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Australian Researcher Boosts ADSL Speeds 114

Posted by Zonk from the pouring-go-faster-juice-down-the-tubes dept.
sea_stuart writes "Like your ADSL connection to go 100 times faster? Despite the grim state of Australian mathematics and science, there is still exciting original work being done Down Under. John Papandriopoulos, a Research Fellow with the ARC Special Research Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks (CUBIN) has developed a method to reduce crosstalk interference in ADSL technologies to bring speeds up the theoretical maxima possible. With an Australian Federal election due in a few weeks, and both parties promising improved broadband speeds and access, this is a welcome development, hopefully enabling higher speeds without huge expenses."
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Australian Researcher Boosts ADSL Speeds More

Australian Researcher Boosts ADSL Speeds

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  • You must not be using it (Score:5, Informative)

    by BadAnalogyGuy ( 945258 ) <BadAnalogyGuy@gmail.com> on Monday November 05, 2007 @04:27AM (#21239107)
    I got this story last month [slashdot.org].
  • Damn dial up, I almost had forst post! :(

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by LiquidCoooled ( 634315 )
      You youngsters with your electronical modems.
      In my day we had to get first post with a mail-in comment.
      • You had it easy. Back in the days, first post didn't even exist, we only had 0.001th post, which our pop would carve with his belt on our skin in hieroglyphics, after which we had to go deliver in person, in the snow, uphill both way. Taco's grand grandfather would then skin us alive to display it on his cave gallery.

  • dupe (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mgblst ( 80109 ) on Monday November 05, 2007 @04:32AM (#21239129) Homepage
    With more bandwidth, we will need more content, so I guess we can expect a few more repeats.
    • It shouldn't be too hard to rig a firefox extension to open 5 simultaneous windows with the exact same content rendered in each. Instant fivefold speed increase :)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mgblst ( 80109 )
        Surely they would all use the cached data, so it wouldn't actually download it five times. Maybe an extension to load up ie, opera, lynx and kde browser would do the trick.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Felius ( 56017 )
          *whooosh*

          • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

            by Maxo-Texas ( 864189 )
            So is *whoosh* the new slashdot meme?

            I seem to see it a lot more lately. I like the non-direct way it says the joke went over their head.

            Hmm.. let me get this right...

            I for one, welcome our new whooshy overlords.

  • Politics (Score:3, Insightful)

    by religious freak ( 1005821 ) on Monday November 05, 2007 @04:33AM (#21239131)

    With an Australian Federal election due in a few weeks, and both parties promising improved broadband speeds and access...


    Wow, I wish this was even close to being an issue in one of our campaigns here in the USA. Can you imagine having an issue like this on the national agenda here?

    • Re:Politics (Score:4, Informative)

      by MichaelSmith ( 789609 ) on Monday November 05, 2007 @04:47AM (#21239187) Homepage Journal

      Wow, I wish this was even close to being an issue in one of our campaigns here in the USA. Can you imagine having an issue like this on the national agenda here?

      Its partly because a Universal Service Obligation is built into our telecommunications laws. Companies which supply loss making services to remote areas get a subsidy from companies which do not. It may not be a driver in the current debate but it is certainly a symptom.

      Another factor is that remote areas are currently being hit bad by a drought. Hand wringing over communication is one way for the Government to be seen to be helping people where they can't really do anything about water.

      And to top it off, we actually have a very bad problem with rural infrastructure. We have 1/10th the population of the US, and slightly less land area to service. The cost of improving service in remote areas is a political hot potato. The party currently in power is a coalition of the National party which traditionally supports country voters and the more broad based Liberal party. By making broadband an issue the Government is trying to tell the country voters that the opposition Labour party doesn't have an interest in supporting them.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by MillionthMonkey ( 240664 )
        Its partly because a Universal Service Obligation is built into our telecommunications laws. Companies which supply loss making services to remote areas get a subsidy from companies which do not.

