# Maximum Internet connectivity speed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-internet-connectivity-speed/639195 "2012-10-29T06:48:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![susie1017](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@susie1017](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susie1017)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-internet-connectivity-speed/639195/1 "2012-10-29T06:48:48Z")
There are many service providers across the globe for providing Internet facility. Both for domestic use and commercial use… usually domestic internet will be limited to certain speed like 2mpbs. But commercial internet providers will provide internet in great speed… what is the maximum internet line speed. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-internet-connectivity-speed/639195/2 "2012-10-29T06:58:18Z")
There doesn’t have to be one. The Internet is made out of parallel simultaneous connections, like roads. When you need more bandwidth you just add more connections, kinda like building more highways. That said, Verizon last year announced [it would be the first in America to deploy 100 gigabit per second backbone lines](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verizon-first-service-provider-to-announce-100g-deployment-on-us-network-118891754.html), fast enough to download a DVD in 0.3 seconds. But if you needed to go faster, you could just double the lines, the routing equipment, etc. The limit is an economic one, not (at this point) a technological one. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-internet-connectivity-speed/639195/3 "2012-10-29T13:50:26Z")
On a short run, Bell labs has run 15.5 Tbits/second over a single 7000 km fiber (according to [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_fiber)Wiki article. That gobsmackingly cool. Just think of the porn potential… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-internet-connectivity-speed/639195/4 "2012-10-29T14:46:29Z")
If you have the dough, you can buy whatever connection you want. OC-168 is a typical connection for ISP and large corporate backbones, running at about 9.6 GB with guaranteed uptime. OC-768 is probably gross overkill, but it does exist. If you want to run parallel connections for more throughput, you’ll want to link to different providers, which also helps with upstream reliability - if, for example, your Verizon Business link goes down, XO is probably still up, and you have less, rather than no connectivity. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-internet-connectivity-speed/639195/5 "2012-10-29T14:56:09Z")
I bet Google’s data centers have one of the fastest connection speeds. ---
**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-internet-connectivity-speed/639195/6 "2012-10-29T19:33:38Z")
I like the google internet they’re implementing, 2Gb/s IIRC for home use. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-internet-connectivity-speed/639195/7 "2012-10-29T19:34:59Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I bet Google’s data centers have one of the fastest connection speeds. Amazon’s datacenter in North Virginia has got to be a contender. The one with the bilk of Amazon Web Service clients. Every 2 years or so when it has an outage, I’m amazed at how many sites rely on it.