Some lucky Time Warner Cable customers may see 512kbps upstream speeds in time for Christmas. It seems like only yesterday we were complaining about how downstream increases are nice, but upstream increases and price cuts are really what the doctor ordered. That idea was reinforced by our latest poll, where improved uploads and lower costs were indeed on many users' wish-lists.

While the cable industry has been stubborn about lowering prices, Comcast's promotional push to offer cable broadband for a yearly introductory rate of $19.95 is at least a start. Unfortunately, it's only available to DSL customers, and after a year it reverts back to $42.95 a month, or $57.95 if you don't subscribe to Comcast cable television.

Stats this week out of the UK indicate that DSL has finally overtaken cable broadband as the connection of choice. If DSL providers in the States can keep their prices low, and god forbid actually deploy some next generation DSL gear, we might see more than promotional price cuts from the cable industry in 2004 and 2005. Comcast's push at least indicates that DSL competition is having some impact, the result of which could be good news for all broadband consumers (and their wallets).

On the upstream increase front, rumors continue to circulate in our Time Warner Cable forum that the company may be unveiling 512kbps upstream speeds in time for Christmas. Earlier this month, Jeff King, president of Road Runner and executive vice president of Time Warner Cable Network Services, confirmed the company was engaged in 512kbps upstream trials, though he didn't give a specific time-frame for deployment. As with Time Warner's 3Mbps downstream increases, how soon users see these speeds is likely to vary from region to region.

Once Comcast deployed their 3Mbps downstream speeds, it didn't take long for the rest of the major providers to follow (smaller providers like Optimum on-line had long been speedier, we know). Hopefully the same will apply to the Time Warner's upstream move. While such an increase might seem paltry in comparison to some overseas speeds, any improvements among the U.S.'s regional broadband monopolies should be cause for modest celebration.