Electrical Outlets May Carry Broadband, Says Florham Park, N.J., AT&T Labs.

Byline: Martha McKay

Apr. 23--Imagine downloading your e-mail from the electrical plug that runs your toaster.

Along with electricity, the web of power lines that blanket the nation can be tweaked to carry high-speed Internet service.

Broadband over power lines (BPL) -- sometimes called power line communications -- isn't a new idea, but recent technical developments and lower costs for components have pushed it much closer to reality.

"We believe the technology has tremendous potential," said Irwin Gerszberg, director of local access technology at AT&T Labs in Florham Park. "It's amazing not many people even know about this stuff." AT&T recently demonstrated BPL technology for Wall Street analysts and hopes to break into the nascent market.

"We're discussing it at the highest levels of the corporation and we are conducting technology and marketing trials this year," said AT&T spokesman Michael Dickman. "It's on the fast track, there's no question about it." The technology works something like this.

An Internet signal travels over medium-voltage wires on utility poles, or underground, and then into your home. A small modem plugs into any electrical outlet and a cable runs from that to your computer. Some companies, including AT&T, are considering delivering the signal over power lines to a point outside the home and then beaming it in wirelessly.