Alcatel-Lucent says is has developed what appears to be record-breaking connectivity speeds with a new prototype called XG-FAST, which is a fiber that is able to hit 10 Gbps in both directions over a phone line.
That comes as many researchers and observers believed that 100 Mbps fiber to the home was adequate. It appears Alcatel-Lucent has trumped those beliefs with its latest cable.
While the latest research looked at the speeds on a cable just 30 meters in length, much shorter than the average phone line, the company believes that it can function in the real world and still hit nearly 10 times the current average transmission speed. That means, if successful, Alcatel could have a cable that can deliver 1 Gbps speeds. That could be a game changer.
Alcatel explains in a press release that achieving 1 Gbps "symmetrical" services, where bandwidth can be split to provide simultaneous upload and download speeds of 1 Gbps, is a milestone for copper broadband. That will let operators provide Internet connection speeds that are indistinguishable from fiber-to-the-home services, and will prove to be a major business benefit in places where it's not possible or economical to install new fiber cables to homes. Instead, it will let companies bring fiber to the curb, wall or basement of a building and then use the existing copper network to go the final distance.
The new cable comes from the company's research and development sector, Bell Labs, and the company believes that it can begin rolling out the new cable after a bit more testing.
Marcus Weldon, president of Bell Labs, said in a press statement that "Our constant aim is to push the limits of what is possible to 'invent the future,' with breakthroughs that are 10 times better than are possible today."
He continued to say that "Our demonstration of 10 Gbps over copper is a prime example: by pushing broadband technology to its limits, operators can determine how they could deliver gigabit services over their existing networks, ensuring the availability of ultra-broadband access as widely and as economically as possible."
At 10 Gbps, a user could hypothetically stream about 20 films simultaneously without losing speeds. But when put into the market, the company is likely to expect speeds of between 500 and 1 Gbps, still a marked improvement from previous cables.
While the company has not said when, or if, the new cable will be made available, the XG-FAST cable could be a main source for operators with fiber that could boost existing telephone cables that would deliver massively faster broadband service into the home.
It is also being seen as a way of bringing broadband service to under-served regions of the world, which would enable less cables to be laid in order to deliver faster services for more people at the same time.
