Popular UK ISP Be Broadband informs us that they have just completed the first trials of their forthcoming bonded ADSL2+ service, which is capable of delivering download speeds of nearly 50Mbps under ideal conditions. The trial, which was originally announced back in September (here), essentially bonds two 'up to' 24Mbps lines together.

The initial trial ran across the central London Paddington exchange. In member feedback, Be's customers have reported real-world download speeds of between 30Mbps and 45Mbps. This is the equivalent of 3MB to 4.5MB (MegaBytes) each second – the size of an average MP3 file. Wider trials of the service are planned through 2009:


Line bonding is nothing new, yet few residential facing products (except ISDN) have attempted to utilise it. This is because customers don't just double the speed, they often also double the price by paying for a 2nd line and connection.

While the trial’s objective was to understand the technical capabilities of the bonded service, Be also wanted to gauge the effect that these speeds had from a user experience as well. The full results of the trail, both technical and from a user perspective, will be available at the start of 2009.

It will be interesting to see how much Be Broadband charges for the service, especially with Virgin Media's 50Mbps costing up to £51 per month on a single line. Then again the actual speed experienced by customers of both services could significantly differ from any advertised rate.