symmetric vs. asymmetric [was: Verizon Policy Statement on Net Neutrality]

Sat Feb 28 05:15:17 UTC 2015

On Feb 27, 2015 6:48 PM, "Miles Fidelman" <mfidelman at meetinghouse.net>
wrote:
>
> Jack Bates wrote:
>>
>> On 2/27/2015 2:47 PM, Miles Fidelman wrote:
>>>
>>> Folks,
>>>
>>> Let's not go overboard here.  Can we remember that most corporate and
campus (and, for that matter home) networks are symmetric, at least at the
edges.  Personally, I figure that by deploying PON, the major carriers were
just asking for trouble down the line. It's not like carrier-grade gigE
switches are that much more expensive than PON gear.
>>>
>>
>> I'll disagree on the home part. I doubt that most homes are symmetric.
>
>
> Just to be clear - I'm talking about the local switch/router sitting on a
home network, not the connection to the outside world.  Last time I looked,
commodity gigE switches were symmetric - good for network attached storage,
media servers, that sort of thing.  (Come to think of it, though, I've
never paid attention to whether the WiFi side is symmetric.)

Commodity switches are symmetric for multiple reasons, but the biggest is
probably because a server could be on any port and a client on any other
port.

WiFi has two separate data rate selections.  The download could be at
300mbps and the upload only be at 1mbps.  Or even the other way.  WiFi is
also half-duplex, so if the data rate is 300mbps, then the maximum you
should expect is 150mbps.