Electric companies begin offering broadband service

Sean Porter’s high-speed Internet connection doesn’t come through a cable-television cord, a telephone line or from a satellite.

An electrical outlet powers the broadband connection at the Manassas architect’s firm.

“The greatest advantage is that we only need to have an outlet to use it,” Mr. Porter said.

Manassas is the second city in the nation, where broadband service over power lines became commercially available. City officials there began marketing the service in February.

Today, only about 300 U.S. consumers pay for high-speed Internet access over power lines, but this new method of delivering Web content could jolt the market for Internet service.

Allentown, Pa., and Cincinnati are the only other U.S. cities where residents are paying for the new high-speed Internet service, but electric companies from North Carolina to Hawaii are testing the service or plan to begin a pilot project. Federal regulators hope broadband access over power lines becomes widely available, especially in rural areas.

In Manassas, 60 homeowners and a handful of businesses have Internet access through power lines. Another 1,200 homeowners have asked to be hooked up. That’s nearly 10 percent of the city’s 12,500 homes.

By the end of the year, broadband over power lines could be available to all Manassas residents. It would be the first U.S. city where the new technology is available to all residents.

Internet access from power lines began to get attention last year, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) promoted it as a way to offer high-speed Internet services for people in rural areas. The FCC also saw broadband access from power lines as an alternative to high-speed access from phone, cable and satellite companies that could lower consumer prices.

Since the power grid is ubiquitous, broadband over power lines could be available to nearly every U.S. home.

“Having another major player — the power companies — has to help bridge the digital divide. The power companies have the infrastructure to make broadband available nationally,” said Ed Thomas, chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology.

The FCC in February proposed rules to govern broadband over power lines. The rules aren’t final, but a handful of cities, utilities and technology companies are pushing forward.

Current Communications Group in Germantown, Md., is working with Ohio utility Cinergy Corp. to market broadband service over power lines in Cincinnati.

Current Communications also has a pilot project with Pepco in Potomac to test the new Internet service.

Story Continues →