Forum Discussion

KenKK's avatar
KenKK
Contributor
4 years ago

Why can Verizon offer 100 or faster upload speeds vs. COX for the price?

  Even T-Mobile has a 5G Internet Hotspot with faster upload speeds.  With COX even paying more doesn't get you a leap in upload speed increase compared to Verizon or T-Mobiles hotspot.
I would like to understand is it marketing or a technical reason COX is behind with upload speed.

Ken

  • Dave9's avatar
    Dave9
    Contributor III

    It's mostly technical as WiderMouthOpen mentioned. The cable network was designed around the concept of prioritizing download speeds. In fact the very first cable modems didn't even have upload capabilities at all. Upload was done via dial-up modem and download was done by the cable modem!

    But it's also a marketing reason in that cable internet was originally designed to be an entertainment consumption service, which requires a lot of download speed. Upload was mainly used to request the next web page or the next video. Nowadays people use their internet differently but a lot of cable operators still see themselves as providing an entertainment service that has no real use for upload speeds. Not to mention that there is a stigma attached to high upload speeds because that can be used to distribute pirated media.