Imbalance in Net Speeds Impedes Sharing

IMBALANCE IN NET SPEEDS IMPEDED SHARING
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
The information superhighway isn't truly equal in both directions. Cable and phone companies typically sell asymmetrical Internet services to households, reserving the bulk of the lanes for downloading movies and other files and leaving the shoulders at most for people to share, or upload, files with others. The imbalance makes less sense as the Internet becomes truly interactive. Users are increasingly becoming contributors and not just consumers, sharing photos, video and podcasts. It's a little-known fact because advertisements for cable and DSL services generally focus on download speeds. Internet content providers are stuck unless they shell out hundreds of dollars a month for business-grade services that provide equal speeds upstream and downstream. Cable and phone providers insist they are keeping up with demand, in many cases increasing both upload and download speeds, but they say they haven't had a huge clamoring for symmetry.
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