[2209] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Charging for low-end services
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brian Lloyd)
Fri Jan 31 01:19:07 1992
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 92 22:16:56 PST
From: brian@lloyd.com (Brian Lloyd)
To: matsb@sics.se
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: matsb@sics.se's message of Thu, 30 Jan 92 09:58:44 +0100 <9201300858.AA24853@asia.sics.se>
Reply-To: brian@lloyd.com
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 92 09:58:44 +0100
From: matsb@sics.se
What about if the site gets a full load of trash mail shipped to them?
Should they pay usage for this too?
What about if they get a request to their "directory service" to give
a lot of info? The request may be a couple of packets, but the result
will be a set of files?
That is an unlikely scenario if you are using an inbound-only dial-up
service. In that case you are connected only when you need the
service. The rest of the network cannot reach you on demand so you
are unlikely to provide servers for others to use. In that case it is
a moot point and your example fails.
Of course the customers/users should be able to decide on what model
for payment they should use, and the providers should get a reasonable
return on investment, but beware of the "Pubic X.25 trauma" - open
ended costs, and even worse: if your network is congested, or if the
service end-to-end is bad, you will see retries and retransmissions, THAT
YOU PAY FOR!
You seem to think that I recommend that all connectivity be on-demand.
I am not. I simply stated that 1) I believe that there is a place for
usage-based charging, and 2) that I applaud CERFNet for offering such
a service. As someone who is active in trying to make this technology
work I am interested in what they have learned from their service.
There will always be a place for dedicated service. Eventually
traffic levels reach the point where dedicated service makes sense.
For instance, the traffic level into my office has increased to the
point that I have ordered dedicated 56Kbps service from BARRNet. It
simply doesn't make sense for me to continue with dial-up service.
And shouldn't "Pubic X.25 trauma" be discussed in
alt.sex.kinky-datacom or something? :-) :-)
Brian Lloyd, WB6RQN Lloyd & Associates
Principal and Network Architect 3420 Sudbury Road
brian@lloyd.com Cameron Park, CA 95682
voice (916) 676-1147 -or- (415) 725-1392
