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High speed internet via electrical power lines

I have been reading that electric companies are going to get into the internet business by carrying digital signals VIA THE ELECTRIC POWER GRID! Essentially, this results in a modulated carrier frequency over all electrical wiring in your house, whether you want it or not! The FCC sees no problems (corporate profits never seem to be a problem for the FCC...note what has become of broadcast radio after deregulation!) and has approved some trials for power companies. Will there be problems for audiophiles from the resulting increased "grunge" on the power lines? Or will this be a non-factor.
fatparrot
aball
2,018 posts
 
I was waiting to see if there would be a post about this. I think it will make power regulators for our stereos a must. Filtering will become essential if this goes through. We shall see...
danlib1
819 posts
 
Another reason to hang onto my BPT 3.5 Signature!
edesilva
768 posts
 
As I understand it, they need to jumper the signals over the step down transformers anyway, so its not suddenly going to corrupt the entire power grid. I wouldn't worry about it until you start seeing ads from your local provider. That may, er, *never* happen. Just because the FCC authorizes it doesn't mean a viable business model exists.
reubent
7,051 posts
 
Ed,

It is already in use here in Cincinnati. We have a provider of BroadBand over PowerLines and it actually works very well. It was not offered as a trial or a pilot. It is full fledged, ongoing business AFAIK.

I don't know how it may affect audio components, but I do know the service works very well and it is cheaper than the cable companies offering. Also, no need to run cable into the house is a plus for many people. It works where ever there is an AC outlet in your house.

Enjoy,

TIC
edesilva
768 posts
 
Interesting. But, just because it isn't a trial or pilot doesn't mean Cin isn't a test market--they may be operating at a significant loss.

There isn't anything new to using power lines as carriers. The problem is that the modulated signals don't pass through transformers very well. So, you need to have some box connecting either side of the transformer to put the signal back on. Heck, even in the local X10 systems, people often needed jumpers in the fuse box to connect different legs *inside a single house*. That stuff was pretty low speed/data rate signalling too.

As the third entrant in the market (behind the telco and the CATV co), the power company has to price itself to undercut the competition. I just think the business model is going to be a difficult case.
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