Internet connections using light bulbs - 250 times faster than broadband

The next generation of wireless internet could use converted LED light-bulbs to transmit data faster and more cheaply than traditional Wi-Fi signals

Li-Fi, an alternative to Wi-Fi that transmits data using the spectrum of visible light, has achieved a new breakthrough, with UK scientists reporting transmission speeds of 10Gbit/s - more than 250 times faster than 'superfast' broadband. The fastest speed previously reported was 3Gbit/s, achieved earlier this year in Germany.

Chinese researchers also claimed to have produced a 150Mbp/s connection, but some experts were doubtful without seeing further proof. The term Li-Fi was coined by Edinburgh University's Prof Harald Haas during a TED talk in 2011 though the technology is also known as visible light communications (VLC).

Many experts claim that Li-Fi represents the future of mobile internet thanks to its reduced costs and greater efficiency compared to traditional Wi-Fi. Both Wi-Fi and Li-Fi transmit data over the electromagnetic spectrum, but whereas Wi-Fi utilises radio waves, Li-Fi uses visible light.

This is a distinct advantage in that the visible light is far more plentiful than the radio spectrum (10,000 times more in fact) and can achieve far greater data density.

- The Independent