Boursorama: Internet through electric wires

Video, music, voice and data through electric wires? This could be possible in five years time. The solution of the Internet by the electric network has been studied for more than a year at the ETSI of Sophia Antipolis (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) with the Powerline project. Nowadays, it seems to come on a real industrial reality. Germany particularly succeeded in the first tests in life-size. On the website of Boursorama, an article of Reuters agency reviews the situation under the title /www.boursorama.com/international/detail_actu_intern.phtml?news=375861"> 'Internet- Les lignes électriques, une alternative possible'.

More economical and faster than cable and wireless high bandwidth, technology of carrier current enables to use electric lines and wall sockets. You only need an adapted modem. It was tested in 200 households in Mannheim by the German electricity company, MVV. This summer, 3 000 households will then be connected on the Net. 'If this new technology is a success, it could change the deal on the telecommunication market', said Roland Hartung, president of MVV's board of directors.

A doubt, which was given in conclusion remains though : on the technical side, there is no guarantee that a high scale communication system via electric lines could work properly without causing interferences with electric appliances or with radio systems, in particular the army's and emergency services' ones.