        A law like that in the United States wouldn't have made it past the Reagan administration. American law is written by telecom lobbyists and is designed to create and sustain fake scarcity of telecommunications services.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Belacgod ( 1103921 )
          Actually, we have a similar law (the Rockefeller amendment to the 1996 Telecommunications bill). That doesn't require any particular quality of connection, though.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Felius ( 56017 )
      I was chatting to vendor rep visiting from the US a few weeks back - he told me he had 100M cable for USD$50/month, and that he actually saw close to 100M on that connection when he needed it. That 100M is a significant fraction of the bandwidth coming into my entire *state*. I pay about AUD$110/month (USD$101 right now) for combined phone and ADSL - you can't have ADSL without a phone service, and no other feasible broadband options here. My connection is currently 512k, and soon I'll be paying more to
      • you can't have ADSL without a phone service

        Go to whirlpool.net.au and read about the various isp's trailing unbundled adsl services, in 6 to 8 months time it should be available to all exchanges with the isp's dslams installed. Which brings us to the second point

        and soon I'll be paying more to take it up to 8M - the *maximum* I can achieve at any price.

        This is slightly misleading, you can get more then 8M on adsl 2+, You just have to live in a suburb that is served by an upgraded exchange (most inner city

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Felius ( 56017 )
          Sure, you're correct. ULL is a lovely idea, but as you've gathered it's not an option for me as I'm on a Telstra DSLAM. I'm a 20 minute drive from one of those capital cities, but down in Hobart that almost makes me semi-rural. ;)

          I'm well aware that Telstra's monopoly is the biggest problem here, and that's primarily why it's a political issue. The failure of the government to separate infrastructure (which *we* all paid for) from the rest of the business before privatisation was a big mistake which we'r

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Isauq ( 730660 )
        Well I can certainly assure you that that US vendor rep is in the extreme minority. I'm in the middle of the capital of Ohio (arguably the second or third most important state) and the absolute best we can get here is cable and it peaks at about 10-11M (down only. Up is a piddling 512K) on a good day (and those are rare). The fastest DSL that is even offered in the area is 6M down, requires a phone line, and is more expensive than the cable connection. Even Verizon's FIOS service (available only in the
        • We have a cable modem service here too. There is one provider, it peaks around 7M and is capped at 20 gigs, throttled down to 64k (yes, dialup speed) once the cap is reached. That cost $60AUD/month. They recently expanded the plans (yes, there was one provider with one plan for quite a while) which are just as pathetic. Luckily the competition regulators opened up the exchanges and the smaller players have been installing adsl2+(theoretical 24M, realistic 8-12M) with decent plans for a while now, all this e

    • Wow, I wish this was even close to being an issue in one of our campaigns here in the USA. Can you imagine having an issue like this on the national agenda here?

      Don't worry, broadband really isn't an issue in the election campaign down here in Oz. In fact, we're have a very US-style personality-based campaign, with precious little policy detail in any area.

      And for what it's worth, if the howard turd gets re-elected once more you're welcome to move here and take my place. Give him another three years and every last one of the old Australian values will have been replaced by fear, xenophobia and selfishness.

    • Broadband isn't so much on the agenda here in Australia, as something the politicians promise when they visit rural areas. Most urban areas have access to several different broadband choices. The controversy is how to get affordable broadband outside the cities. Telstra wants to turn off their 1G and 2G towers, when rolling out 3G to rural areas. The politicians are divided over allow Telstra to do whatever they want, or to introduce legislation requiring them to keep their older networks running.

  • oh please (Score:3, Funny)

    by smash ( 1351 ) on Monday November 05, 2007 @04:36AM (#21239143) Homepage Journal

    Despite the grim state of Australian mathematics and science
    Grim state? At least the majority of *our* population are literate for a start.

    • Despite the grim state of Australian mathematics and science


      the majority of *our* population are literate

      Is reading comprehension not an important part of literacy?
    • Just one politician trying to make another politician look bad.

      If there's a demand for mathematicians or statisticians then they'll be well paid, and being well paid the profession will attract people which'll push down the cost.
       

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Felius ( 56017 )

      ..the grim state of Australian mathematics and science..


      that'd have to be SA, right? ;)

      (hey, I had to pick one..)

      • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        It's usually either Queensland or Tasmania -- the first are slow because of the heat, the second because of the inbreeding.
      • It's only SA because NT isn't a state
      • The grimmest state is Tasmania, but most of the time we forget its there so SA wins.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mwvdlee ( 775178 )

      the majority of *our* population are literate

      You is very literate indeed.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by BlueParrot ( 965239 )

      Grim state? At least the majority of *our* population are literate for a start.
      Maybe it's because I'm Swedish and not an expert on English grammar, but doesn't your fine language use "is" when the subject is singular? I.e, "our population is literate"?
      • Well, Brits and people who speak British English have yet to figure out the concept of "collective nouns" and their place in subject/verb agreement. They will argue that since "a population" necessarily consists of multiple individuals, it is a plural noun and requires the verb "are". This is incorrect -- a population is a single, collective entity, and requires the verb "is". Examples include "The band are playing" or "Microsoft are releasing an update". However, they will fight and argue this until th
        • I think the antecedent was "majority" as in "a majority of the population" so in either US or UK styles the noun was singular and so should be the verb.

      • Maybe it's because I'm Swedish and not an expert on English grammar, but doesn't your fine language use "is" when the subject is singular? I.e, "our population is literate"?

        Your example is correct, but "the majority of our population" is plural, so the original post was correct in their usage.

  • More range please (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MichaelSmith ( 789609 ) on Monday November 05, 2007 @04:38AM (#21239149) Homepage Journal
    If his technique can make ADSL work at greater distances from the exchange then he might be on to something. I know people who live in non-urban parts of Australia who are just on the limit of distance to the exchange for ADSL to work.

    Doubling that distance could increase the number of homes covered by a factor of four.

    • I hear DTDTP works great!

      wait for it....

    • Use fibre-optics ... Distance no (major) problem, bandwidth no problem

      Makes copper DSL look like a joke ...?

      The only reason DSL was invented at all was because the telcos had so much invested in existing copper technology and did not want the expense of upgrading all the end users

      In the UK the cable companies (or Virgin Media as they seem to all be now!) do not seem to be using their advantage? ADSL is limited to 20Mbps (theoretically if you live *in* the exchange) this will extend that to 100Mbps? But some
      • They can't - cable has the disadvantage that it's all shared bandwidth in an street (up to the 'green box') so if they uncapped it as high as that it would affect TV reception (which is their primary revenue source)... not to mention the backhaul would have to have enormous bandwidth just to handle it... and people just wouldn't be prepared to pay that kind of money for service (when your streets local p2p junkie suddenly maxes his line out 24/7 and your service runs like crap because of it who are your goi
        • That's why P2P traffic is throttled, and there are usage caps (even on "unlimited" accounts)

          what most people want is fast for a short while then nothing for most of the rest of the time

          The exception is P2P traffic (at the moment) but soon the revenue stream will also be in Streaming video (movies on demand) then they will find the bandwidth (or someone else will...)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )
      you guys could do what some others do. get a set os SDSL modems and create your own point to point to another home inside the coverage area sharing that DSL.

      SDSL modems can talk to each other, over a standard Category 3 twisted pair it can talk at least 3Km easily some guys get 10km with stronger modems. then they simply buy a "dry pair" of wires to the other location from the phone company or run it on their own gorilla style burying the wire just onder the surface along side the roads. Old flooded (g

    • Doubling that distance could increase the number of homes covered by a factor of four.

      I doubt that. At best, it quadruples the area covered. However by increasing the area, you increase the probability of the service areas from the exchanges overlapping, meaning that your total coverage area doesn't quadruple, however your coverage still should increase significantly and the "dead" zones that aren't quite covered by any of the existing exchanges should diminish making the coverage more continuous.

      Mo

  • UpZide Labs (Score:3, Informative)

    by digithed ( 445564 ) on Monday November 05, 2007 @05:42AM (#21239421) Homepage
    There's a company in Sweden called UpZide Labs (http://www.upzide.com/ [upzide.com]) that's been working on a technology called VDSL (Vectored DSL) for a few years. This also promises speeds of 100Mb/s using normal copper connections in use right now with normal ADSL.

