[487] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
CIX
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stephen Wolff)
Fri Mar 29 13:44:53 1991
To: mckenzie@BBN.COM
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 91 13:35:52 EST
From: Stephen Wolff <steve@cise.nsf.gov>
> There is at least one regional, NEARnet, which is not subsidized...
Sorry. Marty's right: NEARnet pays nothing for the use of the fastest,
highest capacity, most reliable transcontinental datagram transit net in the
world: the NSFNET Backbone (plug). For that matter, nor do you get charged
for the delivery service of whatever mid-level net your correspondents'
campuses subscribe to, after the packets drop off the Backbone (NSF's or
anyone else's). And the destination campus doesn't send you a bill, either.
You get for free the use of:
* $21m of taxpayer-provided facilities (NSF's Backbone + mid-level
budget this FY),
* other government agency Backbones, perhaps, and
* the entirely-privately-financed campus networks of the world.
> ...its rates reflect its expenses.
Yes; it's just that NEARnet's expenses don't reflect costs.
