Future of the Electrical Outlet

Figure 4: Early light-socket adapting outlet
Photo by Kiddo

With so little change to the outlet in the past few decades, what could we possibly expect to change in this simple piece of engineering? Well, in the near future, an outlet may provide broadband Internet, a service some companies are testing to determine its practicality. While some electric companies do not want to deal with providing broadband in addition to electricity, it may be useful to rural communities who currently receive only electricity ("Is Broadband" 18). One of the problems with the power-line Internet is the path it follows, down the line and through the transformer. A transformer decreases the voltage of the incoming power in order to put it at safe levels for the household. When the broadband data travels through the transformer, some of it is lost. In response, the Current technologies and Cinergy Corp. created a coupler to allow the data to bypass the transformer (Cern Patent 6809633). Internet through the outlet may not be as far out as it seems.

Conclusion

Where would we be today without Edison's light bulb, Tesla's coil, or Hubbell's Separable Attachment Plug? Chances are we would be sitting by gaslight, using steam-powered generators to power our extremely slow "computers." The electrical outlet has been a modern convenience for over a century, and while it seems so simple, it has gone through a long, complex evolution. Although it has been set in its ways for several decades, the electrical outlet still seems to have a prosperous future, not only in electricity, but communications technology as well.