Ericsson claim 500 Mbps using copper

Achieving anything over 20 Mbps over copper wire would be a great achievement but sometimes the barriers are pushed as far as they will go.

This is something that Ericsson appears to have done as it is claiming a 500 Mbps broadband connection through ordinary copper wire.

Normally these speeds are associated with fibre cable, hence the work being carried out by BT and Virgin Media.

A normal broadband connection is carried by twisted copper wire, which makes it stronger but also means interference that degrades the connection over a long distance.

What Ericsson has done is isolate a part of the copper cable using a technology known as VDSL2, which is how the connection speed can be maintained at such a high level.

Could this technology be transferred to the UK’s entire copper network?

Probably not, but something like this could be useful in rural areas.