Wired Broadband Could Get a Lot Faster

Think ADSL broadband is old hat and fiber is the future? Think again: Researchers at Alcatel Lucent have worked out how to get data rates of 300 Mbps over normal copper telephone wires. That, in case you didn't know, is fast.

Most broadband that comes to your home over telephone wires uses an electromagnetic/signal processing trick called asymmetric digital subscriber lines--ADSL. With tweaks to the technology, this system can be pushed to achieve data rates as high as 24 Mbps, but typically...