Net Thru a Wall Outlet


Posted on October 28, 2004  /  3 Comments

Should this be added to the debate? 65% of homes have electricity; more than the 25% with some form of telecom access.

By TOM McNICHOL

HIGH-speed Internet access usually comes to homes through one of two wires: a telephone line for D.S.L. subscribers, or a coaxial cable for cable modem users. But an emergingtechnology known as broadband over power lines, or B.P.L.,may soon offer a third wire into homes, channelinghigh-speed data through a somewhat improbable conduit: anordinary electrical outlet. B.P.L. is the ultimate in plug-and-play. Users plug a smallpower line modem into any wall outlet and then connect the modem to a computer with a U.S.B. or Ethernet cable, orthrough a wireless Wi-Fi connection. The appeal of B.P.L.is that most of the wiring for the network is in place.Although data must be carefully routed over the electricgrid to prevent interference and signal degradation, there is no need to dig up streets or rewire homes. Two weeks ago the Federal Communications Commission adopted rule changes to encourage the technology in the hope of making broadband more widely available and fostering greater competition among high-speed Internet providers. Internet service over power lines is probably a year or more away from becoming widely available, but the F.C.C.’s ruling is expected to spur investment in B.P.L. by utilities. "Three or four years ago, the technology was not ready for prime time, but now we know it is," said Jay Birnbaum, vice president and general counsel for Current Communications of Germantown, Md., which makes B.P.L. equipment. "And we’ve gotten the cost down, so it’s competitive with other broadband services."

The idea of using electric power lines to send data is not new; companies have been working on it for a decade. The major technical challenge has been how to send bursts of radio frequency energy over power lines without interfering with other radio signals, particularly ham radio and public safety frequencies. The recent F.C.C. ruling establishes frequency bands that B.P.L. signals must avoid to protect aeronautical and Coast Guard communications, and sets up a publicly available database for resolving claims of harmful interference from private radio operators. B.P.L. has been tested in small field trials for several years, involving about 5,000 customers in 18 states. Cinergy, a power company in the Midwest, recently began offering B.P.L. to homes in the Cincinnati area for $30 to $50 a month, depending on connection speed. The company says it hopes to have B.P.L. equipment in more than 50,000 homes by the end of the year. Cinergy is also marketing B.P.L. to smaller municipal and cooperative power companies, particularly in rural areas. "We felt those municipal and cooperative power companies are a terrific market because many of those areas are underserved by D.S.L. and cable," said Bill Grealis, a Cinergy executive vice president.

Adding a data channel to the power lines also has potential benefits for the utilities themselves. By reserving a sliver of the B.P.L. data channel for themselves, power companies can use the network to identify problems and accomplish troubleshooting remotely, rather than sending out a crew. Down the road, utilities could install Internet-enabled meters and switches to offer automated meter reading, power demand management and time-of-day pricing. "Our main interest in B.P.L. is using it to better manage our utility," said Bob Dobkin, a spokesman for Pepco, which is based in Washington. Pepco has a pilot B.P.L. program in about 500 homes in Potomac, Md. "It enables you to identify problems without having to send someone out."

While B.P.L. holds promise, there are unanswered questions about the technology. One F.C.C. commissioner, Michael J. Copps, dissented in part with the commission’s recent action, saying the agency had failed to address issues such as whether electricity customers pay higher monthly bills to subsidize their utility’s foray into broadband. "We’re great on technology, but not so good on working out the rules of the road," Mr. Copps said. "Nearly all of the industrialized nations except the U.S. have national plans for broadband. We don’t have any comprehensive strategy." Mr. Copps and others note that the United States has lately become a broadband laggard; it ranks 13th in the world in broadband penetration, behind countries such as Japan, Korea, Denmark and Iceland. Many believe one main reason is cost. While Americans typically pay $40 to $50 monthly for a D.S.L. or cable modem connection, the Japanese, for example, pay $10 to $15 a month for even faster connections. American broadband consumers, in short, get less bit for the buck. Will B.P.L. bring down the cost of broadband? Mr. Grealis of Cinergy will say only that the cost of a B.P.L. connection will be competitive with D.S.L., cable and wireless. It remains to be seen whether the third wire into the home turns out to be a cheaper alternative or more like the third gas station on a corner, battling the competition at remarkably similar prices.

New York Times

3 Comments


  1. Didn’t someone just get a patent in the US regarding this technology? I just did not have a company name. I could not remember.

  2. Power Companies Enter the High-Speed Internet Market
    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/technology/17powerlines.html
    By KEN BELSON
    Published: October 17, 2005

    CINCINNATI – The idea has been around for years. In Spain and elsewhere in Europe, utility companies have long offered high-speed Internet service to consumers over their power lines.

    But American utilities are only now beginning to roll out broadband connections on their grid.

    For Jim Hofstetter, a salesman for Cadbury Schweppes, the food and beverage company, this new option was far better than the high-speed connection he used for years from his local cable provider.

    “I would never go back now that I have this,” said Mr. Hofstetter, who often works from his home office in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Cincinnati. He pays $30 a month for the service from Current Communications, an Internet service provider, which uses the power lines run by Cinergy, the local utility in Cincinnati. That cost is about $15 cheaper than comparable Internet access from either Cincinnati Bell or Time Warner Cable.

    The Current service can be piped into any electrical outlet in Mr. Hofstetter’s home, with no reduction in speed even when he, his wife and their three daughters are online at the same time. All that is needed is a baseball-size jack that plugs into the wall and is connected to a computer with an Ethernet cable. [Extract]

  3. According to NYT article below, broadband Internet via electrical wiring is becoming commercially viable as many houses go for it to network their house rather than WiFi because of the ease of set-up with the former.
    ———-
    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/11/technology/11basics.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

    Putting the Wire Back into Networking

    Panasonic, Netgear and Marantz are already offering products that will move data through home electrical lines faster than routers using the current Wi-Fi standard for wireless networking, 802.11g.

    Panasonic started selling its HD-PLC Ethernet adapters for power lines last month. A $200 starter kit provides two units, each about the size of two sticks of butter.

    One adapter is attached to a router with a short Ethernet cable and plugged into a nearby wall outlet. The second device is plugged into an outlet elsewhere in the house. When a computer is linked to it with an Ethernet cable, data is transmitted through the home’s electrical wiring at speeds of up to 190 megabits a second. Up to seven devices can run on the network.

    Netgear, a leading maker of wireless networking gear, will be selling a similar system next month for about $300. (Every additional module costs about $150.) It moves data at a slightly faster rate.