Net given a turn of speed

A connection to the Internet via cable is to be offered in Manchester, enabling quicker communications than are available via telephone lines.

Two hundred customers, mainly businesses, will be connected next month and a full commercial service will be offered next year.

The project is said to be the UK's first commercial trial of cable modem technology. It is being run by the electronics company Motorola and Britain's second largest cable company, Nynex CableComms. Steve Homer