Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Yet? -- Alternate ECFS Link:
Clinton Herbert (AB7RG)
on
May 26, 2003
View comments about this article!
Alternate ECFS Link for Filing Comments...
It seems that the primary link to the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) is down and has been down for several days now.
For those who still have not filed their comments on FCC Docket 03-104 opposing BPL/PLC please go to:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/ecfs_alt.html
FYI: This is the alternate link for filing comments and it is working correctly. From here all you have to do is click on
"Submit a Filing" and enter: 03-104 on line one (Proceeding). Filling out the rest of the form and attaching (or entering) your comment is a snap and should only take a few minutes of your time and could help to save the HF spectrum from severe interference from BPL/PLC.
As of this writing there only a little over 500 comments that have been filed -- is yours one of them? If not, please take a moment of your time and step up to help protect our precious HF spectrum. There are over 700,000 Amateurs in the U.S. alone, and we need as many as possible (and non-licensed SWLs, etc.) to submit their comments to show the FCC that we are concerned about BPL/PLC interference. Make no mistake about it, this is a grave threat, and we must do whatever we can to stop it from happening ASAP. If BPL/PLC becomes a reality, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves, if we do not make our voices heard... The deadline for comments will be sometime in early June, so don't waste time, submit your comment now, as the future of the HF spectrum depends upon you!
For those who still have not heard of BPL/PLC and it's potentially devastating effects on Amateur Radio and the entire HF spectrum, please find out more at:
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/04/25/1/?nc=1
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/04/30/2/more.html
Please feel free to distribute this information as needed, where needed.
73 Clinton AB7RG
eHam.net Articles / News / Speak Out Manager
This article has expired. No more comments may be added.
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Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Yet? -
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by N8VQJ on May 27, 2003
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DONE! Thanks for reminding me! We need MORE hams to make comments. PLC is a BAD thing. There's easier ways of getting broadband to the masses than this. Plus, there's not way to tell how the extra stuff will affect the use of other devices you plug into a AC jack. PLC is stupid. Keep data and power separate. Plus cable modem and dsl service subscriptions are flattening out. My dad does not want dsl or cable because he only wants to pay 20 bucks a month like he does with dialup. I will have to look into NetZero highspeed and see if he can get a better connection for lower costs. Right now, he is happy with modem speeds. Most everyone has a phone jack....make DSL simpler and cheaper and people will be setup already.
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Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Yet? -
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by G3SEA on May 27, 2003
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My Pleasure :) This proposal would be hilarious if it were not so tragic in it's consequences !
Question: Dayton Hamvention would have been a great opportunity to have thousands of pledges signed on this issue ? Was this in fact done ?
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RE: Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Ye
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by G3SEA on May 27, 2003
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I would have thought the Telco's and Cable Companies
allied with the Professional,Research and Business Organizations utilizing RF would be a POWERFUL lobby against this inanity ?
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Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Yet? -
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by WS4V on May 27, 2003
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Interesting food for thought. Read on. Looks like BPL may not be such a profitable creation after all....
" AOL's broadband headache
By Jim Hu
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 9, 2002, 2:21 PM PT
America Online has taken a hit from a slump in ad sales--and now Wall Street is waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Declining advertising revenue has been plaguing the Internet unit and its corporate parent AOL Time Warner. Now AOL's bedrock business of selling subscriptions to its online service may be the next area of corrosion, according to Wall Street and industry analysts. The dial-up access market, where AOL dominates, is reaching saturation, and the division is losing subscribers to rival broadband services. AOL has also been slow in upgrading its users to its own broadband service.
However, converting its subscribers to broadband could be a greater headache for the company than dealing with dwindling dial-up customer numbers. Broadband means lower margins for AOL due to the high cost of paying cable and phone companies for their high-speed lines. In the long run, it could mean declining earnings for AOL.
"Because of the steep access fees AOL is required to pay to the cable operator, the economic model for broadband will vary greatly from narrowband," Jessica Reif Cohen, a Merrill Lynch analyst, wrote in an investor note Wednesday. "Indeed, the material economies of scale that narrowband enjoyed are unlikely to be replicated in the broadband world."
Cohen added that this squeezing of margins could cause AOL's subscription earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to drop from $850 million in 2003 to $235 million in 2005. Although these estimates are Merrill Lynch's "worst case" scenario, they shed light on a problem facing many access providers: Steep broadband costs translate into lower margins.
In other words, dial-up may not be so bad after all.
AOL remains the undisputed Internet access leader with 35.1 million subscribers. That's a far cry from Microsoft's MSN, which has more than 8 million for its own ISP (Internet service provider). In July, AOL Time Warner executives said 17.7 million U.S. subscribers pay the full $23.90 a month for AOL, still more than double the number of subscribers of its closest competition.
But ongoing financial woes and a looming Securities and Exchange Commission investigation have continued to trouble AOL and its corporate parent. Last quarter, AOL's advertising and commerce revenue dropped 42 percent from the previous year as a result of the dot-com implosion, but the company reported a 20 percent boost in subscription revenue.
The question in many people's minds now is whether subscriptions will continue to grow at this rate and whether moving subscribers to broadband will strengthen the business.
"If broadband is growing, it's just taking market share away from dial-up," said Paul Kim, an equity analyst at Kaufman Bros. "If AOL owns half of the market for dial-up, you figure it will suffer."
The contradiction about broadband is that it's an asset and a liability for AOL. It wasn't long ago that Wall Street clamored for AOL Time Warner to speed up its migration of users to broadband. Having a high-speed link into the living room could allow providers such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo to sell additional services such as music downloads, online video games and home-networking capabilities.
