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
> .