[9347] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Cost vs benefit of internet services
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Russell Nelson)
Wed Dec 29 22:21:41 1993
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 21:56:14 EST
From: "Russell Nelson" <nelson@crynwr.com>
To: "Michael P. Martineau" <martinea@hawk.nstn.ns.ca>
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
On Wed, 29 Dec 1993 18:36:29 -0400, "Michael P. Martineau" <martinea@hawk.nstn.ns.ca> wrote:
> At 12:29 PM 12/29/93 -0800, Matthew Kaufman wrote:
> >
> >Wouldn't it be nice if there weren't such artifically-constructed
> >barriers to entry to IP resale, so that you really COULD get
> >together with your small number of friends and get a line and
> >share it?
>
> There are costs associated with providing Internet access. Many
> organizations, such as ours, price their services based on single
> organizations or individuals (in the case of dial-up services). Assumptions
> are made as to the number of customers we can get. If apply the same prices
> to others who wish to be resellers we would not be able to stay in business.
> Why should other organizations who wish to offer Internet access get a
> break because we have kept our prices low to attract a large number of
> users? Why should we, in effect, subsidize a competitor?
Well, what about our situation here in Potsdam, NY? (did I say that
there are more cows than people? Well, there are more cows than
people here.) There is no local-call dialup IP service. I've asked
PSI to do it, and all they've said is "eventually". So far,
"eventually" is >2 years. Problem is that two full-time dialup IP
customers only pays the cost of PSI's leased line (and uses up half
of the bandwidth).
So the only way to get commercial networking up here is either to
conduct some kind of business that pays for the 56Kb line, or else
resell. But if I have to pay $10K/year for CIX PLUS $10K/year for
IP routing from e.g. PSI PLUS $4K/year for leased line, reselling
becomes prohibitive.
--
-russ <nelson@crynwr.com> ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav
Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support.
11 Grant St. | 315-268-1925 (-9201 FAX) | Quakers do it in the light
Potsdam, NY 13676 | LPF member - ask me about the harm software patents do.
