Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
RESEARCHERS IN THE UK have created the fastest real-world internet connection using commercial fiber optic lines, reaching speeds of 1.4TB per second.
The team, which consisted of researchers from French telecoms firm Alcatel-Lucent and broadband company BT, believe it’s the fastest speed ever achieved in a real-world situation.
In theory, the speeds would allow a user to download 44 high definitions films in one second.
The trial, which was carried out over an existing 410km fiber link between the BT tower in London and BT’s Adastral Park research campus in Suffolk, used a new “flexible grid” infrastructure.
This allowed them to overlay several transmission channels over the same connection, allowing them to increase data transmission efficiency by 42.5 per cent when compared to current networks.
BT says that this development could potentially reduce the expense of laying down more fiber cables as bandwidth demands grow.
The news comes after South Korea, which boasts some of the fastest internet speeds in the world, announced its plan to roll out a next-generation 5G wireless service. The €1.1 billion plan will bring speeds that will be fast enough to download full-length films in a second.
The country’s science ministry said it aims to implement the technology – which is said to be 1,000 times faster than 4G – within six years.
The first trial service for 5G will be rolled out in 2017 and a fully commercial service is expected to arrive in December 2020.
(Additional reporting from AFP)
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I honestly don’t see why people are getting so uppity about this. His comments are correct, it is the norm and always has been. He never once saud it is acceptable and we shouldn’t try to solve the issues surrounding it.
@ChuckE: Highly paid charity officials defending their turf perhaps?
@Chemical Brothers: no just defending the thousands of people who would also be on the homelessness list had it not been for focus Ireland and their staff.
@ChuckE: There’s a different category of homelessness now. It’s not just pertaining to societal dropouts. 10k people living in homeless accommodation amongst which a third are children is not the “norm” . Should never be acceptable or categorised as something society should accept in an affluent society like this.
@ChuckE: Focus Ireland should have just kept quiet and let this roll over and just get on with it.
Opened a can of worms now. What is it about egos? Yes, it is normal. That doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. A non argument if ever there was one.
@Chemical Brothers: if you wereiw paid you would still defend your job and standpoint when it is factual and valid. Your point is a tad irrelevant
@saoirse janneau: using the word as the English language dictates. It is horrible and unfortunate but for many it is the norm. People are going nuts over him explaining in clear terms how things really are in Irish society. If we only had a homeless issue recently then this current situation would be abnormal. As long as we have had housing in this country we have had homelessness. It is normal and he is not for a second saying any form is acceptable
@Chemical Brothers:
Just how many homeless charities are there?
All with their own highly paid CEO.
The whole charity sector needs reforming!
@ChuckE: seems to me you’re nitpicking a bit. if you want to us the term as it’s defined, then normal means “as the majority” which would suggest that most people are homeless. that is of course not the case. neither is it the case that Skehan used the word as you’re attributing here. it was used to diminish the failure of the government, and at the very forefront Skehan as being terrible at his job, to remedy a spiralling problem that is going to have repercussions for years to come, by belittling the work of NGOs.
Skehan was and is absolutely correct in his comments and should be listened to… Of course the baying mob online and in the media won’t stand for anything outside of their bleeding heart, left wing mentality.
@James Dunne: Skehan is not correct to try and pretend that a rate of homelessness that is rising sharply and includes categories of working people and children is normal. It isn’t, and I have been around a long time ad have never seen anything like it.
By attacking the messengers e is trying to divert attention from the Government’s ideological refusal to build Local Authority houses directly.
It is an historical fact that even in the 1940′s 50 thousand Local Authority houses a year were built.F.G are guilty as charged.
This is the former Labour Party functionary who morphed into heading up the organisation for the unemployed even when there was full employment. How much does he get. Maybe the same as Finley in Barnardos – over 100k.
Says late Jonathan Corrie needed a home while failing to point out that he sold two houses provided by his parents. Says no one is gaming the system . Oh yes they are and he is at the top of the list. Charities are full of people on big bucks.
Only right about one thing. State needs to build more homes.
How many people in Asylum centres are tradesmen or builders who could help.
Bring builders in with visas for short term. If they work hard and fit in give them incentive of staying.
@David Glynn:
Asylum centers – they should be sent back to build in their own countries instead of cost us money. That’s the biggest racket in the country at the moment. Every case that I know of- the man (with family) has left a job to join the gold rush to little old stupid Ireland
@Antony Stack: To exist for 10 years plus on 20 euro a week. We need builders and other professionals. They are here. Let them work.
Try get anyone to do a building job for you. You would be hard pushed to get an estimate from any IRISH BUILDER.
