> ADSL is max 8Mbit download and 700somethin upload

This is just a detail of frequency allocation - they could have easily
made it the other way around. I'm not sure, however, if it's possible
to get modems that are "wired" the other way - I never tried.

Bezek has an obvious incentive not to offer such a service (namely, their
more expensive connectivity solutions), but since Bezek is a monopoly, it
is not actually their decision to make. If you want to make waves about
this, the ministry of communications is probably the correct address.

ISPs traditionally have an opposite incentive, to allow you to reverse
the direction of the asymmetry, because it will allow them to better
fill their connections and to get better peering deals. Also, traditionally,
servers in Israel usually catered to Israelis while clients use a lot of
bandwidth to abroad, so it is cheaper for them to host a server than a client
using the same bandwidth.

I'm not sure what the ISPs' incentives are nowadays, however. Nowadays,
everybody and their uncle runs some sort of P2P network; With the normal
ADSL assymetry, your node (I'm assuming gnutella-like things, not freenet,
for a moment) mostly uses the high bandwidth when you've specifically
requested for something (when someone downloads from you, he or she will get
the measly upstream bandwidth). They can usually assume that you don't sit
24/7 choosing stuff to download.
However, if you have a "server" connection (ADSL assymetry reversed), the
wide connection can get fully used by people from all over the world using
your node without any of your participation. Worse, in Gnutella (and perhaps
other similar networks), the network "learns" about such well-connected
nodes and makes sure they get used to their full potential (I think this
sort of "leaching" is a serious design issue with Gnutella).

ISPs can get around this dilemma by giving you a virtually infinite burst
bandwidth (e.g., like happens when your machine is hosted inside the ISP's
server room), but somehow limiting the total average bandwidth per month,
or charging extra for extra bandwidth.  Some American ISPs already do that.

-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |     Tuesday, Oct 15 2002, 9 Heshvan 5763