March 15, 2004
By Tony Rehagen ~ Southeast Missourian

In June 2002, Jeff Worley found a postcard from Ameren Corp. in his mailbox outside his home in the Woodland Hills Subdivision in Cape Girardeau. But this wasn't his monthly electric bill. This card offered Worely an upgrade from his dial-up home Internet connection at no cost as part of a trial for a new product.

"I had never heard of PLC," Worley said of power-line communications, which delivers broadband Internet service via normal electrical lines. Frustrated with dial-up service and seeing that the price was right, Worley phoned the number on the card. Within days, he was surfing at high speed through a blue box plugged into a wall outlet.

Fifty-one of his neighbors did the same.

Pretty soon, the technology was watercooler fodder at Notre Dame Regional High School, where Worley is dean of students and technology coordinator. He found himself inundated with questions, the most common of which was, "How and when can I get it?"

Two years later, local test provider Big River Telephone Company has the answer.

"The target date is June 1," said Big River president Kevin Cantwell. "That's when we'll begin the phased introduction of BPL."

BPL -- broadband over power line -- is the Federal Communications Commission's new name for the service, which Big River -- in conjunction with Ameren Energy Communications and Main.net Communications -- is ready to bring to all of Cape Girardeau as an alternative to cable and DSL connections.

The technology works by running T1 lines alongside overhead or underground power lines into the service area. There the line is run from a transformer box to a conversion unit that intercepts the Internet signal, converts it into data and passes it into the electrical lines. From there, it's accessible from the regular electrical outlets in the home.

When plugged into one of the outlets, the blue box receives the data and sends it to the adjoining computer.

"Once the elements are sprinkled on the electrical grid, it's just a matter of going from house to house," said Kevin Keaveny, Big River vice president of engineering and operations.

Except for some minor configuration problems in a few different computers, the test has been a success on his end, Keaveny said. From the feedback received from test subjects, the same seems to be true on the other end.

"I've been very happy with it," said test subject Michele Elder. "It's faster than the dial-up, and I haven't had to call the company about any problems."

Story continued at SE Missourian