It may be that the fears of phone and cable company IPSs that increased internet connectivity will reduce people’s need for their other services is what is holding them back from increasing uploads speeds for a truly symmetric system.
As the internet becomes more and more interactive, i.e. Web 2.0, the need for users to share and upload data has never been greater.
We have all known how miniscule our upload speeds are in comparison to our download speeds, in many cases 10 to 15 times less, for some time but, we have have been by in large able to with them comfortably.
It used to be that a majority of people were merely consumers of media on the internet, be it the streaming or downloading of audio and video content., and never had much concern for contributing to it.
It was left to those with a lot of patience or business-grade connection lines to make content available for others.
In an article from the AP, it points out that the rapid rise of YouTube, and its subsequent purchase for $1.76 billion by Google Inc., clearly means that internet users are increasingly becoming “contributors” of content and therefore need more symmetrical download and upload speeds.
Telecommuters, meanwhile, want to send PowerPoints and other files as quickly as they can to their offices, and emerging tasks like online backups, video conferencing and telemedicine will tax systems even more, experts say.
“The system is a hangover of the old mass media days,” said Paul Saffo, a technology analyst in Palo Alto, Calif. “Some consumers are uploading a tremendous amount of information and that’s the thing the establishment just doesn’t get.”
Though whether it’s due to pressure from RIAA, the MPAA, or other entertainment lobbying organizations, obviously worried about increased user “contributions” isn’t clear but,. some ISPs insist the demand just isn’t there.
“Speed has not been an issue for most of our customers, or we’d hear about them,” said Mark Harrad, spokesman for Time Warner Cable.
AT&T Inc. spokesman Michael Coe said customers may indeed be sharing more files, but “the majority of their time is spent downloading. As needs change, we’ll look at offerings that meet customers’ needs, whether it’s symmetric service or it’s just higher upload speeds.”
What really may be the reason for the holdup are the fears of phone and cable company IPSs that increased internet connectivity reduces people’s need for their other services.
Skype and other VOIP services have already in many ways rendered traditional phone services obsolete, if not at the very least halted and reduced growth in demand.
Programs like TVUPlayer and the upcoming Venice Project, which I’ve had a chance to test drive mind you and lives up to much of the hype, are also making some cable TV services seem overpriced and outdated.
When you can stream most of your favorite TV channels or make a phone call to anywhere in the world for free, what the heck do you need from the phone and cable TV companies other than a nice broadband connection?
“Cable companies have been busy trying to offer telephone services, and telephone companies are trying to duplicate the cable TV model,” Bachula said. “They should stop focusing on 20th century services and realize it’s the 21st century. There are exciting new advanced services they could make money from.”
Well said.
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I've been interested in P2P since the early, high-flying days of Napster and KaZaA. I believe that analog copyright laws are ill-suited to the digital age, and that art and culture shouldn't be subject to the whims of international entertainment industry conglomerates. Twitter | Google Plus
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Also if you have a symetrical 10 megabit connection (or any fast symetrical connection) all you would have to do is buy a switchboard; you could feed a LOT of dial up users and make a tidy profit.
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