Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Australian Researcher Boosts ADSL Speeds

Posted by Zonk on from the pouring-go-faster-juice-down-the-tubes dept.

sea_stuart writes "Like your ADSL connection to go 100 times faster? Despite the grim state of Australian mathematics and science, there is still exciting original work being done Down Under. John Papandriopoulos, a Research Fellow with the ARC Special Research Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks (CUBIN) has developed a method to reduce crosstalk interference in ADSL technologies to bring speeds up the theoretical maxima possible. With an Australian Federal election due in a few weeks, and both parties promising improved broadband speeds and access, this is a welcome development, hopefully enabling higher speeds without huge expenses."

114 comments

  1. You must not be using it by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Informative

    I got this story last month.

    1. Re:You must not be using it by el_chupanegre · · Score: 1
      I saw the researchers name there and thought to myself 'haven't I seen that name before to do with making ADSL connections faster?'

      Apparently Zonk didn't (read it?).

    2. Re:You must not be using it by rjames13 · · Score: 1

      I got this story last month. No you just need to refresh your cache more often.
    3. Re:You must not be using it by Agripa · · Score: 1

      This is just delayed crosstalk which his research helps to prevent or at least accommodate.

    4. Re:You must not be using it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the title should have said "grim state of AFRICAN mathematics and science", but then, that would imply that blacks are inherently stupid and useless, and we can't have that. I presume when they said "grim state of Australian mathematics and science", they were, of course, only denigrating WHITE Australians, because to denigrate any other race would be 'racist'.

      Am I right?

    5. Re:You must not be using it by Molochi · · Score: 1

      /. editors don't read /.

      --
      "The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
  2. aaarrggghhhh!! by yoshi3 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Damn dial up, I almost had forst post! :(

    1. Re:aaarrggghhhh!! by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Funny

      You youngsters with your electronical modems.
      In my day we had to get first post with a mail-in comment.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    2. Re:aaarrggghhhh!! by stud9920 · · Score: 1

      You had it easy. Back in the days, first post didn't even exist, we only had 0.001th post, which our pop would carve with his belt on our skin in hieroglyphics, after which we had to go deliver in person, in the snow, uphill both way. Taco's grand grandfather would then skin us alive to display it on his cave gallery.

    3. Re:aaarrggghhhh!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well we didn't even have snow. We had to make it by hand.

    4. Re:aaarrggghhhh!! by stud9920 · · Score: 1

      Did I say snow ? It was in fact the ashes of our less lucky siblings. But it was snow to us.

  3. dupe by mgblst · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With more bandwidth, we will need more content, so I guess we can expect a few more repeats.

    1. Re:dupe by martin-boundary · · Score: 1

      It shouldn't be too hard to rig a firefox extension to open 5 simultaneous windows with the exact same content rendered in each. Instant fivefold speed increase :)

    2. Re:dupe by mgblst · · Score: 1

      Surely they would all use the cached data, so it wouldn't actually download it five times. Maybe an extension to load up ie, opera, lynx and kde browser would do the trick.

    3. Re:dupe by Felius · · Score: 1

      *whooosh*

      --
      ..and I'll form the head!!
    4. Re:dupe by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      So is *whoosh* the new slashdot meme?

      I seem to see it a lot more lately. I like the non-direct way it says the joke went over their head.

      Hmm.. let me get this right...

      I for one, welcome our new whooshy overlords.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    5. Re:dupe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whooosh!

  4. Politics by religious+freak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    With an Australian Federal election due in a few weeks, and both parties promising improved broadband speeds and access...

    Wow, I wish this was even close to being an issue in one of our campaigns here in the USA. Can you imagine having an issue like this on the national agenda here?
    --
    If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
    1. Re:Politics by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Informative

      Wow, I wish this was even close to being an issue in one of our campaigns here in the USA. Can you imagine having an issue like this on the national agenda here?

      Its partly because a Universal Service Obligation is built into our telecommunications laws. Companies which supply loss making services to remote areas get a subsidy from companies which do not. It may not be a driver in the current debate but it is certainly a symptom.

      Another factor is that remote areas are currently being hit bad by a drought. Hand wringing over communication is one way for the Government to be seen to be helping people where they can't really do anything about water.

      And to top it off, we actually have a very bad problem with rural infrastructure. We have 1/10th the population of the US, and slightly less land area to service. The cost of improving service in remote areas is a political hot potato. The party currently in power is a coalition of the National party which traditionally supports country voters and the more broad based Liberal party. By making broadband an issue the Government is trying to tell the country voters that the opposition Labour party doesn't have an interest in supporting them.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:Politics by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Its partly because a Universal Service Obligation is built into our telecommunications laws. Companies which supply loss making services to remote areas get a subsidy from companies which do not.

