In the Australian ISP's case (which is what started this) it's rather worse.
The local telco monopoly bills between $30 and $50 per month for access to the copper tail.
So there's essentially no such thing as a $19.99/month connection here (except for short-lived "flash-in-the-pan" loss-leaders, and we all know how they turn out)
So to run the numbers: A customer who averages .25Mbit/sec on a tail acquired from the incumbent requires --
Port/line rental from the telco ~ $50 IP transit ~ $ 6 (your number) Transpacific backhaul ~ $50 (I'm not making this up)
These look like great places for some improvement.
Like I said a few messages ago, as much as your marketplace derides caps and quotas, I'm pretty sure that most of you would prefer to do business with my constraints than with yours.
That's nice from *your* point of view, as an ISP, but from the end-user's point of view, it discourages the development and deployment of the next killer app, which is the point that I've been making. ... JG -- Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net "We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN) With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.