``Faster'' networks do not move electrons or photons at faster than
the speed of light; a single bit travels at essentially the same speed
in all networks. Rather, ``faster'' refers to sending more bits of
information simultaneously in a single data stream (usually over a
single communications line), thus delivering n bits faster. Phone
modem users are familiar with recent speed increases from 300 bps
(bits per second) to 2400, 9600 and now 19,200 bps. Leased-line
network speeds have advanced from 56 Kbps (kilo, or 
bps) to 1.5
Mbps (mega, or 
bps, known as T-1 lines) in the late 80s, and
then to 45 Mbps (T-3) in the early 90s. Lines of 155 Mbps are now
available, though not yet widely used. The U.S. Congress had called
for a 1 Gbps (giga, or 
bps) backbone by
1996.
This goal has been nearly achieved in testbeds, though it now looks
like it will be at least a couple of more years before we see gigabit
speeds in the public backbone.
Current T-3 45 Mbps lines can move data at a speed of 1,400 pages of text per second; a 20-volume encyclopedia can be sent coast to coast in half a minute. However, it is important to remember that this is the speed on the superhighway---the access roads via the regional networks still mostly use the much slower T-1 connections.