Broadband Over Power Lines

• Martinsville - circuit #2 is now fully deployed. We have 75 customers receiving BPL service on this circuit. We have had some problems with the installation of equipment and firmware upgrades.
• We are still accepting new sign-ups on the Martinsville substation.
• A decision on system-wide deployment has not been made yet.
• A survey is being sent out to the 180 current BPL customers to gauge their satisfaction with the Internet service.

• Deployment on Martinsville - circuit #2 began today with 2 contract crews installing the backbone on the circuit. This process should take 2-3 weeks. After that we will begin connecting customers to the service. If you are interested in finding out if you are eligible for broadband service in this area, go to www.bpl.coop and click on the "Sign-up for BPL" button to request the high-speed Internet service.

Status as of 11/1/07

• For the past three to four years, your electric cooperative has been working with International Broadband Electric Communications, Inc. (IBEC) on a pilot to test a new technology known as broadband over power lines (BPL). This testing has taken place on the Martinsville substation (circuit #1). Currently we have 100 REMC members using the high-speed Internet service.
• Starting the week of November 5, 2007, we will begin deployment of the BPL service on the 2nd circuit of the Martinsville substation. We are now accepting sign-ups for members who are interested in receiving broadband service from the SCI REMC in this area. The 2nd circuit of the Martinsville substation is an area located west of State Road 67 between Martinsville and Paragon.
• We have established criteria to measure the success of this roll-out of BPL. These criteria have been developed by our management team working with IBEC. The performance of the BPL following this deployment and the results of the established criteria will help us make decisions on the future of BPL on our entire system. We should be able to make some decisions on the future of BPL by early next year.
• Members living on the 2nd circuit were mailed letters this week. If you are in this area, you can go to www.bpl.coop and click on the "Sign-up for BPL" button to request the high-speed Internet service.

Status as of 7/24/07

• Since the last update we have connected some new customers in our pilot area. At this point we have about 100 customers connected to the BPL. We spend time each day maintaining the system and improving the service.
• About a month ago, we sat down with the management team from IBEC to plan out our next phase in deploying BPL. We decided to deploy BPL on the 2nd circuit of the Martinsville substation sometime this fall. We will begin the deployment as soon as we receive the new equipment from IBEC. The 2nd circuit of Martinsville is an area located west of State Road 67 between Martinsville and Paragon.
• We have established criteria to measure the success of this roll-out of BPL. These criteria have been developed by our management team working with IBEC. The performance of the BPL following this deployment and the results of the established criteria will help us make decisions on the future of BPL on our entire system. We should be able to make some decisions on the future of BPL by the first of next year.

• Good news to report on our broadband over powerlines project. At the end of January we began handing out modems on the 2nd head-end. We handed out 8 modems. Everyone was surfing fine for 5-6 days and then we started having problems. The problem was one we hadn't experienced before and neither had IBEC. IBEC stayed on top of the situation and worked for almost 4 weeks to find the problem. We are very excited to announce that IBEC has resolved this problem and we are now passing out modems, once again, on the 2nd head-end. We should soon have all of our original pilot customers back in service.

• Since our last update in November, we have continued to work on the 1st head-end. At times, the customers on the 1st head-end were seeing very good connection speeds and at other times the connection speeds were not so good. Currently, most of the customers on the 1st head-end should be receiving good connection speeds. We continue to have some reliability issues on this section of the network. NOTE: If you are a customer on the 1st head-end and have received a new modem from us and your BPL service is not up to your expectations, please call Tech Support at (888) 423-2275 to report the problem.
• In the last update I mentioned that we should be moving forward on the 2nd head-end shortly. We began working on the 2nd head-end and found that the router was not working. IBEC replaced and reconfigured a new router and we installed it during the week of December 11th. IBEC has been setting up all the equipment in their management software. Now we are in the process of troubleshooting the 2nd head-end network. Once this is complete, we should be in a position to hand out modems. I hope that by the end of January we will be reconnecting head-end #2 customers to the BPL.

• Since discovering the problem with interference between the meter and our broadband signal going into the home, know that our technicians, working with IBEC, have made a great deal of progress. We have almost everyone back on the broadband service on Head-end #1, and beginning later this week we are going to start working on Head-end #2. We are confidentstoring service to Head-end #2 will go much quicker.