      A law like that in the United States wouldn't have made it past the Reagan administration. American law is written by telecom lobbyists and is designed to create and sustain fake scarcity of telecommunications services.

    3. Re:Politics by Belacgod · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, we have a similar law (the Rockefeller amendment to the 1996 Telecommunications bill). That doesn't require any particular quality of connection, though.

    4. Re:Politics by jamesh · · Score: 2, Funny

      Subsidized tin cans and pieces of string for all!

    5. Re:Politics by Felius · · Score: 1

      I was chatting to vendor rep visiting from the US a few weeks back - he told me he had 100M cable for USD$50/month, and that he actually saw close to 100M on that connection when he needed it. That 100M is a significant fraction of the bandwidth coming into my entire *state*. I pay about AUD$110/month (USD$101 right now) for combined phone and ADSL - you can't have ADSL without a phone service, and no other feasible broadband options here. My connection is currently 512k, and soon I'll be paying more to take it up to 8M - the *maximum* I can achieve at any price.

      Fast and cheap broadband is (and *should* be) both an economic and political issue here - but I just hope we're not already too late. Australia, with its small pouplation dispersed around the edges of a vast land mass, used to be a world leader in telecoms tech. And for all the posturing going on with an election round the corner, I suspect the government definition of broadband as 256k or higher is unchanged. Even YouTube is painful at 256k, let alone any kind of meaningful realtime collaboration with overseas clients or business partners.

      </rant>

      --
      ..and I'll form the head!!
    6. Re:Politics by smeagols_ghost · · Score: 1

      you can't have ADSL without a phone service

      Go to whirlpool.net.au and read about the various isp's trailing unbundled adsl services, in 6 to 8 months time it should be available to all exchanges with the isp's dslams installed. Which brings us to the second point

      and soon I'll be paying more to take it up to 8M - the *maximum* I can achieve at any price.

      This is slightly misleading, you can get more then 8M on adsl 2+, You just have to live in a suburb that is served by an upgraded exchange (most inner city suburbs, and quite a few outer in the capital cities). If you are renting or even buying a house it isn't that uncommon to put a conditional in the paperwork making it dependent on high speed net access being available.

      Most of the problem stems from telstras monolply and the bs they put the other isps though to do the most simple things

    7. Re:Politics by Isauq · · Score: 1

      Well I can certainly assure you that that US vendor rep is in the extreme minority. I'm in the middle of the capital of Ohio (arguably the second or third most important state) and the absolute best we can get here is cable and it peaks at about 10-11M (down only. Up is a piddling 512K) on a good day (and those are rare). The fastest DSL that is even offered in the area is 6M down, requires a phone line, and is more expensive than the cable connection. Even Verizon's FIOS service (available only in the Tri-state area and a small hick-town in Texas) maxes out at 50M. Frankly, I don't know what that bloke did to wind up sitting on an OC-2 for $50/month, but he's really lucky.

      --
      RTFM
    8. Re:Politics by Felius · · Score: 1

      Sure, you're correct. ULL is a lovely idea, but as you've gathered it's not an option for me as I'm on a Telstra DSLAM. I'm a 20 minute drive from one of those capital cities, but down in Hobart that almost makes me semi-rural. ;)

      I'm well aware that Telstra's monopoly is the biggest problem here, and that's primarily why it's a political issue. The failure of the government to separate infrastructure (which *we* all paid for) from the rest of the business before privatisation was a big mistake which we're paying for now, and will continue to pay for (one way or another) into the future.

      I work from home full-time for a company in the US, so I'm not bitching about how fast the pr0n comes down - this is about my livelihood. There are more people like me around, and there could be a *lot* more if decent broadband was more affordable in this country.

      --
      ..and I'll form the head!!
    9. Re:Politics by shellbeach · · Score: 1

      Wow, I wish this was even close to being an issue in one of our campaigns here in the USA. Can you imagine having an issue like this on the national agenda here? Don't worry, broadband really isn't an issue in the election campaign down here in Oz. In fact, we're have a very US-style personality-based campaign, with precious little policy detail in any area.

      And for what it's worth, if the howard turd gets re-elected once more you're welcome to move here and take my place. Give him another three years and every last one of the old Australian values will have been replaced by fear, xenophobia and selfishness.
    10. Re:Politics by Nazlfrag · · Score: 1

      We have a cable modem service here too. There is one provider, it peaks around 7M and is capped at 20 gigs, throttled down to 64k (yes, dialup speed) once the cap is reached. That cost $60AUD/month. They recently expanded the plans (yes, there was one provider with one plan for quite a while) which are just as pathetic. Luckily the competition regulators opened up the exchanges and the smaller players have been installing adsl2+(theoretical 24M, realistic 8-12M) with decent plans for a while now, all this election buzz is tied up with the former monopoly trying to muscle in on these smaller players, schmoozing for favourable legislation because they're losing customers left and right.

