[LINK] Relieving Peer-to-peer Pressure

[brendansweb at optusnet.com.au]

> Stilgherrian <stil at stilgherrian.com> wrote:
> 
> At 10:47 +1100 26/2/04, jeff.evans at iird.vic.gov.au wrote:
> >    [quoting from an article...]

> Correct, Jeff.
> 
> The "A" in "ADSL" stands for "asymmetrical". Some providers also 
> offer SDSL, a symmetrical DSL service, but usually at a significantly
> 
> higher cost for the "same" bandwidth.
> 
> Cable modems, on the other hand, are in theory symmetrical. But it's 
> possible for the ISP to "shape" the traffic in any way they like.
> 
> Analogy: I may have a four-lane highway with two lanes in each 
> direction, but I can also station a traffic cop to limit traffic in 
> one direction.
> 
> The asymmetrical model is built on the assumption that "most 
> information comes from a few big providers", which while true has 

true??? Hey? What? More likely to be false don't you think?  

The only time this statement will be true is when the costs to access the 
distribution channel are comparatively high (eg TV, radio)  cf newsgroups, blogs, 
chat, email vs News sites, premium content sites etc.

Brendan