Why does Sprint have address filters again?

Sun May 31 03:02:36 UTC 1998

>
Mr. Rubenstein,

I was very concerned after reading your message so I reviewed every
message regarding your latest request.

You state that you haven't been able to receive address space, however,
our records show that you were "approved" for a block of addresses on
March 27, 1998.  

Your request was handled by Cathy Clements who is one of the most
professional individuals around.  She also happens to have
the patience of a saint (as I'm sure many ISPs could attest to).  

I'm sorry if you were not happy with ARIN's service, however, IMO at no time
could any of Cathy's messages be considered rude or be perceived as having
an attitude of "why are you bothering me", as you claim.  

The ARIN policies have not changed since InterNIC, nor have the basic
questions we ask on utilization.

Kim

> 
> While I agree with both sides of the ARIN argument, I have been silent for
> a while, but I have to speak now.
> 
> ARIN, the 'American Registry for Internet Numbers', is something that I
> have come to fear. It has put an interesting spin on my business.
> 
> As a preface to this email, I would like to say that I don't want to sound
> like the typical kvetcher (for the non-jews, it's yiddish for 'whiner')
> who just likes to complain about things, because they can. I think that we
> are beyond that. Anyway... A little history.
> 
> nac.net (Net Access Corporation, nothing to do with Avi) was founded in
> late 1995. Fortunately, we were multi-homing early, and applies for a
> block and got it (after some arguing, which was absolutley justified on
> Internic's part) -- 207.99/18. As we filled and used that block, we
> requested -- and got with more ease -- 207.99.64/18 (to make for a whole
> /17). Time went on, and we filled that one, and requested another /16 (our
> 1 year estimate), and were turned down, but approved for a /18 --
> 209.123/18. This all took place before ARIN was actively taking
> registrations.
> 
> So, recently, we began to get low on space -- we were at about 80 to 90%
> utilization. We began the procedure of making sure all SWIPs were up to
> date, and proceed to ask for another chunk. This was two months ago, and
> to this day, the issue is still unresolved.
> 
> My issues are simple. Early on, before I actually experienced what ARIN
> could do for me, I was in support of it; RIPE is wildly successful, and
> folks in Europe that I talk to are generally very supportive of RIPE or
> APNIC, etc, and dealing with them is not a 'chore'. An ISP who is
> approaching ARIN for space, especially one who has already rec'd space
> over the last 2 years, should be treated with respect. I know this sounds
> like a gripe, but the treatment we have gotten from ARIN alone has made
> our experiences with ARIN very negative. The attitude of "Why are you
> bothering me for address space" permeated the entire conversation. Not
> only that, we have moved from IP Address allocation being a 'free' 'in the
> extent that you didn't pay the Internic for address space) to a 'fee'
> service, and the customer service has taken a severe dive. Not to mention
> that fact that response time is horrid; why does it take 48 hours for
> responses from ARIN staff? 
> 
> My next gripe is the draconian (sp?) measures ARIN takes to make sure that
> you are as insulted as possible. My attitude is that we've maintained good
> SWIPping policies internal at NAC, and that customers who are assigned
> space from us have gotten either just what they need, or a small amount of
> growth made upon their representations of needs withing a 6 month period.
> We practice policies as much as possible to save address space (like
> dynamic addressing at dialup nodes, unnumbering interfaces when possible,
> etc.). We reclaim address space as quickly as possible and reuse it when
> needed. But, to ARIN, it is though you are 'guilty until proven innocent'.
> There is a great deal of time wasted in dealing with ARIN over *very*
> simple matters. 
> 
> And, the best part about this is that we get to pay now for the lack of
> customer service, and we have no choice but to use ARIN.
> 
> Next, (as if you weren't expecting to hear this) is the pricing. The fee
> structure seems as though it is based upon, "If you have a /14, then you
> must be able to afford $20k per year." This is crazy! This is not a
> representation of what it takes time wise to review an application! I
> highly doubt that ARIN goes over every IP allocation that Sprint or MCI
> requests. And, if an ISP becomes stagnant in their requests, then the
> entire scheme falls to pieces; let me explain. Let's assume for a moment
> that an ISP gets enough customers over time to get a /16. They are billed
> $5,000 per year. But, if they become stagnant, and don't require any
> future allocations, there is a $5k yearly fee that goes where? For
> IN-ADDR delegations? (not to mention that the name servers that do IN-ADDR
> are generally on networks that donate the bandwidth, so what really is the
> cost to ARIN for IN-ADDR?) I think that the argument overall is that this
> fee is collected so that ARIN can afford to pay thier employees to look
> over IP requests; but, what if there are no further requests? Why would
> that organization have to pay the same as another which is actually
> creating a load on ARIN? 
> 
> I do believe that ARIN's prices are *way too high* and unjustified, but
> without interesting numbers to swallow, it would be impossible to assume.
> How does one get a report of what ARIN has registered, what they have
> collected? What about a balance sheet?
> 
> Mu opinion is that ARIN's policies were shoe-horned into place, almost as
> if in hopes that no one was watching. 
> 
> Comments are welcome.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > > The drivers license world defrays their fixed overhead costs 
> > > across millions of drivers a year who get renewals done - there
> > > are not that many ASNs and other things done a day.  Again, as
> > > a businessman Karl, you should understand that already.
> > 
> 
> -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
>                   Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
> 			 I route, therefore I am.
>        Alex Rubenstein, alex at nac.net, KC2BUO, ISP/C Charter Member
>                Father of the Network and Head Bottle-Washer
>      Net Access Corporation, 9 Mt. Pleasant Tpk., Denville, NJ 07834
>  Don't choose a spineless ISP! We have more backbone!  http://www.nac.net
> -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> 
> 
> 
> 