On 07/22/2014 12:24 PM, David Lang wrote:
> Acutally, I'll bet that there have always been some sources that have
> generated far more traffic than others.
> 
> But even if it's true, I still fail to see why they should have to pay
> every ISP in the world to carry their traffic.
> 
> If they can't deliver the advertised bandwidth to their customers at the
> prices they are charging their customers, then they shouldn't advertise
> those rates at those prices.

Agreed. And if ISPs really do need to manage peak demand, they can use
the incentive method like electric utilities do. For instance, my
parents in WI have an optional device attached to their air conditioning
unit that the utility can use to shut it off remotely, for periods up to
an hour. This allows the utility to spread out peak demand if they need
to. My parents receive a small rebate on their monthly bill as an
incentive. They can opt-out at any time, and stop receiving the rebate.

Assuming this is just a problem with peak capacity, I wonder if
ISPs/backbone providers could do something similar?  Maybe tell Netflix
and other content providers that if they can reduce the peak of their
demand by more than a few percent, they'll get a small rebate on their
connectivity charges. It doesn't matter *how* they do this - it could be
a combination of giving customers a rebate for reducing video quality,
or letting customers choose content to download overnight or during the
work day. As long as Netflix meets the goals for the month, they'll get
the rebate. People tend to respond better to carrots (rebates) than
sticks (fines, ultimatums) so it should be better publicity too.

If this isn't a problem with peak demand, but just continuous
oversubscription, than this really isn't Netflix's problem, but lying on
the part of the network providers.

Skylar
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