Be Broadband bonds over 50Mbps

Following on from Monday’s grand unveiling of Virgin Media’s new 50Mbps Size: XXL service we’ve just heard word that Be Broadband have finished conducting successful trials of a new ‘bonding’ process, which doubles the top download speed of their 24Mbps service to “almost 50 [Mbps]“. The process ‘bonds’ two high-speed connections together, thereby nearly doubling the potential maximum speed.

Trials held across the central London Paddington exchange yielded positive results, with customers reporting real-world download speeds of between 30 and 45Mbps.

The Be Broadband press release states that this is “the equivalent of 3MB to 4.5MB each second – the size of an average MP3 file, ” and that “wider trials of the service are planned through 2009.”

Felix Geyr, Managing Director of Be Broadband, said “We want to push the limits of high-speed broadband. We already offer the fastest possible broadband on an ADSL line, but we want to take it a step further. If you want broadband around the 50Mb mark but don’t want to go the cable route, Be wants to offer you a real alternative.”

Just two days ago saw Virgin Media’s launch of their new 50Mbps service, full rollout of which is expected to be completed by Summer 2009; however, these services will only be available in cable areas. Be Broadband’s trials will allow customers to get similar speeds through BT lines, which are available to more customers, specifically those who don’t live within cabled areas.

Be Broadband have not yet given any indication as to when any such a service would be available or how much, but they did say that the full results of the trials would be made available early next year, presumably with some idea of when such a service could be marketed to consumers.

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