John Papandriopoulos of the University of Melbourne – here seen estimating his first potential paycheck – has come up with some nifty technology to reduce crosstalk interference on DSL broadband copper lines and increase speeds to a theoretical maximum of 200 Mbps. That’s just un-chuffin’-believable, considering we thought 56K was the maximum a short few years ago. And what’s even more astonishing is the lab work which suggests that speeds of up to 1–2 Gbps are possible in the future. For now, just watch this company! [Thanks Tom]
Do I need to buy a new modem? It depends. Our research may be applied to current-day ADSL2+ and VDSL networks to bring speeds closer to the theoretical maximum without any major changes to end-user modem equipment. For the full benefit of our technology, more substantial changes may be required. This, in turn, may require the purchase of a new modem; in some cases, equipment manufacturers may be able to implement a firmware update to take advantage of our enhancements. Don’t generally expect, however, that a modem designed for a particular DSL technology (e.g. ADSL2+) can be magically upgraded to one of a later generation (e.g. VDSL2) with software magic.