Power-line Internet trial taking place in Cape Girardeau

There's a new outlet for the Internet on the horizon that's sure to electrify the industry -- high-speed Web access that comes into homes or businesses through power lines, making every electrical plug-in an instant connection to cyberspace.

And Cape Girardeau is playing a key role, serving as Ameren Corp.'s testing ground for the technology with a 55-home trial taking place in a north Cape Girardeau neighborhood.

The technology, if proven safe and effective, already has the favor of federal regulators looking to boost broadband competition, lower consumer prices and bridge the digital divide in rural areas.

Not to mention that the Cape Girardeau residents who have been using the service -- which is still not guaranteed to go commercial -- are raving about it.

"It's a lot faster than the dial-up connection that I had," said Michele Elder, who works at Southeast Missouri State University as Web design and support manager. "I found it a lot easier to download upgrades to my computer and to keep up with the anti-virus software. Before, I wouldn't keep up with it because it took so long to download."

Elder loved that there were no extra wires or cables. Only a blue box needs to be connected to the computer to "pull" the data from the electrical outlet and interpret it for the computer.

Elder also used to need two phone lines, which cost her an extra $20 a month, but with Internet access available at every outlet in her house, she only has one. That also means her phone line is never tied up while she's on the Internet.

"It's so much faster," Elder said. "I can access it anywhere in my house."

The technology -- known as power-line communications, or PLC -- works like this: T-1 Internet lines are run alongside overhead or underground power lines until it reaches an area needing service.

There, the line goes into a transformer box, where there is also a signal-conversion box. That box intercepts the Internet signal, converts it into data and passes it into the electrical lines.

That data then goes into homes. A blue box that is connected to the computer and plugged into the wall then takes the data from the lines and sends it to computers. For the Cape Girardeau trial, which is basically in the Woodland Hills subdivision off of Perryville Road, above-ground and below-ground power lines are being tested.

Faster than dial-up"People really seem to like it," said Chang Law, Internet supervisor for Cape Girardeau-based Big River Telephone, which is Ameren's partner for the trial. "It's working out to be about five to 10 times faster than what people are getting with dial-up."

Big River is handling the Internet side of the trial, including assisting the trial's participants, while Ameren is handling the power lines.

Jerry Howe, Big River's CEO, said the pilot project has been going on since June and will likely end at the end of the summer. His hope is that it could be on the market in 18 months to two years.

"I'm optimistic," he said. "I think the chances are good. It will offer a new way to get people high-speed Internet. It will also be good for competition. It should bring down prices, and that's always good for the consumer."

Keith Brightfield, heading the project for Ameren, says it's too early to say when the company could deploy the technology, and the utility makes no claims it can deliver broadband cheaper than current providers. The goal, he said, is to be competitive at Internet access without losing focus on Ameren's bread-and-butter energy business.

Participants in the trial were told the service would likely cost $30 to $50 a month.

Ameren spokeswoman Erica Abbett worried that getting the word out too early will raise expectations for something Ameren may ultimately decide to pass on.

"We're testing it," she said. "That's it. That's all we can say at this point. No decision has been made. It's premature to talk about just yet."

But with the trial going on in Cape Girardeau, there has been a strong buzz. Big River said it has received countless phone calls from residents interested in signing up.

Howe said that Ameren chose Cape Girardeau as the test market because it's not too big. "It's a nice, manageable size," he said.

Power-line communication has been talked about in the industry for years. A similar test is being done in Pennsylvania.

'An absolute stampede'Because virtually every building has a power plug, it "could simply blow the doors off the provision of broadband," Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell said last month.

"We're going to have an absolute stampede to move on this. This is a natural," said Alan Shark, president of the Power Line Communications Association, which includes Internet providers such as Earthlink as well as utility companies. "It'll change the way we do business on the Internet."

While existing providers of broadband through cable TV lines or phone wires consider the technology intriguing, they stress that talk of it has been around for years with nothing to show for it.

Existing broadband providers such as Charter Communications Inc., the nation's third-largest cable company, believe they have the edge because they are known commodities and can bundle high-speed Internet with video and even telephone service in some markets.

If ever deployed, power-line broadband "certainly is competition, but we feel our product would stand up well," said David Andersen, a spokesman for Charter, which has nearly 1.1 million high-speed Internet customers.

Marsha Haskell, regional director for external affairs for SBC, said it would "definitely" be competition for SBC's dial-up Digital Subscriber Line service.

"We believe in equal competition," she said. "Customers will just have to choose the provider that best meets their needs."

Digital power lines are believed to be able to carry data at roughly the same speeds as cable or DSL lines. And because electricity is more prevalent in homes than cable or even telephone lines, a vast new communications infrastructure could be born overnight -- notably in rural areas, where broadband access has lagged.

That's what excited state Rep. Jason Crowell, who also is a member of the trial.

"The service is quick, it really is," Crowell said. "But what I think is neat about it is if it could get high-speed Internet to folks in rural areas, where I think there's a demand for it. Power lines run to every home, whether metropolitan or rural, rich or poor."

Freeing up the phone lineMost people who used it just liked the convenience of it.

"It was so unique that I had some hesitations, questions and concerns," said Tammy Randolph, a university professor. "But it's worked very well. And two or three of us can be on at the same time."

Pat Lester gushed about it.

"We love it," she said. "We can't wait until it becomes permanent. We have teenagers, and we like freeing up the phone line because they are on the computer all the time. Really, the only complaint is not knowing how long we're going to have it."

The trial participants have gotten the service for free. One qualm that a couple of trial participants had is that if it costs $50 a month, it might not be worth it.

"Even if it's $30, I have free dial-up from the university," Randolph said. "They could price themselves out of the market."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137

Editor's Note: Business editor Scott Moyers, who lives in the Woodland Hills subdivision, also was a trial participant for the service but asked to be taken off prior to writing this report.