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Dallas Area to Get Power-Line Internet

December 19, 2005

• Dallas Area to Get Power-Line Internet • Up the Broadband Creek Without a Signal • Google Buys Stake in Power-Line Internet Company • FCC OKs Internet Service Over Power Lines • Earthlink Will Offer BPL Internet Service in New York

Two companies are set to launch the biggest deployment to date of broadband Internet service over power lines. Current Communications Group LLC and TXU Electric Delivery say they will offer service to more than two million customers in Texas.

Service will initially be offered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where TXU's parent company already provides electricity to millions of homes. The area overlaps with the coverage zones of AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner and Charter Communications, which are spending billions of dollars to upgrade their existing networks.

Internet via broadband has the potential to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to millions of homes and businesses in rural areas and underserved metropolitan neighborhoods.

Subscribers get a small box that they plug into an electric outlet. When connected to a computer, the device provides Internet access capable of speeds faster than many DSL and cable Internet services.

Current says it will begin rolling out the service before the end of 2006.

Besides providing Internet service to TXU's customers, Current's system will also enable TXU to instantly detect service outages and, eventually, to monitor customers' electricity usage without having to read meters at each customer's home. It can also remotely turn the power off and on to homes or entire neighborhoods.

The idea of using fat copper power lines to transmit high-speed data has been around for years but has been slow to develop. Ham radio operators have been vocal in their claims that the technology interfers with their activities, but Current says its system will not interrupt the hams' chatter.

Other utilities around the country are studying the technology. In Manassas, Va., it has been fully deployed by a small customer-owned utility. It is also being offered to about 50,000 customers in the Cincinnati area.

The Manassas system, located about 30 miles from Washington, D.C., has been used to demonstrate the potential of broadband over power lines (BPL). Federal Communications Commission officials, members of Congress and White House advisors have toured the home.

Besides powering Internet devices, BPL can be used to communicate with any appliance that is plugged into an outlet, enabling technicians to, for example, diganose your refrigerator's problems without making an in-person service call.

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