Experts in the industry have stated that once the next generation of fibre optic broadband is installed in the UK could realistically achieve speeds of 45 Mbps.

Areas in Bournemouth will soon have the super-fast internet connections installed, with promised speeds of "up to 100Mbps".

According to Tom Newton, a broadband expert at UK Web Media, residents in Seoul and Tokyo have theoretical top speeds of 100Mbps.

However, tests of the Korean fibre optic connections have a fastest recorded speed of around 91 Mbps. The average speed is somewhere in the region of 45Mbps.

Mr Newton commented: "It's a similar story in Japan, where anything below 40Mbps is considered to be 'slow'".

He notes that the discrepancy between the real-life speeds and those that are promised in these countries are mirrored in the UK.

Here in the UK, BT has announced that it plans to use £1.5 billion to connect 40 per cent of homes in the UK to the fibre optic network.

Virgin Media claims that upgrades to its existing cable network could double speeds in the next four years.

Despite this, given the experiences of internet users in Japan and Korea, Mr Newton said: "If examples from both here and overseas are anything to go by, promises of 100Mbps or even 200Mbps seems to be just that."

BT's trial of the high-speed broadband in areas such as Muswell Hill in London and Whitchurch in South Glamorgan could see users becoming capable of downloading DVD quality films in 11 minutes.

This is significantly faster than the two and a quarter hours estimated for those using the current copper wire broadband technology, reports Broadband-finder.co.uk.


Friday, 17th October 2008

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