Bandwidth student aims for 250Mb/s

One Australian student has claimed he can "turbo charge" a normal copper phone line to deliver download speeds of 250Mb/s, according to reports.

Dr John Papandriopoulos from the University of Melbourne made the breakthrough as part of his thesis while looking at the problem of interference.

His algorithm aims to stop crosstalk interference on DSL, which currently means broadband options of "up to" 8Mb/s ADSL can only achieve around half of that.

"People have been trying to push up the speeds of broadband to as fast as possible by pushing the actual bandwidth limits," he explained to Image and Data Manager Online.

"The underlying problem is really one of interference, in effect your neighbour is interfering with your speed."

Dr Papandriopoulos is hoping to roll out his patented calculations in commercial applications within three to four years, although admits it will need internet service providers to install additional kits in telephone exchanges.

However, while 250Mb/s may be the dream, Dr Papandriopoulos is expecting the system will begin at around 100Mb/s.