On Wed, 15 Dec 2010, JC Dill wrote:
Sure, Comcast's customers are also paying Comcast. But Comcast wants to get paid from the content provider. I think they are betting that in the long run it's easier to make money from content providers (and have the content providers charge customers or advertisers as necessary to make a profit) than to make money from the end consumer. And I think they are right about this "easier" part. I think that they will succeed at pressuring big content providers to play by Comcast's rules and shift the cost of running Comcast's network from consumers to content providers.
Personally, I'd like to see any provider (content or otherwise) tell Comcast (as things stand today) to pound sand when asked to enter into such a 'paid peering' arrangement with them. As others have said, the fact that Comcast is holding their customers hostage to squeeze money out of providers who often have no direct connectivity to Comcast is particularly troubling. I don't use Comcast for Internet access, but I've been considering kicking their overpriced cable TV service to the curb for some time now... jms