Gnome:
Upload vs download differential like that is common. However, with the advent of home video, digital photography, etc., and people sending such to each other, the ISP's have begun to increase the uplink speeds.
Uploading Speeds
Slowly Catch Up
By DIONNE SEARCEY
November 28, 2007; Page D1
Uploading is getting an upgrade.
After years of cranking up the speed of downloading material from the Internet, which made it faster to surf the Web and play music and videos, Internet service providers are finally starting to boost the speed of files moving onto the Web from your personal computer.
The acceleration is being spurred by the rise of social-networking sites like Facebook and video-sharing sites like YouTube, as a growing number of people are posting their own music and video clips online. Upload speeds have long been a fraction of the speed of downloads, forcing most users to wait several minutes to upload a photo, for example, that they could download in seconds.
But in recent months, companies have been ratcheting up their upload speeds -- for consumers willing to pay a bit more. (snip)
Jack