[12241] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: effect of metered vs. flat rate (was Internet v. Minitel)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David M. Piscitello)
Wed May 11 01:18:33 1994
Date: Tue, 10 May 94 16:08:39 EDT
From: "David M. Piscitello" <corecom@tigger.jvnc.net>
Reply-To: dave@corecom.com
To: "Barney Wolff" <barney@databus.com>, dave@corecom.com, com-priv@psi.com
>Have you considered that perhaps your provider is changing because they
>could not make money at $99/mo for unlimited access? When I had a PSI
>unlimited SLIP account, it was roughly $170/mo, after a discount, which
>accords with jvnc's new price.
I considered this, but based on competitors' offerings, and a call I
received from a competitor shortly after I posted the mail expressing
astonishment at the pricing increase for flat rate, I'm skeptical.
>After all, if you work efficiently, it's not until you're downloading
>more than 36 MB/month that your new bill will even match your old one.
>Why aren't you celebrating?
I did indicate that this would not affect me personally. I'm interested
in knowing what effect metered internet access services will have vs.
metered telecom services vs. (eventually) metered applications. I hear
complaints constantly about the connect-time cost of ISDN, so I'm
curious about scenarios where I pay flat-rate per ISDN call,
but per hour to my access or application provider, which seems to result
in nearly the same total payment but to different accounts.
>If you want flat-rate billing, and can find a provider who will give it
>to you at the price you want to pay, by all means switch. If you can't
>find one, then perhaps it's because it costs the provider too much.
>There are few barriers to market entry right now, as evidenced by all
>the new providers springing up. In a competitive market like this,
>it's quite unlikely that all the providers can conspire to keep prices
>far above costs.
see above.
David M. Piscitello
Core Competence, Inc.
1620 Tuckerstown Road
Dresher, PA 19025 USA
dave@corecom.com
1.215.830.0692
