Other hams with far more technical expertise than I can present even more examples of the technology sophistication, advancements, advantages, and superiorities of ham radio equipment. Amateur radio experimenters from Marconi to the present have been in the forefront of communications developments and were, in fact the original innovators of the Internet with the ham radio international packet network predating early ARPANET efforts. Many ARPA members were hams and instead of talking about it, went out and did it on their own. The two networks exchanged each other's technology developments. I was there, but that's another war story.

Amateur Radio, of course, predated the Internet by many years with packet's development starting in the 1960s and 1970s. For some background, please read http://www.ac6v.com/history.htm and http://www2.dei.isep.ipp.pt/docs/arpa.html. Antenna technology development (for example, ionic liquid radiators) for the benefit of government, military, and civilian applications is still driven by Amateur Radio experimenters. While there are still many ham operators who prefer to use old antique radio equipment (we call them "boatanchors"), they do so with the same spirit as those who drive 1913 Model T Fords with an appreciation of the skill which went into their development and of their evolutionary history which preceded modern radio communications equipment.

And the article mentioned cellphones and Skype (as an example) VOIP as if they were the modern panacea for communications. Both are available to anyone with adequate service, but both rely on commercial power and compatibility of equipment. No power, no compatibility, no communication. This is especially significant during emergencies when commercial power is the first utility to disappear with the inevitable loss of cellphone, telephone, internet (and VOIP), satellite, commercial broadcast radio, and police, fire, ambulance, and other emergency services which rely on repeaters and dispatchers.

More on emergency services shortly.

As a fulltime RVer (I have solar- and battery-powered satellite Internet connection, have functioned quite well, thank you with ham radio and life's other functions without commercial power for three years), I can easily state that cellphone coverage in the US is anything but universal. If one travels outside urbanized areas, especially (but not exclusively) west of the Mississippi River (however, my home in rural upstate NY did not have cell coverage), one will find that cellphone coverage is generally restricted to urban areas and limited pockets of populated areas with huge gaps in all states.

Even along the interstate highway system where emphasis has been on cellphone coverage for emergencies, there are thousands of miles of interstate highways where there is no service. BPL will do nothing to enhance nor replace these communications modes since it will not and cannot be deployed to those rural or isolated areas not served by cellphones nor internet; it is simply not cost effective.