Longtime readers have been exposed to my rants about how the telecom and cable industries are trying to turn the internet into a broadcast medium by limiting the upstream bandwidth they provide their subscribers with, this despite the fact that they try and market services like digital telephony and videoconferencing that to one degree or another require upstream bandwidth. A few months ago Verizon announced it would be rolling out new higher-speed data services, and while I was in ‘extended away mode’ during my move to Saratoga Springs, some of the details were announced. $35 a month for 5Mbps down and 2 up is Verizon’s initial offering, with up to 30mpbs down/5 up to come (prices not announced). This is 8x faster upstream than my current time warner account permits, and since you’re reading this weblog, you know how and why I would use the increased upstream bandwidth (the streaming music server would return for example, as would the dedicated NWN server and possibly even and EQ emulator server). This is fantastic news. I’m not in their initial markets but this brings great hope for the future. Oh, and Time Warner? Wake the fuck up and bring me back my upstream, or lose my business, it’s that simple.