Work is continuing with DSL vendors to figure out ways to transmit hundreds of megabits of data per second over legacy copper phone wires. In fact, Nokia Siemens Networks claimed this week that it is now capable of achieving 825Mbps over 400 meters; competitor Huawei says it can do 700Mbps over the same distance.

A combination of technologies are used to realize the high speeds, including pumping VDSL2 data over more than one copper pair, and advanced noise canceling technology called vectoring. According to Nokia Siemens, the method it employs involves the use of a "phantom channel" to supplement two physical wires for a boost in data transmission.

While an increasing number of countries and telecommunications providers have started fiber to the home (FTTH) initiatives, copper remains the more pervasive and common way of delivering fixed broadband to homes in many countries. And with vendors such as ZTE delivering 100Mbps up to 300 meters via a standard one copper pair configuration and VDSL2 technology, it remains to be the most common technology for some yet.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at PC World
- check out this article at Softpedia