and ... OK, I'll bite ... It's nice to know Germany is the top leader in engineering technology and can do everything better than everyone else. [activating Princess Leia hologram]"Oh, help us Germany, you're our only hope"[hologram off] Satisfied? j/k Eagle; it doesn't matter what technologies are available, it depends if the power company has the funds to do it, and if it's cost effective (also you can't compare Gov't vs. private spending). At the old homestead I had problems with the phone lines, and placed a call to have service. I found out from the tech I was one of the "last" houses on the end of the circuit. There was nothing wrong with "my" internal lines, there was something wrong along the main line. So basically, it was cheaper for the phone company to send a tech to my house every time I called about the problem, than fix the actual problem. If I called everyday, it would take a 100+ years for them to break even on a new main phone line. I eventually moved and got cable for the PC .