Spam Control Considered Harmful

Fri Oct 31 08:53:06 UTC 1997

> Sure...and when I apply to ARIN for more space and show I've assigned a
> /21 worth of space to static IP dialup users, I'm sure they won't laugh
> while stamping DENIED on my application :)
> 
> How does Demon get away with that sort of waste?

I is *not* a waste. It is a very good use of IP address space. We
have usage density of about 99% of our allocated blocks. Meanwhile
the customers love it bcause they can do things that not having an
IP address would stop. Their own domain name for a start -
"snark.demon.co.uk" for my dial-up. Security based on IP address.
We have many many busines users who use the fact that they know
what IP address a dial-up user will have to authenticate access to
their corporate networks.

We made a business case, and it is the correct one. We very rarely
have much more address space than required, and whether or not the
customers know what an IP address is, they come to us (as the
largest provider in the UK) because of the feature set and quality
of the service. They want an infinite number of mailboxes, they
like to be able to reconnect a dialup that drops half way through
a telnet of ftp session and continue from where they left off, they
like the "instant" intranet they get. Adn so on.

I reiterate. It is not a waste. What is a waste is people like
Interop having an entire class A, like PSInet having a class A,
like MIT ... fill in the blanks. They just got their first, but I
cannot see anyone rushing to return them.

Please do not judge other people's products and services because
you believe that it shouldn't work.

Peter
-- 
Peter Galbavy
@ Home in Wonderland
http://www.wonderland.org/ http://www.whirl-y-gig.org.uk/ http://www.demon.net
     Be remembered not for your final destination, but for your journey.