[2477] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Billing systems
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Charles H Mingo)
Sun Mar 8 21:33:56 1992
From: mingo@world.std.com (Charles H Mingo)
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1992 02:32:12 GMT
To: com-priv@psi.com
In article <9202262259.AA02206@lagrange> drw@BOURBAKI.MIT.EDU writes:
>
>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.
>
>After all, long-distance phone usage isn't flat rate, is it?
Have you seen a phone bill recently? Most IXC's charge a flat
rate for off-peak long distance, typically around $6/hour. AT&T has a
new plan where you pay $10/hour to call anywhere in the US at any time.
The cost of telecommunications is dropping so fast that someday
there may be no difference between local and long distance calls (both
will be metered but distance-insensitive). I expect a something similar
will happen to networking...
