Patent ID: 7187276

Claim:
A system for providing communications over an electric power system having a medium voltage power line, a plurality of customer power lines each extending to a customer residence, and a plurality of transformers coupling the medium voltage power line to the customer power lines, the system comprising: a plurality of transformer bypass devices wherein each said transformer bypass device includes a second modem communicatively coupled to the medium voltage power line and a first modem communicatively coupled to at least one customer power line and wherein said first modem and second modem provide a data path bypassing one of said plurality of transformers, wherein each of said transformer bypass devices includes a data router in communication with said first modem and said second modem and configured to prioritize transmission of data over the medium voltage power line by said second modem via time division multiplexing; and an aggregation device communicatively coupled to said plurality of transformer bypass devices via the medium voltage power line and forming a portion of a data path between the medium voltage power line and a point of presence.