    11. Re:Politics by amiga500 · · Score: 1

      Broadband isn't so much on the agenda here in Australia, as something the politicians promise when they visit rural areas. Most urban areas have access to several different broadband choices. The controversy is how to get affordable broadband outside the cities. Telstra wants to turn off their 1G and 2G towers, when rolling out 3G to rural areas. The politicians are divided over allow Telstra to do whatever they want, or to introduce legislation requiring them to keep their older networks running.

    12. Re:Politics by glittalogik · · Score: 1

      From the sounds of it a lot of you would be better off with that.

    13. Re:Politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another factor is that remote areas are currently being hit bad by a drought.

      Nonesense, it hasn't rained for more than 15 years, and it ain't gonna rain again, that's no drought. These places are quickly becoming uninhabitable, and the government has more or less admitted it buy paying handouts to farmers who abandon their land. Remote area broadband plans amount to spending big $$$ to connect ghost towns.

    14. Re:Politics by Kadmos · · Score: 1

      Apparently todays mods don't live in Australia, otherwise the parent post would have been "Insightful".

  5. oh please by smash · · Score: 3, Funny

    Despite the grim state of Australian mathematics and science
    Grim state? At least the majority of *our* population are literate for a start.
    --
    I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
    1. Re:oh please by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 1

      Despite the grim state of Australian mathematics and science


      the majority of *our* population are literate

      Is reading comprehension not an important part of literacy?
    2. Re:oh please by laejoh · · Score: 0

      Tell'em, Bruce!

    3. Re:oh please by Felius · · Score: 2, Funny

      ..the grim state of Australian mathematics and science..


      that'd have to be SA, right? ;)

      (hey, I had to pick one..)
      --
      ..and I'll form the head!!
    4. Re:oh please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It's usually either Queensland or Tasmania -- the first are slow because of the heat, the second because of the inbreeding.

    5. Re:oh please by Heir+Of+The+Mess · · Score: 1

      It's only SA because NT isn't a state

      --
      Australian running a company that does C# / C++ / Java / SQL / Python / Mathematica
    6. Re:oh please by Nazlfrag · · Score: 1

      The grimmest state is Tasmania, but most of the time we forget its there so SA wins.

    7. Re:oh please by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      the majority of *our* population are literate

      You is very literate indeed.
      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    8. Re:oh please by BlueParrot · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Grim state? At least the majority of *our* population are literate for a start.
      Maybe it's because I'm Swedish and not an expert on English grammar, but doesn't your fine language use "is" when the subject is singular? I.e, "our population is literate"?
    9. Re:oh please by rantingkitten · · Score: 1

      Well, Brits and people who speak British English have yet to figure out the concept of "collective nouns" and their place in subject/verb agreement. They will argue that since "a population" necessarily consists of multiple individuals, it is a plural noun and requires the verb "are". This is incorrect -- a population is a single, collective entity, and requires the verb "is". Examples include "The band are playing" or "Microsoft are releasing an update". However, they will fight and argue this until their death, insisting that they are correct.

      --
      mirrorshades radio -- darkwave, industrial, futurepop, ebm.
    10. Re:oh please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's just a rule that our language has, and just because it's a bit irregular here and there doesn't make it any less right.
      Population might be considered singular in some instances; we Brits don't say 'The population are increasing' if we're talking about population growth (it might be reasonable as part of a discussion about a population's obesity problem, of course).

    11. Re:oh please by bob_herrick · · Score: 1

      I think the antecedent was "majority" as in "a majority of the population" so in either US or UK styles the noun was singular and so should be the verb.

    12. Re:oh please by rantingkitten · · Score: 1

      Perhaps so, but my primary complaint is that you Brits seem to do it consistently (cf. my examples above), which means it isn't irregular. Your cited example of "the population is increasing" is the irregularity as far as British grammar conventions go; the rest of the time it seems every Brit wants to treat collective nouns as plural, which is, as far as I am concerned, demonstrably incorrect and not merely a matter of dialect or regional variation. It really stings some deep part inside of me that wanted to become an English teacher so I could inflict Beowulf upon yet another generation.

      --
      mirrorshades radio -- darkwave, industrial, futurepop, ebm.
    13. Re:oh please by PrinceOfStorms · · Score: 1

      Maybe it's because I'm Swedish and not an expert on English grammar, but doesn't your fine language use "is" when the subject is singular? I.e, "our population is literate"?

