[1923] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Understanding Combits
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Marc Horowitz)
Wed Jan 8 15:45:29 1992
To: Jordan Becker <becker@ans.net>
Cc: schoff@psi.com, rick@uunet.uu.net
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Reply-To: Marc Horowitz <marc@MIT.EDU>
Date: Wed, 08 Jan 92 15:43:29 EST
From: Marc Horowitz <marc@Athena.MIT.EDU>
>> They could also sign up with ANS under the R&E AUP and reach all of the
>> midlevels for less money.
The basis of all the complains here is the problem of a "level playing
field". I have a question, directed at ANS, PSI, Alternet, and the
midlevels. If I'm an organization interested in getting a connection,
say, 56kb, in a major metropolitan area (assume a local POP) how much
would it cost (per month, per packet, per byte, or whatever other
pricing structure you have), for a connection with a commercial AUP
(ANS and/or CIX), and one with an R&E AUP (NSFnet)? A more
interesting question (which I imagine people may be unwilling to
answer for business reasons) is how much could you charge for the
above types of connections, if competition forced you to lower your
prices?
Is there really a problem with unfair competition, or are people bent
out of shape because they perceive that ANS was given an unfair
advantage, without really checking to see if they really *have* an
unfair advantage?
If people were willing to mail their responses to me, so I could
collect them together, I would be willing to do that. I promise to
include all relevant information, and a summary, so people can see
(my) conclusions, or the raw facts.
Marc
