Broadband over PowerLine

I’ve been following BPL with great interest since I heard about trials in the UK some years ago. Alternatives to the phone and cable monopolies are always a good idea and provide yet another way to get broadband into the home… at at decent price. I also love a service you don’t have to rewire your house for. Basically BPL is Internet over your power lines, you just have to plug a baseball sized converter into any power outlet in your house.

The FCC just allowed Earthlink and ConEd to offer BPL in NYC, and there have been articles in NYTimes today, and older ones from CNet, and BW. Looks like Cincinnati and Manassas, Va are the first to offer this.

It’s a shame the my local utility, PSE&G only has this to say:

“The [BPL] technology works, but it doesn’t work to the extent we see it’s ready for a market rollout.”
Marketing Manager Ellen Dollard of PSE&G as quoted in The Record
(Hackensack, NJ), April 23, 2004

Update Oct-21: Wired News talks about Surfing through the Power Grid.

Ajax »« Phat Friends Awards