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Verizon Boosts FiOS Uploads To Match Downloads
An anonymous reader writes Verizon is boosting the upload speeds of nearly all its FiOS connections to match the download speeds, greatly shortening the time it takes to send videos and back up files online. All new subscribers will get "symmetrical" connections. If you previously were getting 15 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up, you'll be automatically upgraded for no extra cost to 15/15. Same goes if you were on their 50/25 plan: You'll now be upgraded to 50/50. And if you had 75/35? You guessed it: Now it'll be 75 down, and 75 up.
The 150/75 plan? What will my upload speed be???
But they'll throttle my uploads to Netflix, right?
They still have a long way to go to catch up to gigabit up/down though.
biggest problem with upload is you send it over free links with Tier 1 networks, or you pay them to take your traffic. with all the user generated stuff now like Twitch, flickr, video calling and other services where you want a fast upload speed that's a lot of data to be paying for.
with the current L3/Verizon dispute i wonder if they struck a deal where verizon will allow the connections to be upgraded for netflix to work on their network in exchange for L3 taking all their uploaded data for free.
I hope all Internet service company in the world to adopt this fair service to all their customers. No more upload limit :)
Will this only apply to consumer FiOS plans, or are they rolling this out to Business FiOS, as well?
So I'm a Verizon customer, etc. How is this anything more than free advertising? What is the compelling need for this to be all over the media, etc?
As a FiOS customer this would matter to me if Verizon wasn't actively trying to extort money from Tier 1 providers.
Now all Netflix needs to do is get a FiOS account at their house.
Many of my neighbors have gone back to BrightHouse, despite their Internet service being slow and flaky compared to FiOS. Why? Price. Verizon turn the screw over and over, and try to force you into bundles and contracts you don't want. When I finally canceled, I was paying $93/month for a 50/25mbps net service with no other services. That was 6 months ago. They offer come-back deals, but they're all limited periods or require me to have TV with STB rental and phone. No thanks.
When my FiOS went from 25/25 to 50/25, my measured rate went from 25/25 to 60/40! I hope that with this "update", I don't end up being downgraded to 50/50.
He should run the VPN in a VM and not on his main host, to avoid this dumb VPN client from hijacking his traffic.
Uploading is still a fraction of what downloading is... Most home consumers, even those with IoT devices or heavy P2P users, are still net consumers of online information. (Think Netflix, Windows Updates, VPN, remote desktop, etc.) I see it as a gift I didn't care to receive but one that I wouldn't pass up. So, I have to ask, what's the point?
A more valuable gift would be continue the lack of symmetry, and bump existing download & upload speeds by some percentage. Until Netflix becomes P2P, most people wouldn't see much of a benefit from this... (e.g. Netflix streaming still sucks but my uploads to YouTube are 40% faster!)
Windows 3.1x calc: 3.11 - 3.10 = 0.00
Asymmetrical connections were always BS.
Now if only they would roll out FIOS to the rest of the country like they have already been paid to do... ah well.
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Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
But the corporate official VPN uses some strange protocol. Once the VPN is connected ALL the traffic from the local machine will go the corporate VPN host.
It's not the VPN protocol, his VPN software changes the default route. He should change it back to the Verizon IP after connecting to the VPN and set an explicit route for the VPN lan (making a script with the settings would be easiest)
All the companies I've worked for didn't allow a split-tunnel VPN from corporate laptops.
Split-tunnel pretty much kills the whole point of using a VPN.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Both Verizon FIOS users were reportedly very happy (other than their experience using Netflix).
Where I live, in a suburb of Vancouver, BC. I have no options even remotely like this. I have 100/10 cable internet right now, and that's the best I can get. Uploading anything is almost an exercise in futility.
All the companies I've worked for didn't allow a split-tunnel VPN from corporate laptops.
Split-tunnel pretty much kills the whole point of using a VPN.
