The connection reached speeds of 3.5 Mbps (megabits per second), according to the Andrews and Arnold engineer who conducted the experiment.

The point of the experiment appears to have been purely to see if it was achievable.

The firm does not believe there is a way to exploit the finding.

“To be honest it was a bit of fun, which one of our techies decided to try out – we have equipment we could test in the office, and why not?” Adrian Kennard, the internet provider’s director, told the BBC.

“There is no commercial potential that we are aware of.”

“What it does show, though, is how adaptive ADSL really is. This can be important when it comes to faulty lines with bad (or even disconnected) joints still providing some level of broadband service.”

An asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is used by nearly half of premises in the UK. It works by splitting a single copper telephone line into separate voice and data channels.

The string used in the experiment was first put in salty water – chosen because salt is a good conductor of electricity.

Prof Jim Al-Khalili from the University of Surrey’s department of physics explained how it worked: “Although wet string is clearly not as good a conductor of electricity as copper wire, it’s not really about the flow of current.

“Here the string is acting as a waveguide to transmit an electromagnetic wave. And because the broadband signal in this case is very high frequency it doesn’t matter so much what the material is.”

Matthew Howett, principal analyst at research firm Assembly said: “While we often get tied up in knots over whether it should be fibre to the street cabinet or fibre all the way to the home, one thing’s for certain and that’s that this isn’t going to make it into the mix of technologies companies like Openreach or Virgin Media will be using.”

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Source: BBC

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Vodafone, which continues to be at the forefront of creativity and innovation in the telecoms industry, is the only company that operates an effective fixed network in Ghana currently.

It continues to assert its strength as a total Communications provider for the Home and Business; providing a unified suit to connect families and businesses at one go.

The introduction of the relief package means that customers will receive mobile data as back-up whenever they experience any disruption to their Fixed Broadband service.

With fibre cuts and cable thefts plaguing the industry, this initiative goes to emphasise the extent the company is willing to go to ensure customers’ are connected.

Under the arrangement, customers will be required to provide their preferred Vodafone lines on which the data should be channelled to in the event of a fault.

The telecommunications company believes that this is an effective intervention to salvage the inconveniences customers go through whenever they encounter issues with their fixed network.

Commenting, Patricia Obo-Nai, Director of Fixed Business and Customer Operations at Vodafone Ghana said:

“We have, as foremost in our strategy, a commitment to provide unmatched experience for all our customers. This is another avenue that shows our interest in our customers’ businesses and productivity and we will leverage on our technology and competence to deliver that.”

It will be recalled that Vodafone also undertook a proactive measure to support customers during the load shedding exercise last year. The company provided free back-up mobile data support for customers at a time when the country was experiencing unstable power supply.

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Credit: Vodafone Ghana

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