Broadband through your power line? One plug which provides power and Internet connectivity? These are but some of the thoughts circulating around the IEEE as today they began working on IEEE standard P1901, “Standard for Broadband over Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control and Physical Layer Specifications”.
The net result of this new standard is an attempt to make it easier for high speed broadband access to be available, especially in those areas where phone and cable may not be an option. P1901 will apply to broadband-over-power-line (BPL) devices for first-mile/last-mile connection to broadband services, as well as those for the local area networks and other data distribution systems to function over copper power lines in a building. A target date to complete the standard is sometime in 2007.
