Definition[]
In-house BPL is a home networking technology that uses the transmission standards developed by the HomePlug Alliance.
Overview[]
In-house BPL systems use just the low-voltage wiring to provide local communications among devices attached to the electrical outlets in the home. These systems carry data and voice signals between the wiring and electrical outlets inside of a building. These systems are aimed at home networking and sharing of resources between devices, such as multiple computers, printers and smart appliances. Each device to be networked is connected to a BPL adaptor module through a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or Ethernet port. The BPL adaptor module plugs into a power outlet and communicates over the electrical wiring with other similar BPL adaptor modules in the home, thus forming a peer-to-peer local area network between devices.
Since In-house BPL systems can use the electrical outlets available in every room of a building to transfer information between computers and between other home electronic devices, they eliminate the need to install new wires between these devices. Using this technology, consumers can readily implement local area networking between devices, such as computers, set-top boxes, information appliances and consumer electronics devices. Applications of home networking include shared Internet access, shared printing, file-sharing between personal computers, and device control.
In-House BPL operation may provide Internet sharing or other external service connections independently of Access BPL service. For example, an in-house local area network could interface with an Internet connection that may be provided from a variety of sources, such as cable, DSL, or dial-up analog line, not necessarily just from an Access BPL service. In other words, the operation and external networking functions of In-House BPL do not depend on the consumer having Access BPL communication service at the same time.