Powerline Communications

Potential Advantages of Digital PowerLine Technology

This telecommunications model has multiple advantages over others including speed, an established local loop, and dedicated connections. These advantages make Digital PowerLine technology an attractive alternative for telecommunications systems.

In the Digital PowerLine model, small LANs are created; they terminate at each local electricity substation. These LANs will share a T1/E1 connection to the Internet, similar to a corporation leasing a T1 line. Individual users should experience tremendous speed increases over conventional 28.8kbs or 56kps dialup connections, even at peak usage.

Another inherent advantage to the Digital PowerLine model is the fact that it works well over the existing electric power infrastructure (at least in the UK, see the Limitations section below). Only the substation server equipment and customer conditioning/service units need to be installed in order to establish a Digital PowerLine network.

Dedicated, multipurpose communication lines make the Digital PowerLine model an attractive option for the information age. Wide bandwidth and frequency division multiplexing allow for multiple lines to a single household. Ideally, an entire family could utilize their own communication devices simultaneously, whether telephone or PC, without interrupting one another.