In just two years, the lights in your home may provide you with internet access at speeds 100 times faster than Wi-Fi.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, French start-up Oledcomm demonstrated the capabilities of Li-Fi, using just an office lamp to start playing a smartphone video.

Li-Fi uses visible light communication like the 'digital equivalent of Morse code,' so it cannot pass through walls. This gives it the potential to create a faster and more secure network, with less interference.

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This new wireless system hit speeds of 224 gigabits per second in the lab, and has the potential to revolutionize internet usage. The Li-Fi technology uses visible light between 400 and 800 terahertz (THz), and transmits messages through binary code

A FASTER, MORE SECURE WI-FI Lab tests have shown that Li-Fi can hit speeds 100 times faster than current Wi-Fi systems. Speed is not the only advantage of Li-Fi. The system uses visible light communication between 400 and 800 terahertz to transmit messages in binary code. Visible light cannot pass through walls, making Li-Fi a much more secure system, and less susceptible to interference. While the system seems promising, it won't likely replace Wi-Fi entirely, at least not anytime soon. Instead, researchers are now looking to retrofit devices with Li-Fi to use the two wireless systems together to optimize speed and security. Advertisement

Li-Fi is short for 'light fidelity,' and performs with lightning speed.

The system uses visible light communication (VLC), between 400 and 800 terahertz (THz) to transmit messages in binary code, but operates at speeds that are too high to be detected by the naked eye.

It works on the frequencies generated by an LED bulb.

Li-Fi has hit speeds of more than 200 Gbps in the lab, fast enough to 'download the equivalent of 23 DVDs in one second,' Suat Topsu, founder and head of Oledcomm, told AFP.

'Li-Fi allows speeds that are 100 times faster than W-Fi, which uses radio waves to transmit data,' Topsu said.

This technology emerged from the laboratories in 2015 to be tested in everyday settings in France, including museums and shopping malls.

It has also been tested in Belgium, Estonia and India.

Analysts have predicted that internet-connected devices will soar to 50 million in just four years, and the short supply of radio waves used for Wi-Fi will become crowded.

'We are going to connect our coffee machine, our washing machine, our tooth brush. But you can't have more than ten objects connected in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi without interference,' Topsu told AFP.

Now, Li-Fi may not be a far off reality.

Deepak Solanki, the founder and chief executive of Estonian firm Velmenni which tested Li-Fi in an industrial space last year, told AFP he expected that 'two years down the line the technology can be commercialised and people can see its use at different levels.'

Still, it's unclear whether Li-Fi will push Wi-Fi aside in the years to come.

'It is still a laboratory technology,' Frederic Sarrat, an analyst and consultancy firm PwC, told AFP.

Wi-Fi may continue to evolve, and improve its own capabilities, and this could determine how the role of Li-Fi factors in, according to Gartner chief analyst Jim Tully.

The system works in a similar way to Morse code, using visible light communication (VLC), but operates at speeds that are too high to be detected by the naked eye. Since the light can't travel through walls, Li-Fi could also be a more secure option down the line, and suffer from less interference from other devices

'Wi-Fi has shown a capability to continuously increase its communication speed with each successive generation of the technology,' he told AFP.

Since Li-Fi is based on visible light communication, it can't pass through walls, and the device has to be directly in contact with the light.

And, Li-Fi capable devices must be equipped with a card reader, or dongle, to work with the technology, which is a 'cost disadvantage,' according to Tully.

The space constraint acts as both a drawback and advantage, limiting usage to a smaller space, but better protecting devices from data theft.

'Unlike Wi-Fi, Li-Fi can potentially be directed and beamed at a particular user in order to enhance the privacy of transmissions,' Tully told AFP.

In places like hospitals or schools, Li-Fi could be the ideal option.

'Li-fi has a place in hospitals because it does not create interference with medical materials,' Joel Denimal, head of French lighting manufacturer Coolight, told AFP.

It could even have use in supermarkets or museums, to provide information for nearby objects, or aircraft and underground facilities.

The post tweeted by user @kyoufujibaya, 'Li-Fi testing is already imminent. May appear in the next iPhone 7 according to iOS code in iOS 9.1 firmware'

The system isn't likely to replace Wi-Fi entirely in the years to come, and ripping out the existing infrastructure isn't feasible.

But the two could be used in partnership to create faster and safer networks.

Dutch medical equipment and lighting group Philips is reportedly interested in Li-Fi, and Apple may integrate it in the iPhone 7, which is due out at the end of the year.

Last month, a Twitter user revealed an image to show that Apple may be testing Li-Fi technology for the iPhone 7, which would mean data transmission runs on visible light waves, instead of radio.

The company has already started a buzz surrounding rumoured plans to do away with the headphone jack, but now, developments for the iPhone 7 could be taking an even bigger leap.

The post tweeted by user @kyoufujibaya, according to The Huffington Post, reads, 'Li-Fi testing is already imminent. May appear in the next iPhone 7 according to iOS code in iOS 9.1 firmware.'

In an image accompanying the tweet, the developer highlights where the code says, 'LiFi Capability,' indicating that this suggests Li-Fi testing plans for the next wave of iPhones.

Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland invented Li-Fi in 2011.

Instead of replacing Wi-Fi altogether in the years to come, researchers are working on retrofitting current devices to be Li-Fi compatible,ScienceAlert explains.

PureLifi, a company created by Haas and his team, is offering a 'plug-and-play' application for secure wireless access.