In Europe, houses and businesses receive 240V electricity, as opposed to 120V in the U.S., Canada, and others. Due to the physics of alternating current, that means that European electric companies can make the lines between customers and immediately upstream transformers longer than they can be in the U.S. It also means that they need fewer transformers within a particular area. That translates into cheaper deployment of powerline Internet, since you'd have fewer transformers to which the company would need to run T-1 lines (or something).
For example: I've been to Switzerland a couple of times. When I was there, I never saw a transformer that served homes; they don't need that many, and they're really good at hiding them anyway. In the U.S., however, you see them everywhere, hanging off power poles, or as big honkin' green boxes on the ground. Typically, such transformers serve only four to six houses each; decent-sized businesses (e.g. grocery stores) get their own, really big box (to hold a two-phase or three-phase transformer). Would a T-1 to each and every transformer be cost-effective?
So, IMHO, it's workable in Europe, but much less so in the U.S.
Slashdot Mirror
In Europe, houses and businesses receive 240V electricity, as opposed to 120V in the U.S., Canada, and others. Due to the physics of alternating current, that means that European electric companies can make the lines between customers and immediately upstream transformers longer than they can be in the U.S. It also means that they need fewer transformers within a particular area. That translates into cheaper deployment of powerline Internet, since you'd have fewer transformers to which the company would need to run T-1 lines (or something).
For example: I've been to Switzerland a couple of times. When I was there, I never saw a transformer that served homes; they don't need that many, and they're really good at hiding them anyway. In the U.S., however, you see them everywhere, hanging off power poles, or as big honkin' green boxes on the ground. Typically, such transformers serve only four to six houses each; decent-sized businesses (e.g. grocery stores) get their own, really big box (to hold a two-phase or three-phase transformer). Would a T-1 to each and every transformer be cost-effective?
So, IMHO, it's workable in Europe, but much less so in the U.S.
- Chris