Two Tiered Internet

Wed Dec 14 18:40:09 UTC 2005

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005, Christopher L. Morrow wrote:
> > Do you really think the cablecos will be significantly less evil than the
> > telcos?  I'm not as optimistic about the result of a legislated duopoly.
>
> So far they seem to be not quite so evil (minus their port blocking for
> some services, and rate-shaping for other services)... I used them as an
> example though, really so long as there is another game in town
> (competition) think the SBC/BS proposals will not last very long. At the
> very least I'd bet that they won't garner the profits that the SBC/BS
> execs are hoping will arrive.

How do you know your MSO or ISP hasn't been doing this for years?

Do ISPs have different levels of congestion on peering links between
different networks?

Do ISPs have different levels of congestion between peering links and
internal links?

Do ISPs use different circuits or queues for different types of traffic?

Whether your use time division multiplexing, frequency division
multiplexing or packet division multiplexing, the effect on congestion is
similar.  You are creating multiple queues.

You don't "delay" or "slow down" packets.  Routers don't have big enough
buffers to "delay" a packet for milliseconds. Whether you have two queues
on one physical interface or two physical interfaces with one queue each,
the end effect is the same if you forward different traffic through
different paths.

The reality is converged or partially converged networks have been using
some level of QOS at some layer (MPLS, IP, ATM) for years.  CIR, PIR, UBR,
CBR, DSCP, TOS, choose your style.  Even the PSTN has multiple classes of
service for different calls ranging from choke numbers used for radio
stations and call-in contests to GETS numbers used by emergency responders.

Yes, MSOs and other ISPs are already doing this.  The primary difference
seems to be the telco's discuss more of their network engineering practices
in public.