In the Brave New World, the gap between the average user and the user whose peak demand determines upstream capacity needs, has widened. So the access providers will find that their infrastructure needs upgrading. In particular, the backhaul will need constant upgrading. And of course, more peering. :) More 10 gig waves across the Atlantic! Hahooh! Roderick S. Beck Director of European Sales Hibernia Atlantic 1, Passage du Chantier, 75012 Paris http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com Wireless: 1-212-444-8829. Landline: 33-1-4346-3209. French Wireless: 33-6-14-33-48-97. AOL Messenger: GlobalBandwidth rod.beck@hiberniaatlantic.com rodbeck@erols.com ``Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.'' Albert Einstein. -----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu on behalf of Alex Rubenstein Sent: Sun 1/20/2008 8:02 PM To: Taran Rampersad; nanog@merit.edu Subject: RE: An Attempt at Economically Rational Pricing: Time Warner Trial

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As long as the companies convince people that the "cap" is large enough to be essentially the same as unmetered then most people won't care and will take the savings.

I don't agree. When we sold boatloads of dialup in the mid to late 90's, people did not like caps, no matter how high they were. We sold a product early on for $20/month which gave you 240 hours/month -- that was an average of 8 hours/day. However, most users never used more than 20 to 30 minutes a day -- but we often got told they were moving to other providers because they were 'unlimited.' So, we adapted. In any event, I've been watching this thread, and I'd have to say that going down the road of metered pricing will only cause other providers not to do this, and then market against TW. In fact, I'd bet on it. Am I the only one here who thinks that the major portion of the cost of having a customer is *not* the bandwidth they use?