Broadband over powerline (BPL) has been heralded as a potential "third wire," competing with DSL and cable as a means of providing Internet access to U.S. homes and businesses.
As a means of high-speed Internet access, BPL has a number of appealing features, including transmission speeds that can be higher than cable, and symmetrical speed — meaning that both uplink and downlink speeds are equally fast, compared to the slower uplink speeds of cable and DSL options.
But Internet access is only one of the services enabled by BPL. Other offerings such as voice-over-Internet Protocol and video on demand are possible with BPL as well.
This will be especially important as competitive pressure leads to lower prices for Internet access, and as alternative broadband technologies emerge in coming years.
A critical factor in the business case for BPL is that it offers electric utilities a high-value communications network that could enhance the power delivery system. Functions related to energy and utility network management—from outage detection to dynamic pricing to distribution system monitoring—hold promise as a means of reducing utility operating costs and improving reliability, EPRI reports.
