Re:Interesting, but I wouldn't want it... (Score 4)

Yeah, right. Signals down the power line. That's so far in the future that it's funny, Trust me. I was invloved in a full-on pilot of this in Wellington, New Zealand, and while it works fine over short distances, there are a number of major issues yet to be overcome.

1) Transformers. They furk the signal up completely. You can't get a signal 'upstream' from a transformer any faster than 9600 bits/sec.
2) Ripple control - the signals that the power co's use to trip multi-register meters (like day/night meters or 1/2 hourly meters etc) When the pulses go down the line, the signal is completely porked.
3) Surges. Not flash for signal quality, to say the least
4) Loop length. Even without pesky transformers etc, the signal gets pretty weak at > 5 km (3 miles)... although the same can be said for DSL.
5) The kind of wire that is used in the electricity cable is optimised for conducting high to medium voltages so frequencies that can be used are limited, limiting bandwidth for concurrent users.

However! Most of these things can be overcome... in time. The problem is, the technology will only be useful if the power line folks can match the prices for telephone lines, with the same speed and reliability. Right now I get between 4 and 5 Mbps for around $30 US per month via ADSL. Power lines are gonna take a really long time to match that.