[1286] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: impact of settlements on provision of free services
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Donelan)
Fri Aug 30 14:21:52 1991
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1991 13:20:22 CDT
From: SEAN@SDG.DRA.COM (Sean Donelan)
To: com-priv@psi.com
X-Vmsmail-To: SMTP%"com-priv@psi.com"
Some people like to buy in bulk, others by the piece. Why is charging by
the month flat-rate, while charging by 6 second increments usage-sensitive?
Both are time dependent, just the quantity is different. About the only
"true" flat-rate purchase I know of is buying a grave plot in perpetuity.
The issue of "settlements" doesn't necessarily mean usage sensitive. I don't
know what ANS means by it, but you can arrange settlements in a variety of
ways. The problem is that all sides want to arrange things so money is paid
to them and not the other way around.
Also a reality check. Charging commercial information providers more
to fund a national infrastructure pool is just going to cost the R & E
sites more. Most vendors charge 100% their costs back to the customer.
We'll just raise our Internet surcharge by whatever amount is needed
to cover the additional costs. It might not be an individual line item,
but it'll be in the charges somewhere.
Keep the philanthropy separate.
--
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
Domain: sean@dranet.dra.com, Voice: (Work) +1 314-432-1100