      Your example is correct, but "the majority of our population" is plural, so the original post was correct in their usage.

    14. Re:oh please by beav007 · · Score: 1

      Wait. Who says it's incorrect? We are talking about the English speaking English, are we not?

      Americans haven't spoken English in many years...

  6. More range please by MichaelSmith · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If his technique can make ADSL work at greater distances from the exchange then he might be on to something. I know people who live in non-urban parts of Australia who are just on the limit of distance to the exchange for ADSL to work.

    Doubling that distance could increase the number of homes covered by a factor of four.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:More range please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doubling that distance could increase the number of homes covered by a factor of four. Only if you assume that population is spread in equal density. In reality, the telco exchange would be where the population is the most dense.
    2. Re:More range please by supertsaar · · Score: 1

      I hear DTDTP works great!

      wait for it....

      --
      The Bigger The Headache The Bigger the Pill
    3. Re:More range please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >In reality, the telco exchange would be where the population is the most dense.

      In a perfect situation, you're right. In reality, the telco exchange is where the population was the most dense 40 years ago. In many cities that have grown a lot since then, the telco is now in an area of town experiencing urban decay and gentrification.

    4. Re:More range please by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 1

      Use fibre-optics ... Distance no (major) problem, bandwidth no problem

      Makes copper DSL look like a joke ...?

      The only reason DSL was invented at all was because the telcos had so much invested in existing copper technology and did not want the expense of upgrading all the end users

      In the UK the cable companies (or Virgin Media as they seem to all be now!) do not seem to be using their advantage? ADSL is limited to 20Mbps (theoretically if you live *in* the exchange) this will extend that to 100Mbps? But some cable modems already run at 160Mbps but are not supported by any of the cable companies in the UK (Virgin Media max is 20 Mbit/s but at least this is a real 20Mbit/s and not the theoretical of ADSL)?

      --
      Puteulanus fenestra mortis
    5. Re:More range please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, the main reason this is big news in/for Australia: our government privatised the monopoly carrier and its national infrastructure. The newly privatised carrier is refusing to consider fibre to node (FTN) as they (rightly) know they wouldn't be able to extract any extra profit from it, just cannibalise profit from the existing profitable services.

      And the lesson here to other countries: if your local free market nutters absolutely must privatise the market gorilla, at least separate infrastructure from retail and keep the infrastructure side in public hands. The free market is completely incapable and/or unwilling when it comes to investment in these sorts of things.

    6. Re:More range please by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 1

      They can't - cable has the disadvantage that it's all shared bandwidth in an street (up to the 'green box') so if they uncapped it as high as that it would affect TV reception (which is their primary revenue source)... not to mention the backhaul would have to have enormous bandwidth just to handle it... and people just wouldn't be prepared to pay that kind of money for service (when your streets local p2p junkie suddenly maxes his line out 24/7 and your service runs like crap because of it who are your going to blame? The cable company, probably.).

    7. Re:More range please by cheater512 · · Score: 1

      Actually these days its where they have to roll out the least back haul.

      We can assume that in Australia at least, the exchange is in the worst possible place.
      Inner city it doesnt matter too much because the suburb sizes are small enough for ADSL but as you get out a bit it really bites.

    8. Re:More range please by Fotherington · · Score: 0

      That's only true if the density of housing stays the same - and Australia is one of the most urbanised countries on the planet (see here), so density is likely to drop rapidly outside urban areas. I don't doubt that you do know people who are just outside ADSL range (indeed, my parents' house here in the UK is *right* on the edge), but 91% of the Australian population is already covered by broadband.

    9. Re:More range please by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      you guys could do what some others do. get a set os SDSL modems and create your own point to point to another home inside the coverage area sharing that DSL.

      SDSL modems can talk to each other, over a standard Category 3 twisted pair it can talk at least 3Km easily some guys get 10km with stronger modems. then they simply buy a "dry pair" of wires to the other location from the phone company or run it on their own gorilla style burying the wire just onder the surface along side the roads. Old flooded (good inside to keep water out) 4 pair phone cable can be bough for cheap if you know where to find it.

      Works great. We have a 3KM link in operation for over 3 years now with the cheap wire barely buried below the surface through the woods on the man property.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    10. Re:More range please by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 1

      That's why P2P traffic is throttled, and there are usage caps (even on "unlimited" accounts)

      what most people want is fast for a short while then nothing for most of the rest of the time

      The exception is P2P traffic (at the moment) but soon the revenue stream will also be in Streaming video (movies on demand) then they will find the bandwidth (or someone else will...)

      --
      Puteulanus fenestra mortis
    11. Re:More range please by bcwright · · Score: 1

      Doubling that distance could increase the number of homes covered by a factor of four.

