ADSL technology is one of the most popular methods of accessing the Internet. Nowadays, fiber links and cable television networks are gaining popularity. However, ADSL, which evolved in VDSL, has one important advantage. Namely, it works on almost any transmission medium, even with a wet string. Recently, technicians from one of the British operators proved it.
The string soaked in water (especially salty) conducts electricity. This means that just like a copper wire, it can be used to transmit electrical signals. Of course, it is characterized by much higher transmission losses, however ADSL technology has never been too demanding in this respect. That was its goal. It is thanks to the reasonable requirements as to the parameters of transmission lines, ADSL technology has popularized constant access to the Internet. In this way, the operators could provide their services using already installed telephone lines. Technicians, on the other hand, were surprised at the conditions under which they were able to activate the service. Therefore, among people working in the telecommunication industry, it was said that ADSL will work on anything, even a wet string. It turned out to be true.
The ADSL Internet on a wet cord operates with 3.5 Mbps speed.
This result was achieved on a two-meter pair of strings wetted previously in salt water. The signal attenuation amounted to 55 dB, which corresponds to a classic ADSL line with a length of 4.5 km. While the data download was at a satisfactory speed, sending them was unbelievably slow (67 kbps). As you can see, the ADSL technology is quite interesting, but in practice it loses with more modern solutions. Even VDSL, which allows for much more, is not very willingly chosen by customers. The problem is that the actual ADSL/VDSL link speed often deviates significantly from what has been written in the contract. This is due to the fact that the telephone line has too much attenuation, so that the intended speed can not be achieved.