At 44.2 Tbps, World's Fastest Internet Speed Can Download 1000 HD Movies In 1 Second

May 24, 2020

Staying locked in our homes with so many deviceshogging on the bandwidth , we often think how terrible our internet speeds truly are -- especially at times when you’re streaming something or waiting for a game to download.

However, recently, researchers in Australia have managed to achieve internet speeds so high, it has shattered world records, making us drool while doing so.

Researchers in Australia’s Monash, Swinburne and RMIT Universities have made use of a micro-comb optical chip to achieve a world record internet speed of 44.2 terabits per second, according to study published in Nature Communications.

The chip contains hundreds of infrared or IR lasers that enabled the transfer of data through existing communication infrastructure in Melbourne.

Just how fast is world's fastest internet speed?

Just to put things into perspective, commercially, highest recorded internet speed is currently in the nation of Singapore with average download speeds of up to 197.2 megabits per second. Average internet speeds in India post lockdown has been around 35.98 megabits per second. Australia, on the other hand, has a slightly better 43.4mbps, but still a million times slower than the recent test.

Dr Bill Corcoran from Monash University told The Independent, “There’s a bit of a global race on at the moment to get this technology to a commercial-stage, as the ‘micro-comb’ at its heart is useful in a really broad range of existing technologies. I’d guess that we could see devices like ours available to research labs in two to three years and initial commercial use in about five years.”

When COVID-19 lockdown started around the world, we saw a sudden spike in bandwidth consumption and eventually resulting in the dropping of internet speeds due to unprecedented loads. Researchers feel that their novel Internet technology of the future won’t face such issues.

Corocan stated, “In the UK, daytime data demands have more than doubled, and there have been special efforts to make sure that connections are reliable. What this extra usage gives us is a sneak-peek at capacity issues networks will see in just a few years time – especially as we start bringing on-line data-hungry tech such as 5G, self-driving cars and the ‘internet-of-things’ more broadly.

He added, “So, we’re going to need new compact technologies like our finger-nail sized device to expand the data-carrying capacity of our networks gracefully – to reduce space and power consumption, as well as costs while increasing overall data-rates. Our demonstration also shows that the device we produced is compatible with the optical fibre infrastructure that is already in place."