Verizon announced today that it would begin offering 20/20 symmetrical FiOS Internet service to parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with similar services available soon in the other 13 states where FiOS is available.

If "20/20" makes you think only of eye charts and contact lenses, allow me to explain why this announcement is such a huge deal regarding your family's online experience, and the state of American broadband in general.

"20/20 symmetrical" means a speed of 20 megabits-per-second for downloads and uploads.

Internet service providers offering residential service in the United States have historically offered what's known as asymmetrical service, with upload speeds typically much slower than download speeds. If you've ever wondered why it takes only a few seconds to start watching a YouTube video, but 10 minutes or more to upload your own movie, asymmetrical service is exactly why.

The old mode of thinking was that most Internet users typically download much more data than they upload, so high upload speeds weren't a priority. Nowadays, however, upload speeds are becoming increasingly critical.

"Verizon's new symmetric service is a smart response to the changing usage patterns of high-speed Internet subscribers," said Vince Vittore, senior analyst with Yankee Group, an IT research firm. "We believe that as user-generated content continues to expand and telecommuting increases in popularity, upstream speed will become just as important as downstream for all users."

By offering upload speeds of up to 20 Mbps, Verizon quadruples the previous top upload speed of its FiOS service, and "blows cable away," said Susan Retta, VP of Broadband Solutions for Verizon. "Their upload speeds don't even come close."

Besides obviously making BitTorrent, Flickr and YouTube users extremely happy, the new FiOS 20/20 service also represents an important step towards closing the broadband gap between the US and much of the developed world. With the first symmetrical high-speed service of its kind now available at competitive prices, perhaps America will soon no longer lag behind Japan, Korea and much of Western Europe in broadband penetration and speed -- key economic indicators in today's global marketplace.

Posted by Jim 2.0 | tagged: rollout, symmetrical, speed, internet, upload, download, FiOS