There’s nothing more frustrating than a
bad internet connection, but researchers out of Aston University may have just solved that problem forever. A new method allowed scientists in the UK to send data
4.5 million times faster than average broadband, setting a new world record.
In partnership with the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Japan and Nokia Bell Labs in the United States, Aston researchers were able to transfer data at a rate of 301,000,000 megabits per second using standard optical fiber. That’s compared to the average UK broadband performance at 69.4 megabits per second. In the United States, average download speeds are faster,
averaging 242.4 Mbps, but the breakthrough is still over a million times faster.
The feat was achieved by using new wavelength bands that aren’t used in traditional fiber optic systems. The new wavelength bands are equivalent to “different colors of light being transmitted down the optical fiber.”
“Broadly speaking, data was sent via an optical fiber like a home or office internet connection,” said Aston researcher Ian Phillips in a press release. “However, alongside the commercially available C and L-bands, we used two additional spectral bands called E-band and S-band. Such bands traditionally haven’t been required because the C- and L-bands could deliver the required capacity to meet consumer needs.”