Nearly a year ago, AOL Time Warner's former chief operating officer, Robert Pittman, pinned the media giant's future on broadband. He claimed that a fast pipe into the home meant AOL could collect up to $159 per month per household, adding together access fees and other services. Combining that with Time Warner Cable's interactive services, Pittman said revenue per household could jump to $230 a month.
Hard realities
But times have changed, and so has AOL Time Warner's management. Pittman resigned in July after coming under enormous criticism inside and outside the company for his management style and for AOL's financial troubles. Before he left, Pittman stepped back from his stance on broadband, stating that AOL's narrowband business offered better profit margins than broadband.
Unfortunately for AOL, consumer appetite is shifting toward a business of lower margins. The number of U.S. households with broadband has jumped from 5.2 million in 2000 to 10.4 million in 2001, and is expected to reach 15.4 million in 2002, according to Jupiter Research. As this number grows, further pressure will be placed on AOL's shoulders to prevent its dial-up subscribers from defecting.
"Broadband is definitely the future, but is it a future that will be profitable for you as an access provider?" said Joe Laszlo, an analyst at Jupiter Research. "It comes down to striking special deals with line providers or if someone can find the magic bullet for value-added services that people will pay for."
"Value-added services," or services that providers can charge an extra fee to use, have yet to take consumers by storm. A year ago, many analysts and industry observers predicted that online music subscriptions would drive broadband growth. But to date, joint music efforts, such as MusicNet and Pressplay, from the recording and Internet industries have yet to convince consumers to open their wallets.
Web giant Yahoo, which has been on a crusade to sell "premium services" throughout its network, has shown some good results. In July, the company said it has 1 million users who pay for services such as e-mail forwarding, personal ads and extra storage, to name a few. But these products have yet to give Yahoo a material boost in its earnings and remain in their growth stages.
AOL is now on its own mission to sell additional services. The company is trying to model itself after paid television networks by offering its users programming and services that cannot be found elsewhere. AOL hopes that exclusivity in the form of new songs or video game prereleases will convince its subscribers to pay an extra few dollars a month. But a few dollars won't help an overall decline in subscription revenue.
"It's going to be woefully inadequate to address subscription revenue going down," Kaufman Bros.' Kim said about premium services. Access subscriptions are "the only way you can make money on the Internet." "
I do agree with the previous post about the petition idea at Hamvention. That would have been a great idea.
I predict this technology will flop as fast as laser discs.
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Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Yet? -
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by AA6E on May 28, 2003
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I filed, and I've looked over some other replies. Just about all of them against (no surprise), but a few were in support from people who can't get broadband from their local telco or catv operator.
I wonder what kind of reading these comments get. I hope they don't read the one about Satanic rites in DC. But do they just count the pros & cons, or do any of them get more serious evaluation?
The remarks of the Commissioners at the end of the NOI are pretty scary. They are being sold a bill of goods from some good old boys who are probably heavy campaign contributors. My suggestion, if they are so keen on deregulation, is to abolish all the regulations, letting us use whatever modes, power, frequencies we like. How much power could you afford to run? 10 KW, 100 KW, ...?
Then again, maybe we/ARRL should start playing hardball and donate to key Congressional campaigns!
73, Martin
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Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Yet? -
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by KG6AMW on May 29, 2003
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I've reviewed many of the responses and have noticed that few Short Wave Listeners have posted comments. Does any know if the SWL organizations are aware of 03-104?
KG6AMW
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Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Yet? -
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by N3NL on June 1, 2003
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Hello,
I have filed my own detailed comments on this
issue. I have tried to get CB, short wave listeners,
and radio astronomy groups interested in this FCC
docket too.
Some educational groups with NASA assistance
operate Radio JOVE which is radioastronomy on 20.1
MHz observing Jupiter and the Sun. In this project,
students build radio telescopes from kits and
make observations. The Radio JOVE receiver is a
direct conversion receiver using a phased two-element
dipole antenna. This project would be greatly impacted
by BPL/PLC.
If you know any CBers, shortwave listeners, or
radio astronomy people, please ask them to submit
their comments to the FCC on Docket 03-104. Also,
handicapped hams should be strongly interested in
this issue!
Keep up your good work for amateur radio.
73, Nickolaus E. Leggett, N3NL
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MARS Ops - Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL
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by N3NL on June 1, 2003
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Hello,
In addition, Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)
operators should be interested in this docket. These
operators are authorized hams who operate on military
short wave frequencies (many of these are around 5
MHz). MARS operations would be negatively impacted
by BPL/PLC.
Lets get all these diverse users of the short wave
spectrum to speak out about the impact of BPL/PLC on
their operations.
73, Nickolaus E. Leggett, N3NL
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Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Yet? -
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by N3NL on June 8, 2003
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News from the ARRL:
FCC corrects comment, reply comment dates in Broadband over Power Line proceeding: The FCC says comment and reply comment deadlines in its Broadband over Power Line (BPL) Notice of Inquiry (ET Docket 03-104) published May 23 in the Federal Register were incorrect. In a correction issued June 3, the FCC announced that comments from the public in this proceeding are due on or before July 7, 2003. Reply comments are due on or before August 6, 2003.
Nickolaus E. Leggett, N3NL
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Have You Filed Your Comment Against BPL/PLC Yet? -
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by AB8RU on May 29, 2004
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I am FWD this in my email list incl. broadcast engineers as well TNX.
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