BPL commentary

[Mike O'Dell]

the BPL economics in Europe are significantly
different because of the number of houses passed
per secondary transformer. there are areas where
it can be an attractive alternative, although
whether it can beat the most performant DSL
technologies is another question. 

on the other hand, European cities tend
to be much more compact so fiber-to-the-prem
would seem to be more attractive. the problem,
however, is that cities half-a-dozen centuries old
tend to have a very dim view of digging up the streets.
that's why so much work has been done developing robotic
rats that can scuttle through "existing public works"
(ie, sewers) while attaching fiber to the roof of 
those facilities. the really nifty ones can launch
a little baby one to carry a fiber drop up a 
vertical branch into a building.

i remember seeing a demo at CeBIT some years
ago now where they had perspex sections in
sewer pipes so you could see the machine
slither around.

	-mo