It’s just one of those digital age facts that we always took for granted: Internet download speeds were always faster than upload speeds. If we stopped to think about it – which I’m sure not many of us did – it’s easy to see why that was the case. We have traditionally consumed far more web-based content than we have produced, so it made perfect sense that the inbound delivery mechanism was bigger – and therefore faster – than the outbound process.
However, that’s all changing. We are now just as likely to upload a photo or video as we are to download one. With cloud-based storage and collaborative web sites, we are uploading data as much as we are downloading it. Skype and other video chat apps demand equal data speeds. And don’t forget about the web-based gamer, who relies on even response rates to get the most out of a web-based game.
We are now using the Internet to create and share almost as much as we use it to stream and consume, putting us right at the center of the information and entertainment highway. Given our new roles as information hubs, it’s not surprising that Internet providers are hearing the call for faster upload speeds.
Responding to this new reality, Verizon recently brought FiOS upload speeds in line with their superfast download equivalents. Now with speeds of 150/150 Mbps, you can upload 200 photos (1GB) in just 13.3 seconds or upload a 1-hour HD movie (3GB) in under 3 minutes.
Faster upload speeds make working from home much more efficient: we can send e-mails and share documents without the mind-numbing wait for the files to arrive; we can video chat with friends and colleagues with no lag time; and we can make sure everything is backed up to the cloud for secure, anytime, anywhere access.
We are no longer sitting back, passively waiting for anything the Internet decides to throw our way. We are now both consumers and creators, demanding a data pipeline that is fast and reliable in both directions. Yet one more reason to choose Verizon FiOS!
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