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.

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]