Level 3 Communications Issues Statement ConcerningComcast'sActions

Tue Nov 30 08:13:29 UTC 2010

Ben Butler wrote:
> Same hymn sheet, if they pay enough the cost averaging model works again and we don't have to worry about latency 
> critical or
> transfer volume.  The problem is that they wont pay for it.

I became interested in these guys: http://www.plus.net/?home=hometop in 2008 because they were one of the first
to use DPI (and admit it) to enforce their TOS.  Every time I check their site (~every 8-10months), they seem to have won 
another award.
Is 'Net Neutrality', the FCC, or something else preventing a model like this from having success in the U.S.?
Or does it exixt and I just haven't heard about it?

--Michael

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wherrin at gmail.com [mailto:wherrin at gmail.com] On Behalf Of William Herrin
> Sent: 30 November 2010 04:17
> To: Ben Butler
> Cc: NANOG list
> Subject: Re: Level 3 Communications Issues Statement Concerning Comcast'sActions
>
> On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 10:51 PM, Ben Butler <ben.butler at c2internet.net> wrote:
>> Then consumer broadband came along, the subs went
>> down, the headline speeds went up, service delivery
>> becomes impossible in the face of the marketing BS
>> ---- and here we are.
>
> Hi Ben,
>
> So you're saying: treat it like electrical service. I have a 200 amp
> electrical service at my house. But I don't pay for a 200 amp service,
> I pay for kilowatt-hours of usage.
>
> There are several problems transplanting that billing model to
> Internet service. The first you've already noticed - marketing
> activity has rendered it unsalable. But that's not the only problem.
>
> Another problem is that the price of electricity has been very stable
> for a very long time, as has the general character of devices which
> consume it. Consumers have a gut understanding of the cost of leaving
> the light on. But what is a byte? How much to load that web page?
> Watch that movie? And doesn't Moore's Law mean that 18 months from now
> it should cost half as much? If I can't tell whether or not I'm being
> ripped off, I'm probably being ripped off.
>
> A third problem is the whole regulated monopoly thing. The electric
> company had to be slapped down hard by the government to make its
> billing process fair. Anything we can do to avoid that fate is money
> in the bank, even if it means allowing the occasional customer to get
> more than he paid for.
>
> So if we can't bill you by usage, and at a consumer level we can't,
> then we have to find another way. Statistics and prayer isn't working
> out as well as we'd hoped so we're looking at double-billing schemes.
> Bad plan!
>
> Regards,
> Bill Herrin 