Imagine plugging your computer into the nearest electrical outlet. Nothing more. No modems or routers or home networks. Just your computer's electrical cord and a specialized plug and you get instant access to the Internet.

Even better, you can connect to the Internet from any electrical plug inside or outside your home. Sound far-fetched? Well, the technology exists and BPL is up in running in Britain and other European countries and has been the subject of multiple rulings by the Federal Communications Commission in the past few years here in the United States.

High speed Internet already is being delivered by cable, and power lines are nothing more than big cables carrying electrical current. According to several experts, the Internet signal travels on power lines and can provide connection speeds similar to digital subscriber lines, the high speed Internet provided by the phone company.

There's even the possibility that some of the government stimulus money can be used on this new technology as a way to create new jobs. There may be as much as $2.5 billion available from the Agriculture Department to expand broadband to even the most isolated locations in the country. At least one global company is positioning itself to take advantage of that money and become a big new player in the BPL industry.

One of the main problems stopping the spread of broadband over power lines in the U.S. is the cost, compared to the broadband offered by cable and telephone companies. But in isolated areas that are not serviced by cable companies and which don't work for DSL could make more sense for BPL.

Phone companies require a main office to be within several miles of the subscriber lines and that isn't the situation in many western states, for example. But experts the transmission from broadband over power lines can go 25 miles or more from the nearest substation, putting much more of the country potentially within reach of high-speed Internet.

The current problem is with the radio and ham radio industry, which is concerned that BPL will interfere with its signals and has repeatedly complained to federal officials since 2007, effectively blocking the FCC from moving forward to potentially regulate the new industry.

In July, the FCC issued a notice that it was ready to come out with some new rules covering the way in which broadband over power lines can operate. The issue is tremendously complicated, but FCC officials appear to be brokering a compromise that will keep the ham radio industry at bay and still make it worthwhile for companies to invest in BPL.