent about BPL since the acquisition.


CURRENT Communications Group, LLC was founded by Liberty Associated Partners, L.P., an investment partnership managed by principals with extensive investment and operating experience in telecommunications, media, Internet and related technologies. Through Associated Group, LLC, these principals, along with Liberty Media Corporation (NYSE: L), are the primary investors in Liberty Associated Partners. CURRENT is also backed by *Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), *EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK), EnerTech Capital, General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Goldman Sachs & Co., The Hearst Corporation, Sensus Metering Systems (Bermuda 1) Ltd., and TXU Corp. (NYSE: TXU).


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## jwd45244 (Aug 18, 2006)

Yep, Current is backed by Duke cause Duke bought Cinergy and Cinergy backed Current. There has been nothing from Duke about current in a long time. I am a Duke customer and they have not gone beyond the few areas in over 2 years.


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## MikeR (Oct 6, 2006)

jwd45244 said:


> Yep, Current is backed by Duke cause Duke bought Cinergy and Cinergy backed Current. There has been nothing from Duke about current in a long time. I am a Duke customer and they have not gone beyond the few areas in over 2 years.


I see.

Looks like Duke has partnered with Ambient in other areas, which may explain some of the delay in the Cinergy legacy areas.


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## chicagojim (Sep 13, 2006)

Will be around $225 with internet and VoIP?

Wow - that's the biggest vendor I'll have next to my mortgage! :lol:


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## doodlemebug (Aug 31, 2007)

problem with this, look in california, the heat has taxed the power grid so much, parts are shutting down and the whole nations power grid has been rated a "D"

so how do they expect for us to accept internet and VOIP phone over a power grid that is inqdequate even for just our nations power needs ?


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## doodlemebug (Aug 31, 2007)

anybody have comment on those issues ?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

doodlemebug said:


> anybody have comment on those issues ?


You are not "forced" to accept anything...

It is just a service that you are being offered... you can use any other options for your phone and your broadband.


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## rkjg24 (Apr 23, 2007)

this is actually another internet service DTV is trying to produce. They also have partnered with Earthlink in Anaheim, New Orleans, and Philadelphia for WiFi service.

Also, D* is getting back into the satellite internet business.


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## Brandon428 (Mar 21, 2007)

rkjg24 said:


> this is actually another internet service DTV is trying to produce. They also have partnered with Earthlink in Anaheim, New Orleans, and Philadelphia for WiFi service.
> 
> Also, D* is getting back into the satellite internet business.


WiFi and VOIP is a good idea but Satellite internet isn't a good investment at all. FAP and latency alone kill it. Not even mentioning no service during a storm. Wifi on the other hand sounds like a great idea. I think I should buy up some stock with D* it looks like their making their way to front of the line here.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

rkjg24 said:


> Also, D* is getting back into the satellite internet business.


Not gonna happen. That part of the company went away when Hughes split with them.

There was a short-lived cooperative effort with DISH Network to do some Wi-Fi or Wi-Max, but that went down in flames at the FCC auction.

They are reportedly tinkering with the idea of DSL again, but their last venture didn't do well at all. I'd also watch out for anything having to do with a partnership with Earthlink as they appear to be losing the battle to keep metro Wi-Fi going.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Brandon428 said:


> WiFi and VOIP is a good idea but Satellite internet isn't a good investment at all. FAP and latency alone kill it. Not even mentioning no service during a storm.


Be on the lookout for someone to offer a LEO based broadband. It may answer a few of the problems with GEO satellite broadband.


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## rkjg24 (Apr 23, 2007)

The satellite internet is only going to be offered in a few markets where the only high speed internet available is satellite.

The problem with the WiFi service, tho, is that there's a lot of interference happening between the nodes out on the light poles and getting that signal inside the house.


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## mwhip (Aug 17, 2006)

Saw one of those advertising trucks rolling around with a advert for DirecTV broadband powered by Powerline. I wonder if I can get a bundle discount?


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## boba (May 23, 2003)

mwhip said:


> Saw one of those advertising trucks rolling around with a advert for DirecTV broadband powered by Powerline. I wonder if I can get a bundle discount?


Only if you live in the very very very limited trial area.


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## paulsown (Sep 18, 2007)

Read this:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/032108dnbusdirectv.3b03899.html


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