      I doubt that. At best, it quadruples the area covered. However by increasing the area, you increase the probability of the service areas from the exchanges overlapping, meaning that your total coverage area doesn't quadruple, however your coverage still should increase significantly and the "dead" zones that aren't quite covered by any of the existing exchanges should diminish making the coverage more continuous.

      Moreover, you are assuming that the customer density in the new service area is the same as in the original service area. This is unlikely; probably the original service area was chosen because the density was higher and was therefore cheaper and easier to service.

      Not to say that this isn't worth doing, but it's probably not quite as much of a win as it looks at first glance.

  7. we don't need by Merls+the+Sneaky · · Score: 0

    We don't need faster local speeds but a faster backbone out of the country. Local speeds are fine. We need better ADSL penetration into the interior as well.

  8. Grim state of Aussie maths? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm more concerned about the grim state of Aussie servers. It's already starting to slow. I wonder if his algorithms work on Ethernet?

    Here be a CoralCDN link posted anonymously to stop accusations of karma whoring (as if anyone cares).

  9. You must not be reading it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Zonk is here solely to promote his beloved Australia.

  10. Indeed. It's bollocks by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1

    Just one politician trying to make another politician look bad.

    If there's a demand for mathematicians or statisticians then they'll be well paid, and being well paid the profession will attract people which'll push down the cost.

    --
    Deleted
  11. Maybe, but we might not know about others' work... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    News - out just today - tells of the Moss report into Australian press freedom.

    Apparently, our governments are keeping tighter & tighter reigns on information,
    not to protect intellectual property, but to preclude scrutiny by journalists
    and public alike; cf:

      "Press freedom declining: [Moss report of its] audit"

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081787.htm

    The Moss report itself ("Right to Know") is here:

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/opinion/documents/files/20071105_righttoknow.pdf

  12. Thanks for the comment! by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 1

    You must be NonSequitorGuy!

  13. UpZide Labs by digithed · · Score: 3, Informative

    There's a company in Sweden called UpZide Labs (http://www.upzide.com/) that's been working on a technology called VDSL (Vectored DSL) for a few years. This also promises speeds of 100Mb/s using normal copper connections in use right now with normal ADSL.

  14. Don't forget Rural Areas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Faster ADSL in Australia? I can't even get Mobile (Cell) phone coverage. Hell, where I work we don't even have landlines just a fucking public telephone booth. Gotta love Rural Australia :/

    1. Re:Don't forget Rural Areas by fons · · Score: 3, Funny

      So how did you post this comment? Hacked modem on the phonebooth? :-)

    2. Re:Don't forget Rural Areas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Possibly a satellite hookup, they're fairly common in the outback, but just maybe it's the fact that not everyone is posting from work.

    3. Re:Don't forget Rural Areas by GaryOlson · · Score: 4, Funny

      He is probably using the Kangaroo connection protocol where messages are passed using a pocket hopping procedure.

      --
      Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
    4. Re:Don't forget Rural Areas by HansieC · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the satellite connections are quite high-latency whilst being high-throughput so great for leeching but not so great for VoIP.

  15. Dr John pulls in the Chicks by kauos · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I knew John from school and when I saw the earlier posting I got in contact with him again and ended up at his farewell party (before he heads to the US). I must say, for an Uber-geek he sure pulls some hot chicks. It almost convinced me to do a PhD in some sort of communication crosstalky stuff.

  16. Australian? by Reverant · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Despite the grim state of Australian mathematics and science


    The guy is Greek, at least his surname is.
    1. Re:Australian? by lord_rob+the+only+on · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So what ? His grandparents may come from Greece. That does not mean mean he's Greek because his surname sounds greekish ...

    2. Re:Australian? by Anthony · · Score: 4, Informative

      This might explain why.

      --
      Slashdot: Where nerds gather to pool their ignorance
    3. Re:Australian? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Despite our reputation for being racist bastards, we actually have a huge number of foreigners.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Australian

      Not too many aboriginal surnames in Australia....

    4. Re:Australian? by thevoice · · Score: 2, Informative

      In Australia we tend to call everyone Australian if they've been here for a few years and have citizenship. In America I'd probably be Irish-American or some such thing, despite the fact I'm five generations out of Ireland. Australians tend to find that pretty weird.

    5. Re:Australian? by donscarletti · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Have you ever been to Australia? Greeks in South Eastern Australia are as common as any other ancestry, you find them everywhere from blue collar labour to business, politics, entertainment and broadband research. Even Australia's most nationalistic rednecks don't see them as anything but normal, white Aussies anymore. Personally, I hear a Greek name and immediately think: Melbourne, because how much useful research has ever been done in Greece? Archimedes lived in Sicily, Pythagorus and Zeno lived in Italy, Thales lived in Turkey and both Ptolomy and Euclid lived in Egypt.

