Surfing Like Grandma

No, not my grandmother. I tried the "computer experiment" with her — huge failure. In Europe, things may be a bit different: "According to a study by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA), 68 per cent of the over 55s now connect to the net through broadband access, while internet adoption among this age group is growing faster than within any other."

Now, one Swedish Grandma sports the world’s fastest residential connection (link):

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.

Other than providing his grandma with speedy reruns of Matlock (if she is anything like my Grandma), Peter Löthberg is trying to make a point: why are our connection speeds not faster? But it is America that should be complaining: according to a report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Sweden’s average speed is 18.2 mbps, while the United States crawls at 4.8mbps (Japan averages a whopping 61.0 mbps). It is about time the States starts surfing like Japan (or, better yet, Grandma Löthberg).