@David Glynn:
If you want a shack – call to the asylum centre.
Asylum/ refugees don’t have qualifications/experience/tools.
It’s a lefty liberal fiction that all this talent for building is in detention.
What you are saying is the classic class conflict of the better off seeking to undercut the working class.
BTW where is the surge in demand coming from? It’s never said but it’s foreign workers coming in. The British are right about controlling free-movement. It is wrecking this country and driving out our own.
I don’t blame Irish builders. They were undercut by East Europeans from 2003 and then the industry collapsed.
Building output went from 40bn in 2007 to 10bn in 2011.
If homelessness was solved in the morning what would happen to all the charities, all the staff that work in them???? Poverty is an industry in this country
@Blah blah: I’m currently job hunting and every third or fourth listing (in sales positions) is door to door or on street fundraising for a major charity. A lot of these listings claim to offer 20-25k per annum plus commission.
He’s correct. But it’s not just homelessness that the government want’s people to believe is “normal”. LPT is to be seen as normal, SCU is now normal, except it was temporary, the PSC is to be seen as normal, so we will see the introduction of Biometric National ID cards as normal, when any form of national ID was never normal in the country, just like homelessness was never normal.
The way this government is forcing its version of normality on society is sinister.
@Dave Doyle: pure Orwell, … they are our friends/foe, they have alway been our friends/foe… it has always been so.
@Dave Doyle: eh “USC” & LPT pay for stuff provided in many cases for free by the government which is US by the way.
What services would you cull or other taxes would you increase if LPT & USC were scrapped?
Would you cut dole? Close an A&E? Increase VAT??? Tax the 1 million who pay zero income tax?
@Dave Doyle: Must be hard work living in your sinister conspiracy theory world. The ‘Government’ is out to get us etc etc. These are local people elected democratically by all of us and if you have ever heard the majority of them talk you’d realise there is no way they could organise anything close to what you believe.
just asking as this is a charity does he work for a living wage so as not to take too much from funds that could go to helpin the real homeless
Homelessness is NOT normal. Two people with full time jobs not being able to afford a starter home is NOT normal. Parents having to choose between being able to cover their increased rent and putting food on the table is NOT normal.
Fine gaels Ireland – a great little country for the haves and have mores.
@The Risen: It is the new normal.
Homelessness could easily be solved. Instead we give tax breaks to billionaire companies.
It’s normal for ffg .. Only team in town media say…
The blame for the current homelessness crisis in our country is to be laid squarely at past and present governments.
Focus Ireland did not de-regulate the banking system which brought the IMF into Ireland
Focus Ireland did not pay the bond holders
Focus Ireland did not stop the building of social housing
However, Focus Ireland and other homelessness charities have, and will continue to house thousands of people, whom would otherwise also be on the homelessness list.
It was Skehan’s job, his role, to care about the homeless situation, yet he appeared to distance himself from this and treat it with nonchalance. Imagine if the governor of the Central Bank were to make similar comments regarding house repossessions and say they’re entirely normal too, nothing to get worried about. Or the Minister for Health saying a certain amount of misdiagnoses is to be expected. It was his role in life to say, “no, this isn’t normal.”
The Government are raking in thousands of euro through taxation of the extensive rental sector. Also A house costing €300,000 actually costs €150,000 to build , the rest is clawed back in levies etc according to Tom Parlon Construction Industry Federation . So where is all the money going.
@Aine O Connor: The govt get SFA from Airb’n'b and other short term let’s. One of the other things that Skeehan said was that developers want 30% profit margins on their schemes whilst other businesses do very well on single digits profit margin. Developers and their mouthpiece Parlon have always been greedy, they’re just being facilitated by a Tory FG govt which is idealogically opposed to building social and truly affordable housing itself.
Maybe if all the Charities went on strike for a while and laid the problem of homelessness right at the door of the Government I wonder how would they react.
@Aine O Connor: too much money involved for the ‘charities’ to do that! Sure it is a gravy train for those lads. Let’s have some visibility and then debate on the salaries the people in these charities are taking out of the €150+ million they they from the government and the funding raised through other means?
@Paul Murphy:
Charities usually are set up in response to a need. That’s means that the Governments Housing Agencies and the Minister are not doing their job.
@Aine O Connor: charities are an industry in itself in this country, another means of getting to the trough. If you believe differently then I am afraid you are being naive Aine
@Paul Murphy:
Do you think then that Fr Peter McVerry and Brother Kevin are naive. There will always be a need for some Charities to cater for the people on margins. . What I do not approve of is paying outrageous salaries to Charity Bosses. Apart from those who do get paid there are thousands more Volunteers who do great work for free. These are the real heroes.