• It has been nearly a month since our last update was sent out on our BPL Project. A lot of work has taken place. About three weeks ago, representatives from Corinex, one of the manufacturers of the 2nd generation equipment, were here to try to figure out the problem of getting the broadband signal into the home. They were able to make some minor improvements.
• Following the visit from Corinex we handed out another group of modems to our customers, bringing the total to 30 modems that we have distributed. A few of these customers had some success receiving a broadband signal, but many of them had no signal at all.
• But, this week, the chip manufacturer, DS2 discovered an interference issue between the meter that we use and the BPL signal. After some testing on a few homes, we validated this problem and made some changes that we feel will reduce the problem. We are now seeing a strong signal in some homes that were receiving only dial-up speeds before.
• The speed of the signal seems to still be fluctuating some and IBEC feels that this is still due to a software issue. The issue of the meter interference appears to be a break-through for us. We will continue to work each day to fix the problems and improve the service so we can restore the broadband service to all of our pilot customers.

• Two weeks ago, I reported that we had 8 beta testers. We are still having problems getting the broadband signal into the homes at these 8 locations. IBEC feels the problem is related to the software (or firmware) that runs the equipment and is working closely with the manufacturers to fix the problem.
• Next week, IBEC personnel will be here along with representatives from Corinex, one of the manufacturers of the 2nd generation equipment, to try to resolve the problems we are having.
• We continue to work each day to fix the problems and restore the broadband service to our pilot customers.

• We continue to work each day to fine-tune the system, so we can restore broadband service to all of our customers in our pilot area. To date, we have distributed 8 modems to beta testers in the Lake Edgewood and Pumpkinvine Hill Road areas. At least 6 of the 8 are receiving good service with the new equipment.
• Progress is being made, even though it is much slower than we had anticipated. We hope to make great strides in restoring service in the next couple of weeks.

• Almost all of our new equipment is now in place in our original pilot area. We are now in the process of working to resolve issues that have prevented us from restoring broadband service to all 135 of our customers.
• Progress is being made but as we move forward we sometimes discover other problems or issues. IBEC is working with one of our crews to troubleshoot the system and they will stay with it until everyone is back in service. It may take up to 2 weeks to restore service for all the customers on Head-End #1. Then we will work on restoring service for customers on Head-End #2.
• We thank our members for their patience throughout this process. Without members willing to participate in this pilot project, we would not have been able to test this technology on our system to see if it is even possible to offer it throughout our entire service area.

• Since last week, our REMC and Pike contract crews have done a great job changing out the equipment in our 2nd head-end. (Our BPL pilot area has two different locations where a broadband signal is injected into the system. Our first injection point is near the intersection of 67 & 39. We consider the customers served from this injection point to be on the #1 head-end. The 2nd injection point is located near the intersection of Wilbur and Sheldon Roads. The customers served from this broadband signal are on our #2 head-end.) By the end of this week, we should have all the new equipment installed on both head-ends.
  
• IBEC has been using the lessons learned at their earlier BPL installation in Central Virginia to apply toward our installation here. They want to make sure that before we do begin re-connecting our customers to the broadband service that it is working properly and that the service and reliability of the system is much improved over the 1st generation.
  
• Although this approach means that customers are not re-connected to the service as quickly as was planned, the results will be much better when their broadband service is restored.

• Work continues on the 2nd head-end. Three beta testers were connected in Lake Edgewood on the 1st head-end. IBEC continues to configure the system with the new equipment installed.

• Work has gone well on our first head-end. To date we have changed out all the overhead equipment and have begun testing the network. Work continues on all underground services. Once testing is complete, we will be connecting customers to the service. We anticipate connecting customers to the broadband service beginning in one week.
• As of today, we are taking the 2nd head-end down so we can begin the reconfiguration of the remainder of our pilot area. So, all of our current BPL customers are without broadband service at this time.

• We plan to begin the reconfiguration of our BPL network starting on Wednesday, July 19, 2006, to provide better service. We will have 54 customers down for the next few weeks. This first outage will include Lake Edgewood, Pumpkinvine Hill Road, Goose Creek Road, and parts of Ballinger and Wilbur Roads. All customers affected by this broadband outage will be notified by phone prior to the change-out.

• We have 144 BPL services installed in the Pilot area. We are still waiting on the next generation of equipment to arrive so that we can replace everything that has been installed to date and then build out Phase 2 of the Pilot Project. For information on our future plans for BPL, click here to read our CEO's comments.

• There are now 127 BPL services installed on the Martinsville substation - Phase 1. We are planning to connect 22 more services this week and then we are cutting off signups until after the next generation of equipment is available to us this fall.

• We now have 100 BPL services installed in Phase 1 and another 50 members have signed up for the service. The storm that went through Thursday, May 19th, has caused a great deal of problems for our BPL customers. Crews are working the week of May 23rd to restore the broadband services.
• Also, a 2nd T-1 has been installed out on the circuit to better serve customers out away from the substation. Services are being redirected to the new T-1 and added to it each week.

