Download / Upload speeds

[matt_london]

<PRE>Why are download and upload speeds substansially different? My broadband supplier is offering 2meg p/s download but only 256 k p/s upload? Thanks Matt</PRE>

[snapdarlich]

That's just the standard. You can pay more for a higher upload speed, but it's some ridiculous price - like �150 a month for a 512kbps upload speed. But it's maybe changed since I last time I checked

[snapdarlich]

For Example - http://www.btbroadbandoffice.com/symmetricbroadband/whatis

[qapmoc]

Well there is no technical reason for this, its basically because most people want to download a lot of stuff or large files but rarely want to upload so much, so the ISP are just saving on bandwidth really,
For example If they can get 50 customers per cable at 2mb/2mb but 75 customers per cable at 2mb/256k then they can offer a cheaper service.

[fo3nix]

to add to the above: hence the A in ADSL. It stands for Asymmetric, i.e. up and down speeds are not the same.