Member-only story
Why Your Upload Speed Is Always Slower — And Why ISPs Want It That Way
Your internet plan isn’t broken. It’s designed this way. The hidden reason upload speeds lag behind downloads.
I remember the day clearly when I upgraded my internet plan, excited to experience the blazing-fast speeds that would revolutionize my work-from-home plan. Seamless video calls, lightweight file uploads, and quick cloud backups, everything was supposed to run effortlessly.
But reality struck hard. My download speeds were fast, while an upload of the simplest file of, say, 200 MB, felt like watching paint dry.
With an eyebrow raise, I looked out into the beyond in frustration and disbelief as I realized this was not a mistake but a conspiracy.
To punish residential users for conducting activities other than viewing Netflix, ISPs have found it convenient to allocate high speeds for downloads and low for uploads.
For the first time ever, my work demands were being punished for wanting a service that should be standard.
This was the beginning of my deep dive into the uneven world of internet infrastructure, in which the inequalities of our digital landscape began to unfold before my eyes.