    • Get the facts straight (Score:4, Informative)

      by kju ( 327 ) on Monday November 05, 2007 @06:17AM (#21239547)
      First: VDSL is already in active deployment e.g. in Germany (offered in speeds of 25/5 and 50/10 mbit here). Second: VDSL does NOT stand for "Vectored DSL" but for "Very High Speed DSL".
    • Some time back, a company called Genesis Europe were going to rollout a VDSL network, what ever became of it I wonder. As for VDSL, this article has something interesting to say about it.

      "Mr. Walker .. claims VMSK achieves spectral efficiencies of 90 bits/sec/Hz or more .. These claims are in direct violation of the mathematical principles of digital communications discovered by Harry Nyquist (1928), Claude Shannon (1948), and others"

      The VMSK Delusion [archive.org]

      was: Re:UpZide Labs

  • Don't forget Rural Areas (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05, 2007 @05:52AM (#21239461)
    Faster ADSL in Australia? I can't even get Mobile (Cell) phone coverage. Hell, where I work we don't even have landlines just a fucking public telephone booth. Gotta love Rural Australia :/

  • VDSL2? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Max Romantschuk ( 132276 ) <max@romantschuk.fi> on Monday November 05, 2007 @06:09AM (#21239513) Homepage
    First of all, this is a dupe...

    But more to the point, doesn't VDSL2 [wikipedia.org] already provide similar speeds?

    • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I belive VDSL2 only offers 100Mb on distances shorter than 500m of copper. After 500m speeds drop of significantly back to ADSL2 speeds at equal distance.

      I believe VDSL2 cannot coexisting with other DSL technologies on the copper bundle.
  • My current Internet bandwidth:
    • 14 Mbps down
    • 1 Mbps up
    My Internet bandwidth in about 7 years time, after Papandriopoulos' technology has spread world-wide:
    • 140 Mbps down
    • 1 Mbps up
    -----

    WTF?!

    "Our strategy is to sell higher upload speeds only to business clients"

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jc87 ( 882219 )
      Hey it could be worst, my current internet bandwidth:

        2 mbps down

        128kbps up

  • Last mile isn't the limiting factor in the UK (Score:3, Informative)

    by gilesjuk ( 604902 ) <giles@jones.zen@co@uk> on Monday November 05, 2007 @08:10AM (#21240205)
    In the UK as ADSL gets faster the traffic allocations seem to get even meaner. The prices of ADSL connections remain static, even falling, yet the speed of the connections increase. This is obviously unsustainable and this is why people are complaining that they have an 8MB connection yet only get about 4-6MB download speeds.

    There's already 50:1 contention, if the ISPs and BT don't increase the speed of their pipes and add more pipes then the extra speeds accounts for nothing.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by caluml ( 551744 )
      I see you're a Zen subscriber. Me too, and I regularly get 800+kB/s downloads. Don't tell too many people though. :)

    • In the UK as ADSL gets faster the traffic allocations seem to get even meaner. The prices of ADSL connections remain static, even falling, yet the speed of the connections increase. This is obviously unsustainable and this is why people are complaining that they have an 8MB connection yet only get about 4-6MB download speeds.

      There's already 50:1 contention, if the ISPs and BT don't increase the speed of their pipes and add more pipes then the extra speeds accounts for nothing.

      It helps with latency; and also burst in off-peak hours.

  • Article was in June IEEE Communications. See the commentary http://www.thefoa.org/foanl-07-07.html [thefoa.org] from the optical side.
  • Yet another example of brain drain. Not that I'd begrudge anyone the opportunity to take a high-paying job in the U.S.
  • Exactly what we need in Australia is higher performance ADSL links, something like this will be perfect for us to use up our measely 20/40 or maybe even 60gb! monthly download quotas in only a day!

  • Australia doesn't need faster broaband -- It needs cheaper broadband. The pollys are convinced they need to solve the coverage problem and that's it, but really it's only a small part of the problem. Technology to solve this problem is pretty much already available and just needs installing. The long term problem is getting data in to the country. The cost of getting bytes in to Australia is quite high (we're an isolated island afterall) and no-one is doing anything about this!
  • ...there is one MAJOR problem; how can you reduce 'cross-talk' interference in ADSL? The Internets is not a copper wire! IT'S A SERIES OF TUBES.

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