• We now have 80 BPL services installed in Phase 1 and another 50 members have signed up for the service.

• We now have 63 BPL services installed in Phase 1 and another 60 members have signed up for the service and are anxiously awaiting their connection.

• We now have 55 BPL services installed in Phase 1.

• In the last two weeks we have spent a great deal of time troubleshooting some BPL issues with those members already connected. We have also hooked up another 6 members making our total now 41 BPL services installed.

• We installed broadband to 25 customers this week around Lake Edgewood, Pumpkinvine Hill Road, and Wilbur Road. Total customers with broadband is now 35.

• We now have 7 beta testers providing us good feedback on the performance of the broadband service. As of Friday, January 28th, we began connecting members in the Lake Edgewood area to the broadband service. To date, including our beta testers, we have 10 broadband services installed. Member installations will continue for the next several weeks as we have over 60 members that have applied for the service and paid the sign-up fee.

• 93 regenerators have been installed. Beta testing is proving very beneficial. Our fiber has been terminated and as of 12/9/04, the system is feeding off the new fiber.

• 78 regenerators have been installed in Phase 1. (70% complete) Now have 5 beta testers connected. 9,000 feet of fiber has been installed along 39 from our headquarters to the intersection of 39 & 67.

• A week of rain and troubleshooting. Work continued on Wilbur Road. We plan to put on a few more beta testers during the week of November 15th.

• Installed 10 regenerators (58 total to date) - now have regenerators on main lines around Lake Edgewood, out Wilbur Road and Ballinger Road, and all of Pumpkinvine Road. On Thursday, a media day was held at the SCI headquarters to talk about our BPL Pilot Project.

• Installed 8 regenerators and continued to monitor beta testers.

• Installed 3 regenerators, fixed some noise and bandwidth problems, and connected 3 beta testers.

• More testing and tracking down noise issues. To date, 37 regenerators have been installed. Plans are to connect 1-2 beta sites in the next two weeks.

• This week was spent testing underground and cleaning up noise problems. A procedure was developed to handle underground installations

• 11 regenerators were installed this week down 67 to Wilbur Road and out Wilbur Road to the intersection with Pumpkinvine Road.

• Camera was mounted to focus on the intersection of Highways 39 & 67. Regenerators were installed in the Lake Edgewood area. Plans for next week are to finish up installing regenerators on the main lines at Lake Edgewood and then to head out Wilbur Road.

• Work continued around Lake Edgewood installing regenerators on main power lines.

• Crew installed regenerators up a portion of Pumpkinvine Road and then, began installing regenerators up Highway 67 to the entrance of Lake Edgewood.

• Crew began installing regenerators down 39 Bypass (from the REMC office) and across White River to the other side of Highway 67. Fiber run from office was terminated. Still waiting on T1 to be installed for broadband signal. T1 should be installed no later than 9/15/04.

• Tom Parker, IBEC Network Administrator, onsite to begin project. Tom worked with 3 SCI REMC linemen, training them on the installation process. Testing was done to establish a baseline for noise on the power lines and fiber was run from the headquarters to the first pole to inject the broadband signal.

• South Central Indiana REMC management and IBEC finalizing agreements before proceeding with BPL Project

• A second set of e-mails and letters sent to all members on Martinsville substation indicating an interest in BPL giving them an update on the project and information on the addition of this website for progress reports.

• Conference call between SCI and IBEC to set schedule for pilot project. Plans were made to begin the pilot in mid-April, begin equipment installation by late April, and
  start connecting members to the BPL service by June 1st.

• E-mails and letters sent to all members on Martinsville substation indicating an interest in BPL giving them an update on the project plans.

• Conference call between staff from SCI and IBEC to discuss plans for SCI pilot.

• Jarboe Group delivered the survey results to the management of SCI REMC. Survey indicated enough interest in BPL to proceed with the market pilot.

• Jarboe Group mailed 1,160 surveys

• Survey prepared to mail to members on Martinsville substation to see what interest there would be in BPL

• December 8th - BPL discussed at Special SCI Board Meeting
• December 11th - Key staff from IBEC visit SCI to look at the service area and lines on the Martinsville substation
• December 18th - SCI Board approves a market pilot for BPL in 2004 on the Martinsville substation assumin

• Discussed BPL with Budget Committee of the SCI Board
• November 19th - SCI staff visited Cullman Electric in AL where IBEC had done a BPL test pilot

• August 5th - BPL discussed at a Strategic Planning Session held with the SCI Board and Management Staff - Board expressed interest in doing a market pilot in 2004