Power Line

For European power wiring, about 200 residences share a single transformer. Using FM modulation in the 3-15 MHz band, data rates of 500 kb/s to 1 Mb/s (symmetric, shared medium) can be achieved. For the US, a far smaller number of dwellings share a distribution transformer, due to the lower voltage and a power rating higher by a factor of two. Examples:

• HomePlug: in-house networking (about 14 Mb/s)
• Main.net
• Nortel equipment
• Norweb trial
• Nortel
• Intelogis PassPORT system: 350 kb/s, $240/3 units; printer and file sharing only (not IP)
• SGS Thomson power line modem using FSK at 132.45 KHz with a data rate of 2,400 b/s
• National Semiconductor LM2893. FSK up to 4.8 kb/s
• Enikia: 10 Mb/s over power lines
• Links to powerline communications
• CEbus: 7.5 kb/s