today's fastest internet connection holder

by **???** on Sat May 10, 2008 1:40 am

Sigbritt, 75, has world's fastest broadband

Published: 12th July 2007 11:07 CET

A 75 year old woman from Karlstad in central Sweden has been thrust
into the IT history books - with the world's fastest internet
connection.

Sigbritt Löthberg's home has been supplied with a blistering 40
Gigabits per second connection, many thousands of times faster than the
average residential link and the first time ever that a home user has
experienced such a high speed.

But Sigbritt, who had never had a computer until now, is no ordinary 75
year old. She is the mother of Swedish internet legend Peter Löthberg
who, along with Karlstad Stadsnät, the local council's network arm, has
arranged the connection.

"This is more than just a demonstration," said network boss Hafsteinn Jonsson.

"As a network owner we're trying to persuade internet operators to
invest in faster connections. And Peter Löthberg wanted to show how you
can build a low price, high capacity line over long distances," he told
The Local.

Sigbritt will now be able to enjoy 1,500 high definition HDTV channels
simultaneously. Or, if there is nothing worth watching there, she will
be able to download a full high definition DVD in just two seconds.

The secret behind Sigbritt's ultra-fast connection is a new modulation
technique which allows data to be transferred directly between two
routers up to 2,000 kilometres apart, with no intermediary transponders.

According to Karlstad Stadsnät the distance is, in theory, unlimited - there is no data loss as long as the fibre is in place.

"I want to show that there are other methods than the old fashioned
ways such as copper wires and radio, which lack the possibilities that
fibre has," said Peter Löthberg, who now works at Cisco.

Cisco contributed to the project but the point, said Hafsteinn Jonsson,
is that fibre technology makes such high speed connections technically
and commercially viable.

"The most difficult part of the whole project was installing Windows on Sigbritt's PC," said Jonsson.

SOURCE