Depends on what you're doing. I allow a split-tunnel into my home VPN because I use that VPN connection strictly to access internal resources remotely. I have no need to route all my web traffic through my home connection when all I want to do is SSH into a box, or copy a file off a network share or something like that. When I am on the road and on an untrusted connection, I just VPN into the home network and run RDP and use the remote machine to access online banking, email, or other services.
But the corporate official VPN uses some strange protocol. Once the VPN is connected ALL the traffic from the local machine will go the corporate VPN host.
This isn't strange, it is considering SOP for most corporations to ban "split-tunneling", where only traffic to the corporate network are sent over VPN.
It also isn't a protocol, it is just a default route to send all traffic over the VPN.
The theory is that by allowing someone to have unfiltered access at the same time as they are connected to the internal corporate network, they are creating a security risk.
The reality is that the "crunchy outside, warm gooey inside" security model as been broken for some time, and modern security is to use a zero-trust network model.
TL;DR: It is quite common but agree it is quite stupid.
Grammer Nazis - I mod you "troll" unless you actually add something on-topic. Yes, I know I have mispellings in my sig.
All the companies I've worked for didn't allow a split-tunnel VPN from corporate laptops.
Split-tunnel pretty much kills the whole point of using a VPN.
Depends on what you're doing. I allow a split-tunnel into my home VPN because I use that VPN connection strictly to access internal resources remotely. I have no need to route all my web traffic through my home connection when all I want to do is SSH into a box, or copy a file off a network share or something like that. When I am on the road and on an untrusted connection, I just VPN into the home network and run RDP and use the remote machine to access online banking, email, or other services.
Sorry, I thought we were talking about corporate networks and didn't think it was necessary to describe all the different ways in which a VPN might be used.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
.
Will Comcast catch up to Verizon? If so, when?
It's a shame that this "Republican poster" gets so many replies when it is clear even to casual followers of Slashdot that he is a troll who posts the same thing ("Republicans hate X", "Republicans took away Y") in various thread on a daily basis.
For me, a real sign of the death of Slashdot is the predictability of the trolls. The Republican troll and the Space Nutter troll (who may be one and the same, though I've never counted), offer only this invariable single-issue shtick instead of making things wacky and unpredictable like classic trolls of yore.
I think it's because here in America at least, asymmetric is very common. So common that a lot of us think of it as "normal" and it has programmed people to think of Internet as something they "consume." Even in "ordinary times" this would be somewhat noteworthy development, though maybe not front-page news in non-nerd circles.
What makes it possibly extra interesting right now, is Verizon's recent drama with L3/Netflix about their limited connection to L3. Verizon users having good upload speeds could end up essentially solving the problem, by giving those users some better tools to cache data on their side of the limited Verizon/L3 gateway. Imagine if those peoples' Netflix client said "The Verizon gateway to L3 seems congested. Enable P2P?" Verizon customers could cooperate to solve their problems (all nice and efficiently on Verizon's under-utilized network), without Verizon having to spend money to improve the gateway to L3. Everybody wins.
And then another way to look at it, would be that if you're a Verizon user, this might improve your seed ratio on your private trackers, so that you have to rely less on streaming services such as Netflix.
All the companies I've worked for didn't allow a split-tunnel VPN from corporate laptops.
Split-tunnel pretty much kills the whole point of using a VPN.
Depends on what you're doing. I allow a split-tunnel into my home VPN because I use that VPN connection strictly to access internal resources remotely. I have no need to route all my web traffic through my home connection when all I want to do is SSH into a box, or copy a file off a network share or something like that. When I am on the road and on an untrusted connection, I just VPN into the home network and run RDP and use the remote machine to access online banking, email, or other services.
Sorry, I thought we were talking about corporate networks and didn't think it was necessary to describe all the different ways in which a VPN might be used.
