A grandma rules the high-speed internet battle

75-year-old Sigbritt Lothberg in Karlstad, Sweden, has the world’s fastest internet connection. Her 40 gigabits-per-second fiber-optic connection is believed to be the fastest residential uplink in the world, Karlstad city officials said. Experts say that in less than 2 seconds, she can download an entire movie to her home computer. Unfortunately she only uses this connection to read newspapers online.

The connection was set up by Hafsteinn Jonsson, head of the Karlstad city network unit, and Lothberg’s son, Peter, a networking expert based in California. The speed is reached using a new modulation technique that allows the sending of data between two routers placed up to 1,240 miles apart, without any transponders in between.