[2422] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Billing systems
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mike.Patterson@mtsg.ubc.ca)
Wed Feb 26 19:28:57 1992
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 92 16:23:18 PST
From: Mike.Patterson@mtsg.ubc.ca
To: drw@bourbaki.mit.edu, com-priv@psi.com
> The trouble is that as the Internet gets denser, more and more costs
> becomes usage-sensitive. The only part of the net that is truly
> flat-rate for a user is the line from him to the first router. The
> "interior" parts of the net are used in proportion to the amount of
> data sent, not in porportion to the bandwidth of the lines to the
> users.
Most of the links in the "interior" of networks are fixed capacity and
with fixed costs. If usage grows, then interior links may have to
have their capacity increased. Fees to connected organizations could
be increased to cover this increased cost, and if this approach is
taken the average increase in cost to each organization will be much
lower than if you try to charge back each institution's use.
Increasing the capacity of a link also usually makes the cost of that
link less per kbps than a lower speed link -- telecommunications are
characterized by substantial economies of scale. In addition the real
costs of implementing telecommunications links have been dropping over
the last few years.
One technology where increased use can lead to increased costs is
frame relay. I have recently investigated this as a possible way of
implementing a backbone in the province of British Columbia to get
higher speed for less money. After looking at the costs for a shared
network implemented with traditional dedicated links and comparing
them with the tariffed costs of frame relay proposed for Canada, the
traditional approach is significantly more cost-effective.
-- Mike Patterson, BCnet manager
e-mail: BCnet@ubc.ca BITNET: USERMPAT@UBCMTSG
Phone: (604) 822-3932 Fax: (604) 822-5116
