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<TITLE>RE: Broken Internet? [OT]</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>*ponders*</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Is it possible that our technical solutions are at least contributorially responsible for the economic slowdown? (Small businesses can't get connected, so large numbers of high-money dotcoms get massive amounts of funding, but few of them can make any money, so their debts skyrocket, and the massive power shifts happen?)</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Don't mind me, I'm just pondering.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>-Mat</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>From: Roeland Meyer [<A HREF="mailto:rmeyer@mhsc.com">mailto:rmeyer@mhsc.com</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 12:53 PM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>To: 'Patrick Greenwell'; Steven M. Bellovin</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Cc: nanog@merit.edu</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Subject: Broken Internet?</FONT>
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<BR>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>> From: Patrick Greenwell [<A HREF="mailto:patrick@cybernothing.org">mailto:patrick@cybernothing.org</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 11:29 AM</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>> to change the fact that these alternative root server </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> networks exist and</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> that the Internet still works, mostly(as I'm sure you'd agree </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> it's always a little broken.) </FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>That is an understatement (a little broken). I have just been introduced to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>one of those broken areas, the hard way.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Given:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>1. Prefix filtering at /20.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>2. Most small busineses limited to /24, by policy/procedure.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>3. Multi-homing requirements for multi-office businesses (many SOHO's).</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>4. Impending business failure of many DSL ISPs.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>5. Total lack of responsibile behavior among DSL access providers.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>It is next to impossible for a small business to have reliable internet</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>connectivity without moving into a large co-lo. Even if they can afford the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>multiple T1's, they can't get portable IP addresses that will be advertised</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>reliably. Many of them need, at most, a pair of /24's and ARIN, knowing</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>this, will not issue them portable blocks larger than /24 without severe</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>justification requirements.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Many of you might think that is okay, but what if their upstream dies off</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>(as recently happened to MHSC). In the current day and age, business stops</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>until they get reconnected. This disconnect is at minimum, 4-6 weeks, under</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>the best of circumstances. As one vendor recently pointed out in their</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>adverts, most businesses, down for more than 14 days, will never survive.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>More importantly, such an outage flat-lines the revenue picture for that</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>entire fiscal quarter, for the unlucky victim.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>What we have today is a manufactured dependence on a single upstream</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>provider and no way to multi-home. Even co-lo boils down to single-home</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>dependency.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Yes, there are a bunch of hacks to work around this problem. But, that is</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>exactly what they are ... hacks. They are not something I could build a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>sustainable business around.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Any business needs:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>1. to be able to change upstream providers without having to renumber.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>2. to be able to change access providers without having to suffer</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>multi-month down-times.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>3. to be able to have its net-block(s) visible regardless of which ISPs they</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>are currently using.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Currently the only ones that can do that are those that;</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>1. Are large enough to justify a /20 (begging the question of how they got</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>that large).</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>2. Can afford their own datacenter.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>It looks like our technical solutions are raising unreasonable barriers to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>entry for small businesses.</FONT>
</P>
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