Rich Kulawiec <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >I would suggest adding to this:
> >
> >B') Those who use relatively little bandwidth but also contribute valuable
> >information ([...]).
Sounds good... will do. With the concept that Mike Nolan is proposing
(which I'm going to call RATIONET from now on) these people will get their
network access for free, and their RSP (rationet service provider) will
consider them to be extremely valuable customers, and will do everything
they can to make sure they don't change providers.
> >I live -- mostly -- on the far end of a 28.8 PPP link. I *can't* use
> >a lot of bandwidth even if I want to. ;-) But I maintain half a dozen
> >FAQs, several websites for nonprofit organizations, run mailing lists,
> >hunt spammers, work on software projects, and do a lot of other things
> >(none of which I'm paid to do) that I hope make a meaningful contribution
> >to the 'net community. It's payback. (And it's fun. Mostly.)
> >I think a great many people fall into B', and I think that attempting
> >to meter Internet service by the packet will make it financially
> >impossible for them to make their contributions. Further, I think
Ronald F. Guilmette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in reply:
> I wouldn't be too sure about that. You and I might end up paying _less_
> if the whole system went to metered service. It all depends upon how it
> is priced. That's the bad news. If metered Internet service ended up
> being like metered telephone service (and there is no reason to thing
> that it wouldn't in the current regulatory and not-quite-free-market
> envoronment), then the big corporate fish would get great rates and (as
> usual) the little people would get screwed.
YES... and whether it can work like a free market or not will depend a lot
on how it'll be implemented, in particular (at least during the early
stages) it will be essential that it will always be possible to route
RATIONET packages over the already existing internet.
My main motivation for discussing this idea is that I belive that this new
network must be designed extremely carefully to avoid possibilities of abuse
by monopolists on one side and by bandwidth thieves on the other side.
-- NB.
--
Norbert Bollow, Zuerich, Switzerland Backup E-mail address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
