http://www.speedtest.net/result/534130968.png

Automatic reassignment may try too much to second guess the users requirements but I would have thought that manually flicking the upward:downward ratio to 1:1 for say video conferencing or to 9:1 for online back-up should be feasible. Another idea as an alternative to expensive SDSL for SOHOs and SMEs I remember reading about was to obtain two ADSL lines, one configured upload:download at 1:9 and the other at 9:1. I’d have thought most business would have two phone lines, one for voice and the other for fax.

If anyone more technically savvy than me would like to jump in here, please do. I realise some of my points may have been mis-informed.

PS to SKGiven, Adblock Plus works a treat in firefox for blocking bandwidth choking ads. Can block flash content too, as can FlashBlock and Flash Killer.

Furthermore, I don’t want techno babble reasons and excuses – I simply want it to work, and there are plenty of people paid huge sums of money who, supposedly, understand all these issues and are paid to deal with them.

That said, why they are bothering to even attempt to provide fantastic download speeds for “the masses” when “the masses” are, by and large, fairly happy with download speeds, is beyond my simple mind – surely priority should be given to improving upload speeds even if it has to be, to a limited extent, a trade off with increased download speed.

I am with Talk Talk, and have been very happy with them except for upload speed. I regularly have over 7Mbps for download, and used to get about UK average 0.43Mbps for upload until I was promised that I could double that if I upgraded. I did so immediately and am now enjoying…… 0.21- 0.25 mbps! Yes – they seem to have got their factor of two the wrong way round and several lengthy calls have so far failed to remedy the situation.

The reason the up<down is in the name of the service – ASYMMETRIC digital subscriber line (ADSL). It’s a technical and economic bodge. The Wikipedia article gives a pretty good run-through of it all. If you want faster uploads, then you’ll have to pay for it in one way or another.
It’s somewhat annoying when continual references are made by conurbanites comparing the virtues of BT with Virgin etc. For large chunks of the population like me, this is a dream world. The Virgin pipe stopped at Weston Super Mare when it’s fore-runners NTL/Blueyonder ran out of cash. That was nearly a decade ago and despite the recent consumer boom no-one has had the cash and wherewithal to push on with any sort of high-speed rollout.
The reason for that is probably the continual pressure on lowering costs which has made a ’service’ most suitable for the lowest common denominator at the expense of the bigger picture. The same thing is happening now with the ordinary postal service which at it’s inception was a brilliant concept.

To expand on what I said, it all has to be paid for in one way or another and ADSL is just a technical and economic bodge plastering over the cracks of an under-financed infrastructure..