[2417] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
re: Billing systems
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mike.Patterson@mtsg.ubc.ca)
Wed Feb 26 17:27:39 1992
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 92 14:24:34 PST
From: Mike.Patterson@mtsg.ubc.ca
To: com-priv@psi.com
Good grief. Why are we talking about billing systems. Almost all of
the charging in the Internet that I am aware of is flat-rate -- a
fixed monthly bill based most often on the speed of an organization's
link to the network.
I run a mid-level network with about 40 members. If I had to count
beans (packets and minutes) and had to respond to complaints from my
members about individual charges against their accounts, I would need
to increase my staff by at least 3, and my processing power
substantially. And my costs of doing this would increase over time,
which I would have to pass on to my customers. In the mean time the
cost of data lines and the cost of the routers and other equipment
needed to implement a network are all coming down quickly.
If the cost of some particular link is usage-sensitive then please
devise a short-term expedient for dealing with that problem. Solutions
which involve huge development projects and on-going staffing and
other resources to implement are headed in the wrong direction
-- Mike Patterson, General Manager, BCnet
BCnet Headquarters | Internet BCnet@ubc.ca
419-6356 Agricultural Road | BITNET USERMPAT@UBCMTSG
Vancouver, British Columbia | UUCP ubc-cs!ubc.ca!BCnet
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