Science Broadband over 'wet string' tested for fun

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Engineers at a small British internet service provider have successfully made a broadband connection work over 2m (6ft 7in) of wet string.

The connection reached speeds of 3.5 Mbps (megabits per second), according to the Andrews and Arnold engineer who conducted the experiment.

The point of the experiment appears to have been purely to see if it was achievable.

The firm does not believe there is a way to exploit the finding.

"To be honest it was a bit of fun, which one of our techies decided to try out - we have equipment we could test in the office, and why not?" Adrian Kennard, the internet provider's director, told the BBC.

"There is no commercial potential that we are aware of."

"What it does show, though, is how adaptive ADSL really is. This can be important when it comes to faulty lines with bad (or even disconnected) joints still providing some level of broadband service."

An asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is used by nearly half of premises in the UK. It works by splitting a single copper telephone line into separate voice and data channels.

The string used in the experiment was first put in salty water - chosen because salt is a good conductor of electricity.


Read more here. (BBC)
 
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