DirecTV to offer Broadband, VOIP

To date, satellite Broadband hasn’t been able to accommodate the needs of home medical transcriptionists, home based call center employees, and other home based workers.

Current group, however, is not satellite based. As their name hints, they are on the forefront of “broadband over powerline” (BPL) technology and working with utility systems to enable them to set up “Smart Grids”. This lets local electric providers to provide broadband (and with this alliance) VOIP and Satellite too.

The advantage of this is that even the most remote areas have electricity. This service provides super fast UPLOAD speeds too, not just download speeds.

The disadvantage is that it is tied to the power grid. Outages for whatever reason will also disable your whole business… At least if your DSL provider is your phone company, their systems usually stay up. You could then run on a back up generator system for a small or home business. By being totally dependent on BPL, if the power’s out, everything’s out.

Still, I’d sign up immediately if it were offered tomorrow! I’d just try to have back up plans!

From Los Angeles Business

The service, which will first be available in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area, will be available at the end of 2007 or early 2008, DirecTV said in a release. The deal will allow DirecTV to sell a bundle including DirecTV high-speed internet and VoIP services, and DirecTV will be able to add other geographic markets as Germantown, Md.-based CURRENT builds its network. Through the agreement, DirecTV will have access to CURRENT’s BPL network that will cover about 1.8 million homes and businesses over the next several years, the compay said in a release.