@Paul Murphy: any charities that receive government funding are obliged to declare their salaries.
How much have these ‘Charities ‘ got in Reserves to cover their pay and pensions? That’s an even bigger story! Why are we paying Politicians when all they do is delegate to Charities or Committees? We need to wake up people!
Let’s deal with some of what Mr Skehan said:
1) Ireland has “equivalent levels of homelessness to every other country in Europe” is untrue.Ireland unlike many European countries only uses3Categories of ETHOS Light Categories typology so comparisons can’t be made.
Mike Allen spoke to statistician that does Denmark’s homeless figures who said it’s2000-6000 homeless,not30,000!
2)”Homelessness is normal”In 2011 there were 457 homeless children which escalated to 3811 children in 2018 an 833.92% increase,that’s not normal!
In2011there were 296 homeless families which escalated to1728 homeless families in2018,an583.78% increase,that’s not normal!
Just because we see such dramatic increases yearly doesn’t mean it’s”usual, typical or expected”,”conforming to a standard”,it’s actually the opposite!
@Nuala Mc Namara:
3)Mr Skehan said€150m spent re homeless charities:Mr Allen said less than1/2 goes to charities while more than1/2go to private sector operators.
4)Re families “gaming system” to get high on homeless lists.Mr Allen said” Dublin City Council changed system” whereby families presenting as homeless could get priority on homeless lists “but there was no change in declaration of numbers families”presenting as homeless!
5)Mr Skehan” 75 organisations dealing with homelessness”.Mr Allen said there’s 78charities with 25state funded&of that 5 main organisations dealing with homelessness.He said majority not state funded.
6)Mr Allen said shelters are not the solution,what’s needed is “sensible things URGENTLY”.He also said homelessness is not helped by “poor policies,slow policies”.
@Nuala Mc Namara:Main reason for family homelessness is losing private rented accommodation&DRHE detailed April’18 Report last year(re Dublin Region homeless families 2016-2017) highlighted that “many families DEFER presenting to homeless services by moving in with friends or family.”
“Official” homeless figures in Ireland only deal with3 Categories ofETHOS Light Categories of homeless&excludes most,plus the new recathegorization& exclusion last year of people/families getting emergency funded accommodation means even more exclusions!
Northern Ireland used ALL Categories ofETHOS full typology in Report so why doesn’t Ireland?ETHOS is European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion developed by FEANTSA as a means of improving understanding and measurement of homelessness in Europe.
@Nuala Mc Namara:This is’nt about Mr Skehan,Mr Allen or party politics,it’s about people/families/children experiencing homelessness(& future generations).If we accept such dramatic increases in homelessness, especially family&child homelessness&housing exclusion as “normal” then the seriousness of the National Emergences in homelessness&housing won’t be URGENTLY tackled.Rising unaffordable rents&very little genuine affordable housing built is also part of the National emergencies in homelessness&housing.Future planning/policies to tackle these huge problems should especially take into account an estimated population growth by CSO of 1.99m over next 32 years.Im not even including negative effects of Brexit or next downturn!!So I can’t understand the absence of URGENCY in tackling it!
The charity sector in Ireland, as in other democracies, depends a lot on the willingness of individuals from different strata of society to give up spare time voluntarily to fundraise, publicise and assist the work of charity organisations. When charity organizations grow big over the years they institutionalise. They professionalise. They structuralize. After a while they arerun like businesses. That’s when big charities can depart from their original simplicity of motive, and a gap can open between paid management and the volunteering public. It’s a conundrum and I don’t know what can be done.
When I went to London in the 1980′s there was terrible homelessness. 30 years later there is still terrible homelessness in London. Same for Paris, New York etc. This is the new normal for Dublin. There are people from all over the country and all over the world willing to take their chances in the big, wealthy cities and this keeps a constant pressure on accommodation. We could build 10,000 homes in the morning and 6 months later we would be back to square 1.
But we’ve gone from a country where it wasn’t normal to one where it is… That’s the scary thing. Where does it “level out”? Who knows, ” it’s normal” over somewhere else that isn’t Ireland so pffft yeah.
Honestly sick and tired of the procrastination on this subject. How are we supposed to support +1million people over next 20 years?!
We need to rail in the buy to let purchasers as this drives up prices for those trying to buy a home. When I go into Dublin where I am from I see hundreds of appartments built and being built. Lots of houses being built in Wicklow, next door to Dublin. Questions arise as to who are the people living in them ? Are they new arrivals for work to this country. We need a more up to date way of counting people rather than waiting every ten year for a census.
have your say