[3923] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: MFS WorldCom/WilTel/LDDS
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dick St.Peters)
Thu Aug 29 01:55:05 1996
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 01:44:10 -0400
From: "Dick St.Peters" <stpeters@NetHeaven.com>
To: Jeremy Porter <jerry@fc.net>
Cc: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: <199608282339.SAA01549@freeside.fc.net>
> One dirty little secret is that most
> phone calls and videoconferences ram their way past data transmissions
> by using a bully of a communications method called UDP. Unlike the more
> polite Transmission Control Protocol, TCP, which drops back
> when it detects congestion, UDP continues at full speed, elbowing
> ahead of TCP traffic.
Sigh, I guess you need to have part of your network shut down by the
above-described effect to appreciate just how unusually accurate a
portrayal that description is.
> Its a good thing none of these journalist used the train, telegraph,
> or telephone systems when they were growing at these extact same rates,
> or we wouldn't have trains or telephones today. A little research
> into the growth of the telephone network reveals very similar patterns.
What research into the growth of telephone, telegraph, and train
systems immediately reveals is usage-based pricing generating revenue
to pay for the infrastructure to handle the growing traffic. At the
net's edges a large portion of use is purchased with usage-based
pricing right now, where usage is measured by connect time for dialup
users and by data transfer for servers.
> Clue seems to be a conserved quanitity in the universe, such that
> as the net gets lager the clue-denisty gets lower, thus causing
> most of the problems we see today.
The people with a clue are those who can tell the difference between
predicting the death of the net and predicting the end of the free
lunch.
--
Dick St.Peters, Gatekeeper, Pearly Gateway, Ballston Spa, NY
stpeters@NetHeaven.com Owner, NetHeaven 518-885-1295/800-910-6671
Albany/Saratoga/Glens Falls/North Creek/Lake Placid/Blue Mountain Lake
First Internet service based in the 518 area code
