Mainlining the Internet

By Aisling Irwin

They have worked out how to prevent the electrical current in cables from distorting Internet data and any other signals travelling alongside it.

Electricity companies will now be able to offer their customers an Internet link that will be much faster than telephone lines. For people who want higher-speed links, it could end up cheaper than an ISDN line.

The developers say that within a few years they will have designed a system that will enable people to get an Internet link simply by plugging their computers into an electricity socket. The system currently requires a special box on the electricity meter.

The process, developed by Norweb Communications and Nortel, a Canadian electronics group, begins at electricity sub-stations that receive the Internet via fibre-optic cables.

Equipment in a sub-station pipes the Internet information into the electricity mains. It passes through a home's electricity meter and then through a small box that lifts the Internet information from the power supply. The Internet is then carried round the house along co-axial cables that link to the computer. To connect it with the computer, people will have to buy a PC card costing around £200 ($325).

Norweb Communications, which is part of United Utilities, is planning to pilot the system in the north-west of England next spring.

The technology could also be used to make phone calls on ordinary power lines. In the long term, scientists are speculating about using the national high-voltage grid to distribute videos, computer games and video-conferencing material.

United Utilities PLC was formed in 1996 by the integration of North West Water Group & Norweb and became the first UK multi-utility to combine electricity and water in common ownership. In combination it now serves the water and electricity needs of around 7 million people in the North West of England. The Group's proven water expertise has won it key contracts to build and operate water facilities overseas including countries like Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Mexico and the USA and similar contracts will be sought in the electricity supply and distribution areas.