US researches are working on new protocols which in early test have tripled data transmission speed.
The new protocols, called Fast TCP, tests the maximum speed of a link and then using that speed to transmit the data packet rather than sending each individually and checking it is received correctly before sending the next which is how TCP/IP works.
Current protocols managed an average of 266Mbs whilst Fast TCP managed 925Mbs on the same link. Fast TCP can be bolted on to the existing infrastructure and could be in use soon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2965184.stm