Internet via power lines set to launch

GRAND LEDGE, Mich., July 19 (UPI) -- A plan to offer consumers Internet access through their home's power lines may soon come to fruition for residents of Grand Ledge, Mich.

City residents may soon benefit from an agreement between Michigan's Consumers Energy and the Los Angeles company Utility.net to test the technology in regions where Internet service is typically not available through cable or phone lines, The Detroit News said Thursday.

Grand Ledge fits the description.

"We are pleased to see our existing infrastructure being utilized to provide additional choices and options for broadband Internet access," Consumers Energy project manager Gerry Wyse said. "(Utility.net) intends to bring broadband to communities in central Michigan that have few or no broadband provider choices today."

The newspaper said the new Internet service, which uses radio frequencies to send data, could be offered on a nationwide scale if the tests prove successful.