[9275] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Cost vs benefit of internet services
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brad Cox @ GMU/PSOL)
Mon Dec 27 19:07:39 1993
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1993 19:06:55 -0500
To: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
From: bcox@gmu.edu (Brad Cox @ GMU/PSOL)
Cc: com-priv@psi.com, digex@ss1.digex.net
I wrote:
>>I'm still puzzled. There's more than an order of magnitude difference in
>>price. But you described only a 2-fold difference in hardware costs and a
>>(huge; 2x? 5x?) difference in support costs. They don't add up to 10x,
>>unless you claiming support alone is 10x.
Barry replied
>Where do you see an order of magnitude price difference? I don't see
>that.
I understand that vanilla dialups are $20/mo; SLIP/PPP accounts are
$250/mo. I never even knew that SLIP/PPP involves a dedicated modem at the
upstream end. If there's a lower-cost option that doesn't involve the 10x
delta, I'm *interested*.
>Are you sure you're not comparing apples to oranges: Dedicated line
>services to modem pool interactive services?
No doubt I am. I don't claim to be an expert here. I'm simply trying to
understand why it is apparently not possible to sell something I want at a
price that makes sense from this side of the counter. I don't need to lease
a dedicated modem on your end. A modem pool with a reasonabe (small)
fraction of busys would do fine.
>Compare modem pool IP services to modem pool interactive services and
>the price difference makes your analysis above look like you've
>discovered a great bargain.
Do you sell modem pool IP? Please send info! I'm *interested*, assuming
price << 10x vanilla unix.
