am 29.09.2005 17:44 schrieb snipped-for-privacy@bbs.cpcn.com:
Recently this newsgroup debated the barriers for entry for new
> communications carriers.
> Well, now they are working to use power lines to bring in broadband
> service, so consumers will eventually have a third independent choice
> of communications providers.
> The ability of power lines to carry comm signals has been known since
> the 1930s. Apparently some practical ways to utilize that have been
> developed and there have been several pieces in the press about it.
And it is a technological dead end.
First, the effort to make it happen is big. You have to lay fibre to the transformation substation closest to the user. Still, the bandwith isn't very good. And, last but not least, the wires are unshielded. So they are acting like *huge* antennas - emitting a lot of garbage waves and flooding big parts of the frequency spectrum. Radio traffic often is disturbed, and, of course, you neighbours can easily listen in on what your doing - more easily than with Wi-Fi.
Daniel AJ
My e-mail-address is sokolov [at] gmx dot net