NTL trials 100Mbits/sec broadband

Cable giant NTL is trialling a 100Mbits/sec service, capable of delivering multiple high definition video streams, that would make broadband links as fast most office networks.

Few details have been released, but the company says a 100Mbits/sec service would facilitate home-security, education and entertainment tasks.

It could also, depending on how the company configures the upstream speeds, help kickstart videocalls by offering links with TV quality images.

DSL providers piggy-backing high-frequency signals on old steam phone lines have been much of the running on broadband speeds recently even though cable offers far more bandwidth.

However cable companies also have to deliver their scheduled TV services and in most cases their fibre goes only to the kerb, leaving less capacious coax cable to take the signal into the home.

In fact there are usually two links into the home, one being for standard phone services.

NTL has the option of using ADSL2+ on the phone lin, but it is not clear whether this is being done for the trial.

* Britian is 19th in the world league of broadband use, just behind France and just ahead of the US, in terms of links per 100 households. The US still has the most users however, but China is catching up rapidly, according to a new survey .