Norwalk, Connecticut-based mPhase Technologies Inc is pioneering a new system for enabling regional Bell operating companies and others to deliver cable television, high speed data, and phone calls all over existing phone lines, which could give the Bells their long sought entry into television.. mPhase is developing a variant of Digital Subscriber Line, suitable for pumping multi-megabit signals down existing telecoms copper wire. The system, currently being researched in conjunction with Georgia Tech Research Institute, would add three extra add-on modules to existing telecoms central office switches. So-called diplexer technology takes the cable TV signal, data and voice and combines it onto a single line. At the customer end, a box is installed with a phone, Ethernet and TV port, splitting the individual signals back out again. mPhase has apparently built a system with TV/voice on the same copper wire, and is hoping to have the full TV/data/voice system in trial with Regional Bells by mid 1998. mPhase anticipates that the overall cost per month for 64 channels of cable, and data services, including a hardware rental fee, will be available to consumers at around $30 per month.
