[9161] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: an Internet buying coop?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Matthew Kaufman)
Sun Dec 19 22:35:11 1993
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1993 19:28:10 -0800
From: matthew@echo.com (Matthew Kaufman)
To: karl@mcs.com, stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com, communet@nysernet.org, nii_agenda@civicnet.org,
The written CIX agreement doesn't say anywhere that you cannot:
- purchase a CIX connection for $10K/year
- route customer traffic via CIX
- ALLOW YOUR CUSTOMERS TO RESELL TO OTHERS, AND ROUTE ALL THEIR
TRAFFIC VIA CIX
BUT, if you go ask ANYONE who's currently a CIX member, or anyone AT
CIX, such as Bill Washburn, you find that there's a unwritten rule
that says that (like the ANS gateway attachment agreement) you
can resell access, but you can't allow the people you sell to to ALSO
resell.
This is used by CIX to force everyone to pay the $10K (i can't get a CIX
connection and let several network co-ops connect to me and route all the
traffic via CIX)
This is used by CIX-connected providers (like Alternet and BARRNet) as
the excuse as to why they can't sell you access that you can resell.
Sprintlink allows it, but then makes sure to tell you that you'll need
to become a CIX member in order to resell.
But it ISN'T in writing anywhere that I can find. If it WAS, there'd
be a clear restraint of trade violation.
Even so, lets consider the following network provider model:
(rates and policies that follow are fictional)
I become a network provider. I connect to CIX, including getting a direct
DS1 circuit to the CIX-West router.
I then offer the following:
1536kbps service: $2000/month
56kbps service: $1000/month
You can resell to subsidiaries on the following terms:
You can allow ANY network to connect to your network, and route traffic
via CIX, but that subsidiary isn't technically your customer. Instead,
you charge them a physical access fee, and I charge them $1/month for
Internet+CIX routing. In turn, I give YOU a $1/month discount on your
basic connection charge for each subsidiary network you connect.
All your "subsidiary connections" can be priced however you want, and
you don't end up paying me any extra cash per subsidiary customer,
but they're actually MY customers, not yours, and so the resale of
access prohibition doesn't apply.
If I start this business, do I get cut off from the CIX as soon as
they figure out what I'm doing?
If so, why?
-matthew kaufman
matthew@echo.com
ps. I'd actually like some opinions here, because the above is a serious
proposal.
