Broadband from a socket?

I recall that in the late 1990s, a new industry stood up to the challenge of bringing broadband to the unwired masses. It was the electrical utilties. Their argument was a strong one: we already run a line into every home. Who could argue with that?

Fast-forward to today though and it's still a pipe dream, but perhaps there is sign of progress coming from Solihull in the West Midlands today. Council tenants there can soon begin getting a high-speed connection from their electrical socket.

Mind you, this is not broadband-over-power lines. It's a new wireless technology, dubbed "pre-WiMax", which can distribute high-speed net access to blocks of homes through an electrical socket, ZD Net reports. The wide area networking company CI-Net hooked them upm installing rooftop dishes to receive a wi-fi signal from about five miles away.

If such a promising technology were to take off in the UK it would bode well for other suburban areas, which have fallen behind rural neighbours in terms of broadband penetration, Ofcom says in its latest report.