Stick your finger in a socket these days and you might just delete your email. Well, OK, not quite. But for the past decade, electric utilities have been trying to draw attention to the fact that Internet-ready copper wiring exists in virtually every building in the US. Because electrical current is transmitted at low frequencies (10 to 490 kHz), data running at higher frequencies (1 to 30 MHz) can travel through the same wire. The promise: All you have to do is plug a $100 modem into your wall socket, connect it to your USB or Ethernet port, and you're online.
Earlier this year, the FCC endorsed the technology, hoping that broadband over power lines - call it BPL - would accelerate the availability of high-speed Net access, which now reaches 38 percent of Internet users. Service providers like EarthLink and and AT&T are signing on, and analysts say 2004 will be a breakthrough year for BPL. So why did we waste all this time on DSL and cable?
Short answer: BPL is not as simple as it sounds. The power-line dream first ran into trouble in 1999 when Nortel pulled out of a pioneering effort to bring a copper-wire network to Manchester, England. The grid would be a nearly perfect data network - if we shut off all electrical devices. Refrigerator motors, air conditioners, and halogen bulbs create an immense amount of distorting noise. To overcome this, Nortel had to crank up its data signal. Two problems developed: Streetlights started blinking and the power lines turned into giant antennas, interfering with military, air-traffic, and emergency communication networks.
Inspired by advances in wireless technology, power-line researchers began spreading data across multiple frequencies and modulating it higher or lower to dodge the noise. The data became more nimble and needed less energy to fend off distortion, which solved the interference problem (though ham radio operators continue to say it messes with their late-night chatter).
The next hurdle was figuring out how to get the signal through transformers that convert medium-voltage electricity from the power lines to the low voltage that goes to your sockets. A handful of companies have come up with innovative solutions, ranging from a simple cable that jumps the voltage converter to Wi-Fi nodes on the overhead power lines. The Wi-Fi fix would blanket the neighborhood with broadband and remove the need for a wall socket modem.
Meanwhile, the ranks of potential ISPs are swelling. EarthLink has announced the partial acquisition of a power-line service provider and launched its first roll-out with a utility in North Carolina. About a dozen other utilities have also started trials, including heavyweights like Con Edison in New York and Pepco in Maryland. Even AT&T has announced a power-line initiative.
The main question now is whether all this makes business sense. So far, broadband power-line trials have been priced competitively - around $40 a month. But the upfront costs are high. To extend the system to outlying areas, utilities are installing miles of fiber-optic cable and crimping thousands of costly repeaters onto electric lines.
Consumer advocates have grumbled that utilities could exploit their monopoly by subsidizing an expensive Internet foray, forcing consumers to pay for the system's upgrade. But state regulators, mirroring the FCC's position, are likely to see the increase in broadband competition as a good thing. So if you're frustrated with your local phone or cable provider, look for broadband over power lines in a socket near you.
Joshua Davis (jd@joshuadavis.net) is a Wired contributing editor.
START
Hype List
The Return of Push!
Bionic Ears
I, Product
My Big Fat Net Roaming Bill
Jet-Set Engine
National Emergency Room
"My Name Is John, and I'm a Textaholic"
How to Get Megabits at 10,000 Volts
jargon watch
5 Bugs That Foil Fake Bills
Speed Metal
Identify Yourself
Hacking the Middle Ages
The Not-So-Great Robot Race
Audio Visual
Keeping Tabs on Steve Wozniak
Wired l Tired l Expired
