Transaction Based Settlements Encourage Waste (was Re: BBN/GTEI)

Sun Aug 23 20:43:51 UTC 1998

As much the "how to count bits" thread is entertaining,
the reason why nobody's doing any path-based accounting
in packet networks is quite trivial:

It is not technically feasible.

In other words, the computing resources necessary to perform
such accounting (and to retain the accounting information for
subsequent billing) by far exceed resources necessary to
perform the actual service - transportation of the packets.
Which squarely puts it beyond the reach of today's technology.

Until someone comes up with a feasible way to do such accounting,
the whole point of discussing the best economical model based
on such detailed accounting is moot.

--vadim