      --
      When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
    6. Re:Australian? by shellbeach · · Score: 1

      The guy is Greek s/r//g

    7. Re:Australian? by cutee · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "normal, white Aussies"? I know we here are heading back to white australia, but not that far, yet. I'll push my children out of here long before then (and I'll remember to post a message here when I do). For now if you are an Indian doctor (not American Indian doctors, anything American is welcome by the present australian government) think again before you come here. The government may think because you look darker therefore you must be on the dark side. Perhaps science is only dim for Australian politicians who do not know that dark skin is for vitamin D, not for terrorism.

    8. Re:Australian? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You know what they do to (India) Indians in the Redneck US south?

      http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hKv6B6Q4mcaow3IjXvBbyExPTQvQD8SDDUF80

    9. Re:Australian? by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      Sure, if you have to revert to calling Australians Greek in order to boost your sense of national pride, you can call him Greek.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    10. Re:Australian? by cutee · · Score: 1

      I think I do know "what they do to (India) Indians in the Redneck US south". But it's all "score: 1" by slashdot, so who cares around here. It's "News for nerds". If your message is not scored beyond 1, you are not nerd. So be it.

    11. Re:Australian? by billyyo · · Score: 1

      It is off topic but you need revision in ancient history. In ancient times every Greek city was independent. This form of city is called today city-state. There were numerous Greek city-states in south Italy and coastal Turkey which were as Greek as Athens was. Actually there were no Italian or Turkish country at all at ancient times. Only Persian (now Iran). Also, after Alexander's campain in Asia and Africa, Egypt came under the control of Greeks and became for many years a Greek cultural center (check wikipedia for the term hellenistic if you are interested to find out more). So it is regarded that Archimedes, Pythagorus, Thales and Ptolomy are Greeks who lived in Greek teritories although these areas do not belong in Greece anymore (I can't think of any country with the same borders after thousands of years).

      On the other hand, Dr Papandriopoulos made his research (and probably his entire education) in Australia, so - no matter if his backround is Greek - he is for sure Australian researcher.

      And somethning more. Research is carried out in wealthy and large countries because it demands lots of money.There is also research in not-so-wealthy and small countries like Greece but it is more difficult for such countries to produce impressive results.

    12. Re:Australian? by donscarletti · · Score: 1

      "Normal, white Australian" was intended to mean normal amongst white Australians i.e. no different to someone with British, Irish or Northern European background, but I don't see why I need to justify myself simply because I said something that under some twisted interpretations could been seen to expose racist tendancies.

      Oh, and by the way, where are you planning on heading when if country's immigration changes against your liking? Will you go to America with it's patriot act, to Europe with it's almost zero outside immigration quota, to the middle east where denying the divine word of Mohammed often carries prison sentances, breaking women's dress code is punished corporally and homosexuality is punished by death. Maybe to Africa with its political and racial struggles lead to violence against black africans in the Sudan, political opposition and white farmers in Zimbabwe and pretty much everyone in Liberia and Somalia. How about to Japan where they pretend that Ainu and Okinawans don't exist or to China where every religious movement must register with the state and obey its will? How about Indonesia where they deal with the lawlessness of West Papua by sealing the entire province off, claiming that everything is ok and using diplomatic or military force against anyone who tries to get in or out. Even the traditional havens like Canada and New Zealand have things like Quebecois separatists and cultural tensions between Maoris and whites. Humans hate other humans, it's the way it's always been, you want to hate me and have decided that by using the word "normal" I am a racist and started flaming me. Racisim isn't about immigration policy it's about how we treat our neighbours be they all the same or no two alike. If you are not willing to get along with someone it is possibly a good thing that they be kept from you for their sake as well as yours, I believe that most people are willing to get along but there will always be tension between people who can be grouped apart, such as when the peaceful society of Yogoslavia broke apart into nationalistic chaos. If Australian immigration policy has to sacrifice some idealism in order to prevent that from happening here, I'm not against it.

      As for Dr Mohammed Haneef, I don't see how this is related to the subject, but am I to somehow feel outraged that he is back in a middle class suburb of Bangalore with his wife and newborn daughter because Australian inteligence agents think he might be a terrorist? He's not locked in Gitmo being waterboarded without charge and he isn't even being accused of being a terrorist, he just doesn't have a guest worker visa anymore because he's seen as a risk. He is surly more related to his two terrorist cousins than he is to any Greek but that didn't stop you from making the connection.

