"Imagine you're a university student living in Manchester. During the course of your studies you'll probably have three different addresses but be living in the same general area," Stephenson explained. "If you're a BT customer that's three different land lines you'll need for standard ADSL."

With the Pipex Wireless service, all a student need do is carry his or her wireless base station from one rented room to another. "I'm not even sure you'd need to tell us you've moved," Stephenson confessed.

Stephenson revealed that this will enable his company to offer a truly symmetric broadband connexion – say 4 Mbit/s in both directions – which is ideal for consumers who need to upload as much data as they download – including students, of course.