New world record for internet speed is 4.5 million times faster than broadband

Researchers have set a new world record for internet speed that is 4.5 million times faster than the average broadband.

An international team that included scientists from Aston University in Birmingham set the new record of 301 terabits per second – the equivalent of 9,000 HD films – using a standard optical fibre.

At this speed, it would take just one minute to download every single movie listed on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

For comparison, the average broadband speed in the UK is 69.4 megabits per second, according to an Ofcom performance report from last September.

The record-breaking data transmission rate was achieved by developing a new optical processing device that opened up new wavelength bands that have not been previously used in fibre optic systems.

“Broadly speaking, data was sent via an optical fibre like a home or office internet connection,” said Dr Ian Phillips from Aston University’s School of Computer Science and Digital Technologies.

“However, alongside the commercially available C- and L-bands, we used two additional spectral bands called E-band and S-band. Such bands traditionally haven’t been required because the C- and L-bands could deliver the required capacity to meet consumer needs.”

With consumer demand for faster internet speeds constantly increasing, the researchers believe their new technology could be used to help internet service providers meet it.

The ability to increase speeds without deploying new fibres and cables also makes it a greener way to upgrade commercial internet speeds.

“By increasing transmission capacity in the backbone network, our experiment could lead to vastly improved connections for end users,” said Professor Wladek Forysiak from Aston University.

“This groundbreaking accomplishment highlights the crucial role of advancing optical fibre technology in revolutionising communication networks for faster and more reliable data transmission.”

The research was published by the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) and presented at the European Conference on Optical Communication (EOCC).