Egyptian ISP claims net speed lead

Egyptian internet service provider (ISP) Linkdotnet has announced what it claims is "the fastest internet access package in the Middle East".

The company's new ‘LINKDSL Plus' package provides subscribers with download speeds of up to 8Mbps (equivalent to almost a megabyte of data per second) and upload speeds of 1024Kbps (approximately 128Kbytes per second).

The package is made possible thanks to Linkdotnet's use of ADSL+2, a second-generation broadband technology that extends the capability of normal ADSL by doubling the number of downstream bits. As a result, data rates can in theory reach 24Mbps (downstream), depending on the distance between a user's home and the provider's nearest ‘Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer' (DSLAM - a network device used by service providers at their remote sites).

LINKDSL Plus subscribers will pay approximately US $180 per month (compared to $115 per month for Linkdotnet's 5Mbps package), and will receive a free wireless modem.