“Fastest ever” 10Gbps FTTP broadband network tested in London

A British ISP has tested what it claims is the “fastest ever” home broadband service in East London, achieving a consistent 10 Gbps connection in its trial.

The test was carried out in the capital’s East Village, the former site of the London 2012 Olympic Athlete’s Village, by Hyperoptic, a London-based full fibre ISP, who described it as “the fastest home broadband the country has ever seen”.

The news comes shortly after TalkTalk announced its intentions to create a £200 million full fibre to the premise (FTTP) network to serve 3 million businesses and homes across the UK.

Hyperoptic says that it could generate speeds around 276 times faster than the UK average connection - which Ofcom estimates is 36.2 Mbps - and claims it is the first time such a speed has been achieved using an existing ISP network rather than a new, dedicated line.

The speeds were measured via a testing server in a Hyperoptic Data Centre, and are proof that the firm’s network can scale up “in the future”, the company says.

Last year, Hyperoptic published plans to bring 1 Gbps FTTP broadband to two million homes before 2022 despite competition from companies like BT and Openreach, who are also turning their attentions to FTTP services.

Hyperoptic’s CEO, Dana Tobak, said that she hoped the trial would “elevate the debate in a largely stagnant industry” when it comes to boosting speeds or FTTP networks.

She added: “While the market incumbents focus on sweating their copper assets and lobbying the likes of the ASA to convince them that it's acceptable to market their Fibre-to-the-Cabinet services as ‘fibre,’ we are proudly setting a new standard.”

Such a high-speed line could be considered a little excessive: 10 Gbps would allow multiple users to simultaneously and instantly download and upload 4K movies, for example, with a standard HD movie downloading in as little as 4 seconds.