[681] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Cost Of TCP/IP Dialup Connections
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Will@cup.portal.com)
Mon May 13 23:54:56 1991
To: com-priv@psi.com
From: Will@cup.portal.com
Date: Mon, 13 May 91 20:58:21 PDT
A while back I posted an inquiry to this conference asking
whether dialup connections to the net were likely to remain
around $200/month for the foreseeable future. I don't
think I got a very direct response to that question. Can
someone outline for me the basic costs that require charging
that much money as a minimum monthly charge for a TCP connection?
I assume that internet service providers have both a
large fixed cost that must be shared among all subscribers and
a small variable cost associated with each incremental user.
My intuition tells me that the number of users is not linear
with the monthly service price. I suspect that somewhere around
$40 per month the number of users would explode almost exponentially
and that the total revenue generated would greatly exceed what it
is with the $200/month charge. Anyone care to agree/disagree with
this assertion?
Thanks,
Will Estes Internet: Will@cup.portal.com
UUCP: apple!cup.portal.com!Will
