[132690] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Level 3 Communications Issues Statement ConcerningComcast'sActions
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ryan Finnesey)
Tue Nov 30 06:57:12 2010
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:54:36 -0800
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTinc2tEKFy53g8hWBe6-R06M7DZuv9S-87hpY9UO@mail.gmail.com>
From: "Ryan Finnesey" <ryan.finnesey@HarrierInvestments.com>
To: "William Herrin" <bill@herrin.us>,
"Ben Butler" <ben.butler@c2internet.net>, "NANOG list" <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
On the subject of marketing for years the wireless operators sold =
unlimited data plans. Now they are coming back and saying well =
unlimited is really 5 GB. =20
-----Original Message-----
From: William Herrin [mailto:bill@herrin.us]=20
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2010 11:17 PM
To: Ben Butler
Cc: NANOG list
Subject: Re: Level 3 Communications Issues Statement =
ConcerningComcast'sActions
On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 10:51 PM, Ben Butler <ben.butler@c2internet.net> =
wrote:
> Then consumer broadband came along, the subs went down, the headline=20
> speeds went up, service delivery becomes impossible in the face of the =
> marketing BS
> ---- and here we are.
Hi Ben,
So you're saying: treat it like electrical service. I have a 200 amp =
electrical service at my house. But I don't pay for a 200 amp service, I =
pay for kilowatt-hours of usage.
There are several problems transplanting that billing model to Internet =
service. The first you've already noticed - marketing activity has =
rendered it unsalable. But that's not the only problem.
Another problem is that the price of electricity has been very stable =
for a very long time, as has the general character of devices which =
consume it. Consumers have a gut understanding of the cost of leaving =
the light on. But what is a byte? How much to load that web page?
Watch that movie? And doesn't Moore's Law mean that 18 months from now =
it should cost half as much? If I can't tell whether or not I'm being =
ripped off, I'm probably being ripped off.
A third problem is the whole regulated monopoly thing. The electric =
company had to be slapped down hard by the government to make its =
billing process fair. Anything we can do to avoid that fate is money in =
the bank, even if it means allowing the occasional customer to get more =
than he paid for.
So if we can't bill you by usage, and at a consumer level we can't, then =
we have to find another way. Statistics and prayer isn't working out as =
well as we'd hoped so we're looking at double-billing schemes.
Bad plan!
Regards,
Bill Herrin
--
William D. Herrin ................ herrin@dirtside.com=A0 bill@herrin.us
3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/> =
Falls Church, VA 22042-3004