Well, I suppose the point I am trying to make is there may be corporate edge cases where they want split tunnel. In general, most employees aren't smart enough to realize when to use what, and so the best policy from an IT perspective is to keep the user from shooting themselves in the foot with the VPN. Hell I've known IT people who weren't smart enough to configure the VPN properly to force traffic through the connection, and then failed to properly test whether traffic was leaking out of the tunnel.
Wow, I wonder, if my fellow citizens of the command-and-control persuasion still think, the government mandating the higher speeds would've been more effective in delivering the bandwidth to consumers...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Which is why "split-tunnel pretty much kills the whole point of using a VPN".
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
All the companies I've worked for didn't allow a split-tunnel VPN from corporate laptops.
Split-tunnel pretty much kills the whole point of using a VPN.
That's from the corporate IT point of view.
From my own machine point of view, having all my traffic routed to my employer kills the whole point of having a fast Internet connection.
Call me when I can get more than 3 Mbps. Bastards.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
I'm on Verizon. Fark has been unreachable all day. This appears to be Verizon's problem, not Fark's, so... the fark is going on here? How does a major ISP lose connectivity to a major news-like site?
The problem isn't in the upstream, it's in the downstream. Specifically their L3 interconnects.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
No doubt this is because it is taking the NSA too long to suck the data out of your computer(s).
Comcast actually does beat Verizon on residential services, at least when it comes to download speeds. The top FiOS residential plan is 75 down, the top Comcast plan is 100 down.
Last I checked, Verizon's 500mbps download (as part of the 500/500 symmetrical) is larger than the 100mbps download you cite from Comcast.
...you'll be upgraded to pound sand with both hands.
North Carolina was promised FIOS "real soon now" for years. At this point, it's pretty clear that if you don't already have it, you won't be getting it. Google blimps, drones, and sewer lines will bring us high-speed broadband long before Verizon significantly extends their buildout.
They like to raise their prices constantly. The extra cost will appear later this year - I guarantee it.
Now my online backup service will smash into my monthly usage cap in the first hour it runs.
My current plan is 25/25. Looking at the press release, I don't see any upgrade for that plan.
No sig? Sigh...
They claimed that residential customers could have IPv6 2 years ago.
What will be telling is if they do the same to the DSL customers in the near future as well.
DSL works over high frequencies in existing copper phone lines. Far more physical bandwidth is typically allocated to the downstream than to the upstream. Balancing this out would reduce download speeds in favor of upload speeds. Are you sure implementing SHDSL wouldn't require rolling trucks and mailing modems?
How would it hurt Netflix? Netflix could push its movies like Blizzard pushes World of Warcraft updates. This would involve sending (encrypted) movies to Verizon customers, having the Netflix clients share the (encrypted) movies over a peer-to-peer network, and stream only the decryption key for each frame of video to the subscribers watching the video.
I've wanted FiOS for such a long time -- despite the unfortunate circumstance of necessitating becoming a Verizon customer. Now, I may move just so I can have it...
Imagine if those peoples' Netflix client said "The Verizon gateway to L3 seems congested. Enable P2P?"
And before you start thinking "MPAA would never agree", Netflix could encrypt each frame of video with a different AES key and stream those to the subscribers.
I didn't believe it but ookla resulted in a symmetric 50mbps up and down. Now I have to read the article to see why they did this.
The theory is that by allowing someone to have unfiltered access at the same time as they are connected to the internal corporate network, they are creating a security risk.
Isn't this also true of someone who owns one PC connected to the VPN and one PC with a direct connection?
Some of your "Comcast is worse" points apply equally to Verizon:
6. FiOS TV requires a box.
7. FiOS TV requires a box.
8. All providers offering premium channels have to encrypt. This has been true since the days of analog cable. Blame the channels.
10. You think FiOS boxes run free software?
11. is just 3 restated so we can strike it.
