Over the last 10 years, broadband internet access speeds have increased so dramatically that it is hard to believe that it used to take a few minutes to open simple web pages. In some countries, like Japan and France, internet access speeds of over 50 Megabits per second are the average. A few years ago, in Sweden, the fastest internet connection speed was recorded at an astonishing 40 Gigabits per second. With these speeds it is difficult to imagine a time with only dial-up connections available. With current technologies, most countries are now reaching the limit of what their current internet infrastructure is capable of. However, replacing the telecommunications infrastructure of a country in order to improve broadband speeds is much harder than it may sound, but in order to reach speeds up to what is possible even now, an optical cable connection is needed. Research has shown that it may actually be possible to use current electrical power lines to send data, however, there are some problems that must be overcome if this is going to be the future of internet communication. Although internet communication data works on different frequencies than electrical power, some research has shown that it can interfere with radio signals and thus disrupting radio operation. Though if this problem is addressed, it may be possible to connect to the internet just by plugging into an electrical socket. Test have shown possible speeds of 45 Mbps, and with a hardware upgrade, 200 Mbps could be achieved. Along with the possibility of using BPL (Broadband over Power Lines) is the newest incarnation of mobile broadband, WIMAX. WIMAX, also known as 4G, will be a vast improvement on the previous versions of mobile broadband that have been available for some time now. The speeds that WIMAX could offer could possibly make broadband access through cables a thing of the past. How does 70 Megabits per second at a distance of 30 miles from a transmitter sound? One other route that users may be able to take in the future in order to access broadband at a higher speed is by satellite. There are currently millions of people around the world that utilize satellite technology to watch television programs. These connections could also be used to transmit internet data at speeds of up to 3 Gigabits per second, that is 3000 Megabits per second (around 375 Megabytes per second). There are 2 problems facing the use of this technology, the weather and the cost. As most satellite television viewers know, bad weather can play havoc with signal reception and in some cases disrupt it totally. The cost of the equipment for receiving broadband internet access via satellite could also cost in excess of $2500, and would also be charged on a monthly basis, which is much too expensive for the majority of users even with the huge attainable speeds. So as you can see, the future is bright for broadband internet access.

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Broadband & Satellite