      --
      When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
    13. Re:Australian? by donscarletti · · Score: 1

      I know that the hellenic cultural area spread far beyond what is called Greece now, in fact the primary Greek ethnic group who settled Athen came from Ionia in Asia Minor (Turkey) and the last major Greek speaking empire, the Byzantines, had their capital in Constantinople which is also in modern day Turkey. My point was not that these men did not live in Greek cities but they did not live in modern day Greece. It didn't make them or their communities any less Greek but it was still interesting that those scientists which were the first ones I thought of, granted in retrospect I'm suprised I didn't think of Aristotle who lived in Macedonia and Athens. As for ancient Turkey, geographically, you could say that Lydia fitted that general area during the classical period, they were not ethnically turks of course because they lived far to the east at that time. The comment was more meant as an interesting aside than proof of any ignorance of the geo-politicial situation of that period or any deliberate slight upon those Greeks who have not emmigrated to Australia.

      --
      When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
    14. Re:Australian? by cutee · · Score: 1

      Great post. It shows what has been going on in Australia for last ten years or so. Whether it's "right" or "wrong" is not that important. Before moving here, look in the miror. If your skin is not white, wait. Politicians here right now do not like you as much as the sun does. They want votes from people like the original poster, not the sun.

    15. Re:Australian? by donscarletti · · Score: 1

      If you want to persist in your mantra that skin colour is the primary determining factor in Australian immigration policy and social attitude you're welcome.

      However, if there are dark skinned people reading this, be they African, Indian or pacific islander and have valuable skills to share and an interest in getting involved in Australian culture, please ignore the parent poster who is clearly a jackass. Many Australians would like to equate opposition to illegal immigration and opposition to certain cultural attitudes that promote or tolerate violence as hatred to those with dark skin. This is not true as most dark skinned people are not mistrusted in Australia and most mistrusted people in Australia do not have dark skin. Honestly, I'm pretty certain that if you're black and reading this website you'll quickly be accepted into Australian society and will benefit just as much as the next person from a government policy that keeps undesirables out. If you were considering Australia as a destination before, don't let the scaremongers dissuade you.

      --
      When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
  17. VDSL2? by Max+Romantschuk · · Score: 2, Informative

    First of all, this is a dupe...

    But more to the point, doesn't VDSL2 already provide similar speeds?

    --
    .: Max Romantschuk :: http://max.romantschuk.fi/
    1. Re:VDSL2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I belive VDSL2 only offers 100Mb on distances shorter than 500m of copper. After 500m speeds drop of significantly back to ADSL2 speeds at equal distance.

      I believe VDSL2 cannot coexisting with other DSL technologies on the copper bundle.

  18. Get the facts straight by kju · · Score: 3, Informative

    First: VDSL is already in active deployment e.g. in Germany (offered in speeds of 25/5 and 50/10 mbit here). Second: VDSL does NOT stand for "Vectored DSL" but for "Very High Speed DSL".

    1. Re:Get the facts straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It should be added to this that even higher speeds can already be attained by subscribing to the higher tier category of FIOS (Fucking Insane-O Speed)

  19. Hail the Germs! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    About the kind of VDSL in talk: "UpZide Labs - The leader in Vectored VDSL Technology"

    Obviously it is "vectorized", or "vectored".

    Anyway, about improving *DSL. Is this even a good idea? It'll just make this crap technology stay and hold fiber back. And I for sure hate my DSL company since I have to pay for the telephone line to get DSL, even though I don't use it. Only one provider here in Sweden (Telia, used to be government institution) are forced to provide DSL without users needing to pay for / use, the telephone line.

    Is this just a Swedish problem, or is it common that providers forces you to pay for the telephone line, even though you don't want it, or even though you really can't use it, since what they offer is IP-telephony and not really PSTN?

    I really wish I had fiber or ethernet...

    1. Re:Hail the Germs! by DynamicPhil · · Score: 1

      Yeah - I'm on 24/1 ADSL too. Personally, I agree that the whole ADSL business is keeping ordinary fiber/ethernet back (Insane, really; In some places in Urban Sweeden there are like three black-fibre installations from different operators running under the street outside your house, yet NO way to get it into your flat without paying serious $$$).

      And - In such a consumerrights strong place - what's with the "Up to 24 MBit/s "... advertizing? You NEVER get the full 24.

      --
      "If it can be thought up, there exists at least one person trying to make it happen for real" - Phil
  20. Australian Maths. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One sheep.. Two sheep.. Three sheep..

    1. Re:Australian Maths. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      One sheep.. Two sheep.. Three sheep.. Orgy!
    2. Re:Australian Maths. by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      "Australian Maths.
      One sheep.. Two sheep.. Three sheep.."