12. The first thing Bell Atlantic did when it became Verizon was buy GTE. Later it bought Alltel.
Whatever price Verizon says it'll give you for FIOS, add $5/mo for the router rental that's forced on you, for absolutely no reason.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Depending on which program you're talking about, it might be available via streaming, perhaps for a fee.
The programs are Morning Joe, The Rachel Maddow Show, and Monday Night Football. Is there a (legal) live stream of MSNBC and ESPN sold separately from pay TV?
For blacked out shows, she goes to sports bars.
That's great for people with no kids under 21.
This is a leftover from what I call the "tv tray generation", people who watch TV shows on the content provider's schedule, with commercials.
There are plenty of "TV tray generation" people in my family. Some are unwiling to spend an extra $180 per year for TiVo service. But I was referring to things like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, where one may have to actively avoid spoilers that come up in casual conversation at work.
Usually (but admittedly not always) there's a way to get internet without also having to get cable.
Internet without pay TV: $49.99 per month
Internet with basic pay TV: $47.99 per month
If I'm making this up, then so are AC, mrchaotica, and sandytaru.
I live just south of Santa Barbara and I finally weaseled it out of them that Verizon plans no new roll-outs of FIOS anywhere. If you don't have it "in your neighborhood" now, you'll never have it. The "last mile" problem proved too expensive to deal with. (That's the part where they run fiber to each home from the neighborhood "trunk".) I think this is why AT&T U-verse is still growing. They run fiber to a neighborhood and then use the existing copper for the last short run to the home. Definitely a compromise, but it's a helluva lot faster than DSL! Unfortunately, in my area, we don't even have that. Fastest connection I could get was from COX Cable. (DISH was still cheaper for my TV, btw, since we get zero OTA channels where I live.)
Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.
I've never seen an episode of Under the Dome. Yet, I know how it ends.
That'd be relevant if all dramatic series on pay TV were adaptations, the way Game of Thrones and Under the Dome are. But things like Breaking Bad and The Sopranos are original. (There is a novel titled The Sopranos but it's completely unrelated. And no, I myself don't currently follow any such "things like".)
Let me put it another way: Waiting for the season box set breaks the shared social experience of all being at the same point in an original serial work. Then the question becomes whether this experience is beneficial.
--
I'm sorry, your QUESTION must be in the form of A QUESTION!
I'm aware that this question isn't in the form of a question. But neither was Hamlet's.
It's like, you know, books. We don't all read the same novel chapter by chapter at the same time.
Oh really? One thing that Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio and Dickens's Oliver Twist have in common, other than that Walt Disney Pictures loosely adapted both decades later, is that they were both first published as serials.
This is just a political move because Verizon didn't like all the obvious holes poked in their argument that Netflix/Level3 should carry balanced traffic when that is impossible considering that their customer base is almost all on asymmetric links.
Now Verizon can lie to Congress when they pull out the charts and graphs that conveniently show how Level3 isn't holding up their end to receive 50Mbps uploads from their entire customer base simultaneously over the four 10GB Ethernet links they share. Never mind that consumers have little need to upload high volumes of traffic and private servers are still officially banned on residential.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Why would you think that? I use it here for internal web apps, I don't care about their youporn visits and I don't want that on my network. So, if they're at home, let them connect to the VPN, access the internal apps and do their work and wank on the side using their own Internet connection.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Split-tunnel pretty much kills the whole point of using a VPN.
Depends on what you see as "the whole point of using a VPN".
Afaict there are three main reasons to use a VPN
1: you don't trust the provider of your internet connection
2: you need to access IP-locked resources on the internet
3: you need to access resources on a private network that is not directly reachable from the internet.
"Split tunnel" kills reason 1 and probablly also reason 2 (unless there is some complex routing configuration in place). It certainly does not kill reason 3 which is often the main reason for using a VPN.
On the other hand forcing everything down the VPN kills the ability to use resources on your local network (a PITA if you use a network printer) and means traffic to the internet is wastefully forced to take a roundabout route to it's destination.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register