Verizon FiOS Symmetrical Service To Cause Others Pain?

Verizon will be making a symmetrical version of broadband available to consumers at a very reasonable price in a move that seems certain to be a slap at the architectural limits of cable broadband. The FiOS symmetrical offer will provide 20 Mbps in both directions for $65 per month, according to AP reports, for customers with an annual phone contract. The reason this is likely to cause angst in the cable world is that cable broadband cannot offer that kind of uplink speed at all without moving to a completely new plant architecture at considerable cost. It’s also true that AT&T’s U-verse architecture can’t match this service. Verizon, by eliminating restrictions on the uplink data path, could well create a market for consumer videoconferencing and P2P that would be nearly impossible for competitors to match.