      No, that's New Zealand math. Aussie math is "One beer... Two beers... Three beers... ... FFffourteen beerrrsh..."

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    3. Re:Australian Maths. by Oldav · · Score: 0

      Ermmm no, thats New Zealand Maths!

    4. Re:Australian Maths. by Gorshkov · · Score: 1

      Q: How do they define safe sex in New Zealand?

      A: Painting a big 'X' on the back of all the ugly sheep

  21. In the future by FridayBob · · Score: 1
    My current Internet bandwidth:
    • 14 Mbps down
    • 1 Mbps up
    My Internet bandwidth in about 7 years time, after Papandriopoulos' technology has spread world-wide:
    • 140 Mbps down
    • 1 Mbps up
    -----

    WTF?!

    "Our strategy is to sell higher upload speeds only to business clients"
    1. Re:In the future by jc87 · · Score: 1

      Hey it could be worst, my current internet bandwidth:

        2 mbps down

        128kbps up

      --
      def greetings(x): return {'friend': 'Howdy', 'enemy': 'Dye [sic]'}.get(x, 'g0 4w4y, l4m0r')
  22. Melbourne v. Athens by xixax · · Score: 2, Informative

    The only city in the world with more Greeks than Melbourne is Athens.

    Fully Sik Mate.

    Xix.

    --
    "Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
  23. a technology called VDSL .. by rs232 · · Score: 1

    Some time back, a company called Genesis Europe were going to rollout a VDSL network, what ever became of it I wonder. As for VDSL, this article has something interesting to say about it.

    "Mr. Walker .. claims VMSK achieves spectral efficiencies of 90 bits/sec/Hz or more .. These claims are in direct violation of the mathematical principles of digital communications discovered by Harry Nyquist (1928), Claude Shannon (1948), and others"

    The VMSK Delusion

    was: Re:UpZide Labs

    --
    davecb5620@gmail.com
  24. Last mile isn't the limiting factor in the UK by gilesjuk · · Score: 2, Informative

    In the UK as ADSL gets faster the traffic allocations seem to get even meaner. The prices of ADSL connections remain static, even falling, yet the speed of the connections increase. This is obviously unsustainable and this is why people are complaining that they have an 8MB connection yet only get about 4-6MB download speeds.

    There's already 50:1 contention, if the ISPs and BT don't increase the speed of their pipes and add more pipes then the extra speeds accounts for nothing.

    1. Re:Last mile isn't the limiting factor in the UK by caluml · · Score: 1

      I see you're a Zen subscriber. Me too, and I regularly get 800+kB/s downloads. Don't tell too many people though. :)

      --
      Get your own free personal location tracker
    2. Re:Last mile isn't the limiting factor in the UK by bdjacobson · · Score: 1

      In the UK as ADSL gets faster the traffic allocations seem to get even meaner. The prices of ADSL connections remain static, even falling, yet the speed of the connections increase. This is obviously unsustainable and this is why people are complaining that they have an 8MB connection yet only get about 4-6MB download speeds.

      There's already 50:1 contention, if the ISPs and BT don't increase the speed of their pipes and add more pipes then the extra speeds accounts for nothing. It helps with latency; and also burst in off-peak hours.
  25. YOU FAIL iT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    clearly. There backwards. To the are attending a confirming the has significantly have somebody just please moderatte may do, may not and executes a is the ultimate

  26. You insensitivE Clod? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I r3ad t4e latest

  27. CuPON by LeadSongDog · · Score: 1

    Article was in June IEEE Communications. See the commentary http://www.thefoa.org/foanl-07-07.html from the optical side.

    --
    Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
  28. Brain drain in action by Cinnaman · · Score: 1

    Yet another example of brain drain. Not that I'd begrudge anyone the opportunity to take a high-paying job in the U.S.

  29. Why only ADSL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I couldn't find any reason why it shouldn't work for SDSL, is there?

  30. This is fantastic! by AbRASiON · · Score: 1

    Exactly what we need in Australia is higher performance ADSL links, something like this will be perfect for us to use up our measely 20/40 or maybe even 60gb! monthly download quotas in only a day!

  31. Not entirely useful by esapersona · · Score: 1

    Australia doesn't need faster broaband -- It needs cheaper broadband. The pollys are convinced they need to solve the coverage problem and that's it, but really it's only a small part of the problem. Technology to solve this problem is pretty much already available and just needs installing. The long term problem is getting data in to the country. The cost of getting bytes in to Australia is quite high (we're an isolated island afterall) and no-one is doing anything about this!

  32. one MAJOR problem by exica · · Score: 1

    ...there is one MAJOR problem; how can you reduce 'cross-talk' interference in ADSL? The Internets is not a copper wire! IT'S A SERIES OF TUBES.