WFECA is the Internet's best value in Northwest Florida. WFECA also offers many affordable Web hosting packages."> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Keywords" CONTENT="Florida, Florida Panhandle, Northwest Florida, electric cooperative, electricity, Jackson County, Washington County, Holmes County, Calhoun County, Internet service provider, Internet, Internet access, ISP, e-mail, Web, Personal Start Page, 56K access, dial-up access, Web hosting, domain names, free 24-hour tech support, member services, member newsletter, West Florida, West Florida Electric, West Florida Electric Cooperative"> <meta name="resource-type" content="document"> <META NAME="author" CONTENT="Joe DiDomenico - Embryo Design"> <meta name="CLASSIFICATION" content="internet service provider"> <meta name="COPYRIGHT" content="Copyright 2001, West Florida Electric Cooperative, Inc."> <meta name="DISTRIBUTION" content="global"> <meta name="rating" content="general"> <STYLE TYPE="text/css"> a:hover{color:990000;} a.myhover a:hover{color:990000} A:link {color: #000066 ; text-decoration: blink} A:visited {color: 990000 ; text-decoration:none} A:active {color: CC3366 ; text-decoration:none} </STYLE> <base target="right"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0"> <TABLE WIDTH="433" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <TD valign="top"><IMG SRC="images/title_current_light_flashes.gif" WIDTH="433" HEIGHT="34" border="0" alt="Current Light Flashes"></td> </tr> <tr><td valign="top">  <h3 align="center"><font face="arial,helvetica,tacoma,sans-serif">Tech Talk </font></h3>   <p align="left"><font face="arial,helvetica,tacoma,sans-serif">  <strong>What is Broadband Over Power Lines (BPL)?</strong> <br><br> Every day,new technology is being developed to enhance the use of the Internet. One of these emerging technologies is broadband over power lines or BPL. BPL offers high-speed Internet access to homes through a common electrical outlet. <br><br>With BPL, customers will be able to plug a computer into any electrical outlet in their home and instantly have a high-speed connection to the Internet. Developers of BPL have created a way to send data over power lines and into homes at speeds between 500 kilobits and 3 megabits per second, which is equivalent to DSL and cable speeds. 1858202 <br><br>BPL is already being tested in several cities around the United States and in the United Kingdom. One of the earliest adopters of broadband over powerlines in the U.S. is the city of Manassas, Virginia, which has signed a deal with their local utility company to extend broadband services across the city’s powerlines to 15,000 residential and commercial locations for less than $30.00 per month. <br><br>Power companies hope that broadband investments like the one in Manassas will allow them to support their own applications. <br><br>This technology will also allow them to tap into existing infrastructure, fill market gaps in underserved areas and benefit from falling equipment costs. Like phone companies, power companies have lines all over the world. The difference is that power companies have lines in a lot more places than phone companies have fiber optics. This makes power lines an obvious vehicle for providing Internet to places where other forms of high speed haven’t yet reached. <br><br>There are two types of BPL service at this point: <ul> <li> In-House BPL will network machines within a building.</li> <li> Access BPL will carry broadband Internet using powerlines and allow power companies to </li> </ul> electronically monitor power systems. <br><br>By providing high-speed data transmissions between all of the electrical plugs in a house, there is the potential to network all kinds of common appliances in a household. For instance, your alarm clock, light switch and coffee maker could communicate with one another via a high-speed connection and make mornings a lot better. <br><br>Technology like BPL has the potential to revolutionize the way we live our lives, making it more convenient to work at home, shop at home and continue our educations from the comfort of our homes. <br> </p> <p align="center"><font face="arial,helvetica,tacoma,sans-serif"> <a href="current_light_flashes.html"><b>Back to Current Light Flashes</b></a></font></p> </TD> </TR> <tr><td valign="top"><br><br> <p align="center"> <font face="arial,helvetica,tacoma,sans-serif" size="-6">Page created and maintained by West Florida Electric Cooperative, Inc. © 2001.<br> designed by <a href="http://www.embryodesign.com" target="_blank">embryo design</a></font></p> <br><br> </td></tr> </TABLE> </body> </html>