Lehi, Utah, interested in BPL, rather than fiber optics

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, Nov 5, 2004

Lehi, Utah, is looking into broadband technology that would make Internet access for city residents as close as the nearest power plug.

Although it is early in the process, Lehi Mayor Ken Greenwood said the city is looking at using power lines because it may be the most cost-effective way to provide broadband service--though Greenwood wasn't sure exactly how much the system will cost.

"The cost looks favorable. The thing that has been holding us back is that the technology has been changing so fast," he said. City officials "looked at it over a year ago and the service has already improved a lot in a year."

Using the power lines in the city-owned electric company would be cheaper than implementing a fiber-optic system, Greenwood said.

"It's just using the wires to run a frequency," Rod Olsen, Lehi power superintendent, said. "It's not adding any more to the load. It makes sense because you already have copper lines running to a house, so this is a multiple use or a dual purpose."

Olsen was one of a few city employees who went to Virginia earlier this year to see a demonstration of the technology. The difference in providing broadband over the power lines is that, if a person has a modem and is subscribed to the network, the user could conceivably plug it in to any outlet anywhere in the city to get on the Internet, he said.

Lehi would be the only city in the county using power lines to provide Internet service. Other communities in the county that plan to provide broadband Internet service are going for fiber-optic cable systems.

If the service is approved, Lehi would join six other cities that offer Internet service to its residents.

The first was Provo, which has created iProvo, a $39.5 million fiber-optic network. When it is completed in 2006, the network will offer television, telephone, and high-speed Internet access to businesses and homes. American Fork and Spanish Fork also offer city-owned broadband networks.

Lehi opted out of the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency, or UTOPIA, which is a $330 million fiber-optic network. Phase 1 of that project, which will bring fiber connections to about 50,000 potential business and home subscribers in six cities including Orem, Lindon, and Payson, began construction in August.

The reason Lehi chose not to go with UTOPIA was because of the high cost of joining the agency, but the city has been slow to choose anything else, Greenwood said.