- 1. INTRODUCTION -
The once revolutionary webpage with static text and a graphic image has given way to streaming audio and video, Internet telephony, movies on demand, and other resource-intensive multimedia content. It is only with the advent and widespread acceptance of broadband Internet access that has made this possible.
But are these the only options? Should they be the only options? The answer, to both questions, is no.
Presently, most home users obtain broadband Internet service through their telephone or cable service providers such as Verizon and Comcast, but if the electric utility industry and the Federal Communications Commission have their way, it may be that in a few years, our preferred method of broadband access would be through a technology called access broadband-over-power-line (BPL), also known as power line communications (PLC).
What is broadband?
The ‘broadband' in BPL is shorthand for ‘broadband Internet access,' which is essentially a high data-transmission rate Internet connection. Broadband technologies such as digital subscriber line (DSL), cable modem, and satellite dish are the most common among consumers and are typically capable of transmitting 256 kilobits per second (kbps) or more, approximately four and half times the speed of a standard 56 kbps modem [10]. Also unlike dial-up, broadband is intended to be always on.
With a working definition of broadband in hand, we can then begin to evaluate why with so many other high-speed technologies already, there is still be a need for more ways to access the Internet.
What is the promise of BPL?
To put it bluntly, laying down equipment such as DSL and fiber-optic cables is extremely cost-prohibitive for telecommunication companies [6]. What this means is that a large proportion of rural and low-income communities are effectively barred from enjoying broadband service. Satellite service too, while promising, has its own drawbacks, namely price and reliability.
Broadband -over-power-line is thus a very appealing concept because nearly every home in the U.S. is already served by power lines. What's more, each room usually has multiple electrical outlets, even though they may not have a telephone jack. The allure of BPL then is that homeowners can get a high-speed Net connection—up to 3 megabits per second—just by plugging a special BPL modem into an outlet. This speed easily matches the speeds of its more established broadband cousins. It will not be just computers that easily go online either. Any electronic device could theoretically do so as well.
Indeed, it seems that just as the modem enabled every home with a phone-line to have Internet access, BPL could potentially enable everyone on the power grid to have high-speed Internet access.
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