Fibre Broadband: 20Gbps speeds cracked at Bangor University

A team of researchers at Bangor University have successfully piped 20Gbps speeds over a fibre optic line.

Thanks to a new, more efficient design that decodes electrical and optical signals on the fly, faster speeds can be achieved over a single line.

Called Optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, or OOFDM for short, the process, incredibly, uses “readily available, low cost components” according to the BBC and will apparently integrate into existing fibre optic infrastructures.

One way to increase download speeds over fibre is to increase the number of strands going through one pipe – something that’s tricky and expensive for ISPs to do once the fibre is in the ground, in ducts or strung between poles.

The new OOFDM process promises a solution that’s far easier to retrofit and aims to be more cost effective. Part of the University’s three year project is to make the process commercially feasible.

The team headed by Dr. Roger Giddings hopes that 40Gbps and even 100Gbps speeds will be possible over OOFDM-enhanced fibre lines. So once gigabit FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) providers like Hyperoptic and Gigler increase their reach and the bigger BT and Virgin Media networks grow, we could see up to 100Gbps speeds hitting homes in three years time.

That’s pretty amazing when you consider that three years ago, commercial 100Mbps speeds in the UK were unheard of, let alone 100Gbps. 

So, any takers? BT, Virgin Media, B4RN? Who wants to put some OOFDM into their fibre?