‘Shocking’ Broadband

Wi-Fi – the new stage in Broadband.  Homes are enjoying a wireless connection and the freedom to move around.  As good as this seems, in terms of technology – there is already speculation that this is soon to be dwarfed by a larger, more exciting means of broadband supply.

Very soon, getting a broadband connection in your home or office could be as easy as plugging an appliance cord into an electrical port in the wall.

US power companies are currently exploring this possibility, indeed making broadband easily accessible through the very same electricity that powers your television and lights up your home at night.  ‘Broadband over Powerline’ (BPL) will eliminate any need to mess around with cables or Wi-Fi settings – your so called ‘home network’ will now take the form of plug ’n play – a feature still not obtainable from telephone or cable operators.

"The industry has proven the technology, but not the business case.  If you could use the same asset to deliver home-entertainment and appliance monitoring to consumers, that’s phenomenal."
Clark W. Gellings.  (Vice-president) Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

Early estimates of installation costs range from $50 to $150 per home passed, plus $30 to $200 more for modems in each home, according to a study by the EPRI. Con Edison and Earthlink – the Internet service provider, are currently testing BPL schemes and they say that to make money from selling broadband access at $20 to $30 a month, a utility may have to get installation costs down to as little as $20 per home passed and less than $100 per modem.  A dramatic drop from the early estimates.

Time will of course tell.  And through talk this new endeavour doesn’t seem too far away.  With a need for cheaper broadband costs and an ever increasing desire for more power and speed – BPL seems to be a winning formula for the future of Broadband supply.

Business Week Online Article