AT&T may use electrical grids, to gain access to business and residential customers, the long-distance telephone company, said on Tuesday. AT&T hopes to offer local dial-up in 14 to 17 markets by the end of 2003, but it needs a “last mile” connection. AT&T sold its cable television business to Comcast last year.

Powerlines are increasingly seen as a cost-effective method to deliver broadband internet access. Washington Post, Wired, Forbes and Fast Company speculate that only power companies have the cash and local service operations that could deliver a broadband alternative to cable and telephone providers. Powerline broadband distribution uses the AC power grid. It can go all the way to the home or stop at the utility pole and use wireless for the last 1000 feet.

Power Line Communications (PLC) is similar to cable modems. The 40 Mbps backhaul is shared. Different ISPs may decide to offer a variety of voice and data options although PLC may not be as fast as other options. Still, it may provide AT&T with a direct line to the home or provide CoMeta Networks with a truly “plug and play” hot spot. Eliminating the truck roll (and phone lines) would be a very big deal. If it’s possible.

Amperion’s PowerWiFi access, combines the pervasive infrastructure of power lines with readily available 802.11 (WiFi). Products are available for both overhead (Falcon) or underground powerlines (Lynx) and include signal injectors, extractors and repeaters (pdf FAQ).

“We’re going to have an absolute stampede to move on this,” said Alan Shark, president of the Power Line Communications Association, which includes Internet providers such as Earthlink as well as utility companies. “It’ll change the way we do business on the Internet.” The Internet Home Alliance hopes to hook up refrigerators.

FCC chairman Michael Powell said power line distribution of broadband “could simply blow the doors off the provision of broadband.” But before providers can get too excited, there are obstacles to overcome. Reportedly:

“…Transformers are a hard block, but most of the other problems can be handled. Bandwidth over power lines ranges from 1 Mbps to about 15 Mbps depending on the environment, and are forecasted to approach 100 Mbps in a few years. Because powerlines are a shared media, security is always a concern so encryption is required…”

So far Main.net’s Power Line Communications is the only firm to publicly claim the ability to push data through a transformer. A dozen utilities in the U.S., including Ohio’s American Electric Power and New York’s Consolidated Edison are running small tests of the technology at anywhere from 3 to 250 homes each. Pennsylvania’s PPL and the city of Manassas, Va. hope to launch commercial service this year.

Once inside the home, AC wiring can also be used instead of CAT-5. The HomePlug Standard brings networking to the home over AC wiring. Intellon’s Ethernet powerline adapters distribute broadband content (from DSL and cable modems), over your electrical wires to every outlet in a home, apartment, condominium or small office complex. HomePlug AV ups data rates from 14 Mbps to 100 Mbps and features enhanced quality of service and backward compatibility with HomePlug 1.0 gear.

Siemens Powerline 802.11b Wireless Access Point (left), enables wireless LAN extensions without running CAT5 cable. It uses your AC wiring to backbone different 802.11b “hot spots” around the home.

The Intel/Linksys Media Navigator, like the HP Digital Media Receiver, is an access point with a digital to analog converter. You can browse media PC files on your laptop or handheld and play them on your TV.

The problem: Wi-Fi is slow, range is limited and the a/v connections are problematic. Mating 100 Mbps HomePlugs (with power line distribution) could link “hot spots”. Eliminate Cat-5. High-speed distribution of audio/video in homes could be enabled with power lines. The last 50 feet is wireless; either Wi-Fi or 100 Mbps UWB.

Intel has been experimenting with Ultrawideband using meshed repeaters that plug into electrical outlets. Intel’s Ben Manny says UWB can be incorporated into CMOS standard chip-making technology. UWB modules - linked through AC power - promise fast, cheap and ubiquitous connections around the home. Intel inside.

Utilities hope that other uses for power line networking could help subsidize Internet service. Though some electric companies already can read meters remotely, the majority still send a worker out to tromp through yards and read the dials at an average cost of 60 cents to $1 per visit. A $40 Web-enabled meter could pay for itself in three years.

Power companies have the cash. They own the utility poles outside your home. Now the technology and the need appear to be jelling. Why shouldn’t light bulbs have integrated 802.11b chips?

It remains to be seen if broadband over power lines is the best thing since sliced bread.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Tuesday, February 25th, 2003 at 4:51 am.