Broadband Over Power Lines (BPL) heading to Washington DC

It's easy to understand why people would get excited about Broadband over Power Line (BPL) technology. Power lines are installed virtually everywhere. Earthlink and Telkonet are rolling out a broad test in Washington, DC.

Under the terms of the agreement, Telkonet's iWire System(TM) will be the platform used to enable high-speed Internet and data access to EarthLink as part of a voice and broadband Internet and home networking package that includes features such as caller ID, voicemail and three-way calling bundled with high-speed Internet access. EarthLink will market its services to apartment residents in the D.C. metro area.

The plan is to offer additional bundling of services, which should make the product competitive on both features and pricing for the targeted consumers (people living in apartments). The test will occur in 9 apartment buildings where it's not currently economically feasible to re-wire the buildings for modern broadband connections.