...And Then There’s VoIP over Broadband Powerline

Jay Birnbaum, vice president and general counsel for Current Technologies, which provides products to enable utilities’ electrical grids to act as broadband access networks, says the company, and its customers clearly see VoIP as the next phase of service. That is, after they get powerline-based broadband Internet access services off the ground. He adds that VoIP was one of the applications FCC Commissioner Michael Powell witnessed during his visit to Current Technologies’ Potomac, Md.-based test house just after the Triennial Review decision was released.

Current Communications, a sister company of Current Technologies that acts as the service provider in this case, this spring officially launched commercial broadband powerline service in the Cincinnati area in partnership with electrical company Cinergy. While there are just more than 100 customers online now, the goal is to reach 250,000 customers on Cinergy’s grid — which exists in Indiana and Kentucky as well as Ohio — within three years, Birnbaum tells xchange.

Current Technologies, whose solution delivers 256kbps to 1.5mbps symmetrical bandwidth over power grids, is also doing a marketing trial in the Washington, D.C., area with electric company PEPCO. The trial now serves more than 100 homes. Birnbaum says that effort will expand shortly as well.

Birnbaum adds that interest in powerline is not exclusive to electric companies and their equipment suppliers. He says AT&T has publicly stated that it is looking at broadband powerline technology as a possible way to compete in the local loop. “And I think some satellite folks mentioned BPL in Congressional hearings as a way to compete,” he adds. Of course, in such a scenario, a telco or other entity could potentially lease an electric company’s grid, and the electric company could either invest in the broadband powerline equipment and act as a bandwidth wholesaler or simply allow others to connect their broadband boxes to the grid.

In another recent intersection of powerline and VoIP, a company called Telkonet Inc. early this year received a patent on a method for delivering VoIP over in-home electrical wires. The U.S. Patent is entitled “Power Line Telephony Exchange,” also known as 6,668,058-B2.

Unlike the Current Technologies equipment, which is focused primarily on the power grid in neighborhoods, the Telkonet technology addresses only the in-home powerline connection and is a sort of HomePlug derivative.

A primary feature of the invention made possible by the Telkonet technology is the ability to transmit high-speed digital data over powerline copper to various subscriber sets with the data having very high fidelity and imperceptible delays in transmission.

David Powell, COO at Telkonet, would not provide further details on when products based on the new patent might be available. But in announcing the new patent, Telkonet President Ronald W. Pickett stated, “The grant of this patent is very timely especially in light of the market’s recent interest in VoIP technology for developing Internet phones that eliminate long-distance calling charges.” To date, Telkonet has been focused on gaining sales traction in the hospitality and MDU markets by deploying high-speed Internet access solutions in hotels and apartments.

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