An Attempt at Economically Rational Pricing: Time Warner Trial

Sun Jan 20 17:33:20 UTC 2008

Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:
>
> On Jan 19, 2008, at 4:25 PM, Taran Rampersad wrote:
>> Rod Beck wrote:
>>>
>>> Ironically, the Net Neutrality debate is about the access providers 
>>> trying to impose usage-based pricing through the backdor - on the 
>>> content providers. It goes without saying I oppose it. It's the end 
>>> users who decide what they view and hence ultimately generate the 
>>> traffic flows. So the end users should be subject to the usage-based 
>>> pricing.
>>>
>> Concur. However, comma, if governments are charging taxes (such as 
>> the EU) it leads to the question of what people pay taxes *for* - and 
>> paying more taxes because they use the internet more would mean those 
>> that use more would pay more in usage fees and pay more in taxes - 
>> which runs completely against the stacks of documents written about 
>> equality on the internet. Not taking a side on that, but it is an 
>> interesting point to chew on - realistically, a balance would have to 
>> be struck.
>
> Where are the "stacks of documents written about equality on the 
> internet" that say "customers who use more should pay the same as 
> customers who use less"?
No, no, consult the original: " stacks of documents written about 
equality on the internet". That is not the same as "customers who use 
more should pay the same as customers who use less". It is about making 
access to more people a reality; seeing internet access as a necessity 
for the future of dissemination of knowledge. The tax snowballs the 
price difference unless it is a scaled tax, which means that
> I am not taking a position on NN here, but I don't believe either side 
> of the debate has said anything remotely to that effect.
Don't know what you're talking about with 'NN', I am referring to 
Digital Divide endeavors as well as Civil Society endeavors at Internet 
Governance levels, pre and post WSIS.
> If one side has, they are being quite silly.
>
> Oh, and where do I plug my 10GE port in for $39.99/month?
Considering I'm communicating with you over a 256K ADSL line because the 
country I reside in can't negotiate better pricing for bandwidth, I can 
probably give you a few ideas where you can plug your 10GE port. It is 
the same problem on a national - and regional  - scale.
>> And, as an aside, the Network Neutrality issue affects the globe and 
>> is only being debated in one country.
>
> Perhaps you should change that? :)
I'm doing my part. Perhaps you should too, though your commentary leads 
me to believe that you could care less. This, of course, is part of the 
inertia that must be worked against. If you want to talk about pricing 
of internet costs in anything other than a walled garden armchair 
discussion, you'll have to contend with the rest of the world. 
Considering China will have more internet users than the United States 
this year, as an example, businesses are going to want to crack those 
markets. And since global internet penetration has gone up to almost 
20%, and more and more of the global market exists outside of the United 
States - yes, business pressure from within the US itself will put 
weight on the telecommunications industry within the next 5 years.

Meanwhile, the digital divide in the United States is said to be growing.

Indeed, perhaps you should change that.

--
Taran Rampersad
cnd at knowprose.com

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