Word: broadband
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...work for the publicly owned utility of the city of Manassas, Va. They are the people who make sure that the 15,000 homes and businesses in this quiet suburb 30 miles southwest of Washington have electricity, water and sewer service. They were never interested in getting into the broadband business--in fact, officials are keen to franchise the operation to an outside investor--but that's exactly what they did when they deployed broadband over power lines, or BPL, on the Manassas grid earlier this year and made accessing big bandwidth as easy as plugging in a toaster...
These days most broadband subscribers use either a modem from their cable company or a digital subscriber line (DSL) from their phone company. The first wave of BPL roll-outs doesn't pose much of a threat to the Comcasts and Verizons of the industry, which boast millions of customers and have been selling high-speed access since the late '90s. Some 22 million U.S. households already subscribe to a broadband service, according to Forrester Research analyst Jed Kolko, making it one of the biggest hits of the digital...
...huge chunk of the market is still up for grabs: namely, the 40 million-plus homes using dial-up to connect. For some of these users, a 56K modem is plenty. But budding BPL providers are betting that a significant number of consumers really do want broadband service but are simply holding out for a better offer...
...many utilities getting into this business, broadband is just the beginning. Power lines equipped to receive data can also carry voice traffic, and with time--and the right compression technology--they will be able to carry video too. Electric companies could be the next contender in an extended battle to control not just high-speed surfing but all forms of digital communication and entertainment for the home. Comcast, Cablevision and others already offer multiple services. Idacomm says it plans to offer Internet phone service and video-on-demand to BPL users right off the bat. "That's the triple play...
...local and long-distance calls), but officials have enough to be worried about these days just getting customers hooked up with Web access. Fewer than 200 accounts have been activated, while 1,350 locals remain on a waiting list, in part because of start-up problems with Prospect Street Broadband, a venture firm selected to handle Zplug's day-to-day operations, and in part because utility workers are still installing the network. City officials expect to name a new investor sometime...