Ohio Rolls Out Power Line Broadband

4 Jun, 2004 at 11:57am ET Article published in Tech

High-speed Internet access may one day come from your electric company, thanks to broadband-over-power-line technology. BPL got off the ground recently when Current Communications and Ohio-based utility Cinergy partnered to begin offering the service.

Current Broadband is available only in the Cincinnati area. But the company says that roughly 1.5 million Cinergy customers in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky can later choose among three options: a 1-megabit-per-second connection for $30 per month, 2 mbps for $35, and 3 mbps for $40. Cable and DSL services cost $30 to $50 for speeds usually well below 1.5 mbps.

Best part, the speed is symmetrical. 3mbps upload speed! I hope this goes well and begins to roll out in other parts of the country. -KF

Source: PCWorld

Comments

4 Jun 2004 ~ 12:52pm RWB OMG! I WANT!!! I have seen those power line home networks before, seemed pretty promising, and now I see it really was!

Too awsome, I wander if power surge protectors will work with or against this...
4 Jun 2004 ~ 1:37pm primesuspect WOW! This has been in the "Perpetually-five-years-away" category, and I've always known it would be rolled out someday, but the SYMMETRICAL part is news to me.. 3MB up!?!?!? WTF!?!?!
4 Jun 2004 ~ 1:50pm mmonnin Come To Columbus!!!!
4 Jun 2004 ~ 1:54pm GHoosdum If I get a house soon, I might be trying this bad mamma jamma technology out.... I wonder how you can protect from power surges with a BPL line?
4 Jun 2004 ~ 2:36pm RWB

GHoosdum wrote:

If I get a house soon, I might be trying this bad mamma jamma technology out.... I wonder how you can protect from power surges with a BPL line?

even data corruption becuase of the power surges... they happen all the time around here. The U.S. power grid is waayyy outta date isn't it? Time for an overhaul same with the communications stuff like telephone lines and crap. In Houston I am pretty sure most the phone lines there are maybe 50 years... dunno for sure.
4 Jun 2004 ~ 6:11pm Unregistered except you won't be able to use refridgerators or other electrically-disturbing appliances without messing up data---and when you crank up frequencies to accentuate data, powerlines start Buzzing out and interrupting with air-traffic control signals... bad idea Ohio.

-deunan
4 Jun 2004 ~ 6:38pm TheBaron

Another hurdle: BPL may interfere with radio signals. The Federal Communications Commission is considering rules to forestall such problems, but those rules won't be finalized for months.

so if you get it now, you might just have it taken away from you in a few months. however, i agree with deunan, i cant see how this will give a clean data stream
4 Jun 2004 ~ 6:44pm Dexter

Unregistered wrote:

except you won't be able to use refridgerators or other electrically-disturbing appliances without messing up data

Ummm, source please? One would think that since pretty much every house has a refrigerator, stove, microwave, etc, they would have taken that into account. If you have to unplug your fridge to use the internet, no one would buy their product and so why would they bother investing in the infrastructure? I'd like to see your references for that statement.

Dexter...
4 Jun 2004 ~ 7:48pm JB "even data corruption becuase of the power surges... "

thats what filters are for