On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 5:47 PM, Adam Rothschild <asr+nanog@latency.net> wrote:
I don't see how this point, however valid, should factor into the discussion. Missing from this thread is that Comcast's topology and economics for hauling bits between a neutral collocation facility and broadband subscriber are the _same_ whether they ingest traffic by way of a settlement-free peer, customer, or paid transit connection.
Given that transit must be an incredibly small portion of Comcast's cost to provide IP service to its customers, I think there are only three possible reasons why Comcast would focus so much energy on congesting transit to force content networks to purchase connectivity for them, rather than upgrade transit or engage in more peering: 1) Comcast believes they can exact a great deal of revenue from content networks. For this to be comparable to their captive customers, per-megabit rates must be reminiscent of pre-Level3 days, when $30/Mb was a bargain. This would spell bad news for Netflix. Of course, since cable companies typically must pay network affiliates and media companies great sums for television programming packages, it is in direct opposition to the TV content/delivery model. It would be hard to argue both sides if both businesses were faced with like-minded regulators. 2) Comcast is making its engineering decisions in an ego-driven manner, with little or no practical basis for their peering or transit purchasing strategy. 3) Comcast is hoping the phrase "net neutrality" becomes a thing of the past, and that, at some point in the future, they will be free to block or QoS down anyone they please, including content networks, search engines, or MP3 stores that compete with their own offerings. I bet Comcast would love to have a few cents off every iTunes purchase through their network, a handling charge for every amazon.com transaction, or to coerce a million Netflix subscribers into a Comcast-owned service. This is as good a way as any for Comcast to argue their side to potential regulators. In any case, the "net neutrality" side gains credibility anytime a media company can be made to look like they are constraining users' choices by exacting a price from content providers. There has been talk of regulating Internet peering on this list since DIGEX disconnected from ANS, if not before. Reasons in favor of doing it continue to become easier for a lay-person to understand. In my state, there is a law against walking down the street with an ice cream cone in your pocket. I don't know the origin of that law, but I strongly suspect some person did it enough times, for a dumb enough reason, to attract legislative interest. Comcast should keep that in mind before engaging in further peering brinkmanship. -- Jeff S Wheeler <jsw@inconcepts.biz> Sr Network Operator / Innovative Network Concepts