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After extending its cable television, telephone and high-speed Internet services to St. Charles and Wabasha in recent years, the Winona-based company is looking
farther afield to places like Iowa and Illinois.
HBC is testing new technology to deliver broadband Internet signals over existing power lines, which could make ultra-fast service available to every resident of Rochester, Minn. If it works there, company officials say, they will turn to other cities that are already lining up to be next.
In early 2004, HBC teamed up with Rochester Public Utilities and the Shpigler Group of Nyack, N.Y, to test the technology, known as broadband over powerline, or BPL. By July of that year, it was bringing high-speed Internet to the home of a Rochester architect over his existing home electric lines.
The cost is about a tenth that of installing fiber optic cable to customers, said Dan Pecarina, HBC vice president of technology. Cost savings for service providers and customers is a major motivator for those perfecting the technology. Because HBC has already installed a fiber optic network in Winona, the company has no plans to bring the new service here.
The technology is being used now in Manassas, Va., the first city in the country to offer it successfully. Customers pay $28.95 monthly for Internet access at speeds 10 to 15 times faster than dial-up connection speeds.
HBC and its partners are working on a system that could deliver services at even higher speeds.
The company hopes the newest generation of the technology will be able to deliver internet, telephone and cable TV service over the power lines. Earlier versions proved unreliable for video.
“The hardware we’re looking at now has us intrigued,” Pecarina said. “We now know that telephone and Internet works quite well. We’re hoping it is capable of delivering video.”
One problem that has slowed the implementation of BPL is possible radio interference, including the short wave radio bands used by ham radio operators.
Pecarina says HBC hasn’t seen any problems with interference in its tests. Using new equipment supplied by the Shpigler Group, HBC will begin 45 days of testing in the middle of June and hopes to add tests of video and television channels after that.
“By fall we will be looking at whether to roll out services (to the whole city),” Pecarina said. Various licenses and city approvals are needed.
Eventually, HBC could expand its BPL services to other communities that have shone an interest, said CEO Gary Evans. “We’re visiting with a lot of communities that have municipal utilities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.”
Contact reporter David Krotz at dkrotz@winonadailynews.com or (507) 453-3524.
