Upload Your Files As Fast As You Download Them

Verizon Communications has introduced an unusual plan for its fiber-optic Internet service: one that uploads as fast as it downloads.

With the new plan, users can experience download and upload speeds of 20 megabits per second. The plan costs $65 per month for those with a current Verizon phone plan, or $70 per month for those without a Verizon phone plan. (Source: usatoday.com)

The downside for Verizon fans is that the company will only launch the new plan in parts of New York and Connecticut. In these areas, Verizon can expect stiff competition from one of the most sophisticated cable companies in America, Cablevision Systems Corp.

Verizon has also talked about introducing a "symmetrical" service plan in the very near future, which will further expand their service across 13 other states.

The best plan currently available from Verizon offers download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second. The current upload speeds are down to only a tenth of the download speed, averaging 5 megabits per second. By raising their upload speed, Verizon is capitalizing on the full capacity of fiber optics in a way that is very difficult for most cable companies to replicate. The standard cable service currently involves sharing capacity among neighbors in a less imposing, non-competitive manner.

Verizon believes that the new plan will be a useful tool for telecommuters and others who work from home. Analysts agree that video conferencing, movie uploads and online backups should all benefit from the raise in upload speed. As a result, a 3 gigabyte file of family movies would only take about 20 minutes to upload with the new Verizon plan, compared to taking 9 hours to upload on a typical digital subscriber line connection. (Source: news.yahoo.com)

The high upload speed makes the plan similar to but slower than the business-class connections used to host web sites. Unlike business-class connections, Verizon will not allow subscribers to run a server from home.

Verizon is not the first Internet service provider to offer a symmetrical plan to its subscribers. SureWest Communications introduced a 20 megabits per second plan to its fiber-optic subscribers in 2005. (Source: usatoday.com)

The SureWest service is still available and sells for $106 per month; less with a bundled service package.