Broadband-over-powerlines, like its cousin ethernet-over-domestic wiring, is one of those things that gets discovered every three years, hyped, oohed and aahed over, then disappears. Reason: it's a solution looking for a problem, for the reasons given above. Why not, rather than try to kludge data over high voltage, just borrow the pylons or the cable dig and use proper data networking technology? If the electricity grid is suitable for good BPL, there's probably a reasonable copperline phone network, and anyway the distances are short enough that laying cat5 isn't out of the question. And if you're in the wilds enough that you can't do DSL, then you probably can't do BPL. Something amusing in the fact that power-over-ethernet is a lot more useful than ethernet-over-power!