TP Internet and Technology News Broadband to get power boost in Big Apple > Broadband to get power boost in Big Apple > Published: October 18, 2004, 4:05 PM PDT > By > Marguerite Reardon > Staff Writer, CNET News.com > If technology that transmits Internet traffic across power lines can make > it > in New > York City, it can make it anywhere. > That's what Internet service provider EarthLink is banking on as it > prepares > to test > a new broadband service over > Consolidated Edison > 's power lines in Manhattan. > EarthLink and Con Edison have teamed with > Ambient > , a power line communications technology developer, to get the trial > rolling. The > companies plan to launch the pilot in November with one apartment building > on the > Upper West Side of Manhattan, said John Joyce, president and CEO of > Ambient. > Final > details regarding the pilot are still being finalized, he added. > EarthLink, Con Edison and Ambient have been working together since 2002 on > technology > that provides broadband services directly over the nation's power grid > into > homes > through an electrical socket. > Two years ago, the companies launched their first trial together in Briar > Cliff Manor, > N.Y., a suburb of the Big Apple. The initial footprint of the network, > which > has > made power line communications available to nearly 1,000 homes in the > area, > is nearing > completion, Joyce said. Now the companies plan to expand the trial, which > had provided > broadband services to a handful of residents, to between 100 and 200 > homes. > EarthLink and Con Edison are both investors in Ambient. EarthLink owns > less > than > 5 percent of the company's stock, while Con Edison owns just more than 20 > percent. > Using power lines to access the Internet is an idea that's been > around for years > . Because electricity travels at a lower frequency than Internet signals, > the two > can co-exist on the same line without interference. > Power lines are an attractive broadband delivery method because they > already exist > in just about every home in the United States. Internet service providers > such as > EarthLink view the nation's power grid as a perfect infrastructure > alternative to > leasing cable or local loop telephone facilities from competitors that are > also delivering > broadband services. > But the technology has its problems. Opponents to power line > communications > have > warned of interference > . In April, the Federal Communications Commission > investigated the technology > and found interference issues among the military, some public-safety > organizations > and amateur radio operators. To address those concerns, regulators last > week > established a set of rules > for deploying the technology. > "We've already been addressing these technical issues in our trials," > Joyce > said. > "But now, the FCC rules will help utilities and municipalities eliminate > the > guesswork > that goes into deploying the services. I think we'll see more of them > taking > a serious > look at power line technology." > New York is not the only place EarthLink has been testing this technology. > It recently > completed a trial with > Progress Energy > in Raleigh, N.C., and it is currently in the early stages of another trial > with > Duke Energy > in Charlotte, N.C. > Ambient is also working on other trials, including a small one in Idaho > with > Idacom > .