If we look at any other downstream, or end, customer, they still pay their provider for a full circuit's worth of bandwidth. Even if they are not symmetrically using their bandwidth. So, you pay not only the telco, but your upstream provider for use of data in both directions. ISPs use customers like this to not only balance their traffic patterns with other services that suck massive bandwidth (such as universities and dialup), but to provide additional revenue (by not discounting a circuit in half because they primarily use traffic headed in one direction) A network that has chosen a business model that is tailored towards outbound only transit should be prepared to pay for transit the same way their customers do. Their customers should pay a premium to have a network that is better connected than they could provide themselves, not so their upstream can reap the benefits of not having to pay for their own transit. These companies have opted towards a business model that does not balance traffic, thus making it difficult to be a "peer" with a network. This, of course, brings up many, many interesting questions about which companies have the right to be at the top of the network pyramid. Although it seems the market place has already determined this, at least a majority of it. This shift in costs have been a long time coming, you can't charge your customers for bandwidth, and then not expect to have to pay for it yourself. -jamie jamie@networked.org The views stated above are mine and do not reflect those of my employer. -----Original Message----- From: Michael Dillon [mailto:michael@memra.com] Sent: Friday, August 21, 1998 7:44 PM To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: BBN/GTEI On Fri, 21 Aug 1998, Karl Denninger wrote:
No, its actually becoming MORE suitable. Instead of burning the entire circuit in both directions, you're only burning half of it now (one direction).
You still have to pay for the whole circuit. -- Michael Dillon - Internet & ISP Consulting Memra Communications Inc. - E-mail: michael@memra.com Check the website for my Internet World articles - http://www.memra.com