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By: Uchenna Ani-okoye

Broadband Internet over Power-Lines

PLC (Power Line Communications) or BPL (Broadband over Power-Lines) is a technology which was developed some time ago, but has taken till now for it to be introduced to the market.

As the name states, BPL basically uses power-lines in order to send and receive data. This technology may be the key to eliminating the divide that exists between urban and rural areas with regards to their access to the internet.

Although we have seen internet penetration rates increase quite rapidly over the years, especially as we’ve seen the introduction of broadband internet, there are still a great many people that have limited or no access to the net. These people typically live in rural settings, where broadband access it not accessible to them.

BPL works by assuming that every building that is inhabited in this country has its own electrical outlet, it’s these outlets that are to be used by the BPL service to give internet access to the masses.

The idea of using the infrastructure of a power grid to send and receive data signals is not something that is new; in fact power companies already use this technology to monitor the performance of their power lines.

The main reason why the implementation of this technology would be so easy is because the electrical infrastructure that we use today uses AC (alternating current), which vibrates at a wave length that is different from RF (radio frequency). Therefore, it’s possible for both signals to travel down the same line.

However, instead of data signals being sent and received at the power source, which would be the better, more convenient option, the data signals must be put onto the lines much closer to your place of residence. This mainly because the power source voltage is way too high or noisy, that it would simply interfere with the data that is being sent and received.