I read the paper on the way to the airport, and this Wall Street Journal article from today (subscription required) provides a nice overview to the technological and commercial state of the broadband over electric business proposition.
As one of the quotes says, this certainly does put another spin on the “last mile” dynamic, at least for telecom. Beneficial disruptive innovation, anyone?
Excellent article; thanks for the pointer.
I was surprised, however, that it failed to acknowledge the last-mile competition from Dish Network and Direct TV–both of which offer broadband.
I think this is great news. I recently moved from Lansing, MI where I had a Comcast cable modem to a smaller suburb where Millenium Digital Media (cable) is the only broadband provider in town. In Lansing, I paid ~$50/month for a 384/3000kbps service, and now I pay ~$35 for a 64/128kbps service. The cable modem service was a much better value where there was competition from DSL providers. A little competition would benefit small towns greatly.I did look at DirecWay (DirecTV’s Internet Service), but the equipment costs and extrememly high network latency were prohibative.On a side note, I’m a new reader to this blog; and I find it quite interesting. I’m a computer programmer who works for a consulting company in the electrical power industry. So far, I’ve enjoyed the subject matter here, and the commentary makes many insightful points. Keep up the good work.
Ben,
Thanks for your kind words! Please spread the word; the way we’ll get real change in the electric power industry is through viral, word-of-mouth spreading of new ideas among industry participants, consultants, and regulators!
LK