It seems that the City of Manassas is probably going to scrap its broadband-over-powerline program, and while it makes financial sense, it does leave us melancholy.
The potential of the program was great and drew attention to Manassas for more than just its history or proximity to D.C. Our city was the first in the country to implement citywide BPL, which allows for
high-speed Internet service to ride over traditional electrical lines.
Former mayor Douglas Waldron was even named to Government Technology’s 2005 Top 25 Doer, Dreamers and Drivers list because of the city’s work with BPL.
Alas, the program’s rise has not been as great as its potential seemed to predict.
The point was to bring cheap Internet to people who couldn’t afford it. For only $24.95-a-month, Manassas citizens could float in the deep ocean that is the World-Wide Web. Unfortunately, averaging
fewer than 600 residential customers and roughly 50 business customers a month — about half what the city had hoped for — BPL is actually an economic drain on the city.
The utilities commission estimates that if the BPL program continues, the city will lose an average of $151,825 a year for the next nine years.
In order to save that money — money which the city can ill afford to lose — many on the council appear to support the idea of killing BPL.
But it appears that this murder is one of necessity, and we can’t fault that. We only mourn the potential that was never reached and honor the vision of the city, even if it wasn’t quite 20-20.
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