I signed it. I have in the past received from Michael Ward a copy of a paper describing congestion-based pricing models, which seem to work really well for the kinds of things that everybody wants. This letter seems to take such models into consideration, and seems to be more cautionary than reactionary. Obviously, a metered model (like phones) would be inappropriate for Internet, but is probably what phone/cable companies would like to charge, even though it would stifle usage. This letter, while reacting against all usage models, seems to me to leave the door open to more intelligent pricing models, such as the congestion model (e-mail me for details). Thus, it seems to address my concerns, and my fright at the idea of a conventional usage-based model was sufficient to get me to agree to sign the letter, in spite of the fact it doesn't call out congestion-based models explicitly as an alternative. I specifically agree with all the recommendations. The congestion-based pricing model is essentially this (if I remember it correctly): every packet includes how much it would be willing to pay to be sent within a given time frame. The switch sends the packets with the highest bids, but charging them each the amount of the cheapest sent packet. Other packets either wait or get NACK'ed (I forget what happens here). Note that zero is a fine amount to bid -- it just means you wait until the line frees up. Packets have an incentive to actually bid the correct amount they would be willing to pay, but don't get charged if they bid too high. People who care about throughput pay enough to add enough capacity so there is always some slack time. It really seems to me to work like a charm. I've got a paper on this (with references to further papers) if anyone is interested. Date: Wed, 11 May 1994 14:03:21 -0700 From: lile@netcom.com (Lile Elam) about this letter? Would you sign it? -lile ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lile Elam | "Remember... No matter where you go, there you are." lile@netcom.com | Un*x Admin / Artist | Buckaroo Banzai ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 11 May 1994 12:37:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael Ward <mike@Essential.ORG> To: niiregional-l@rain.org Subject: Letter to NSF re: Internet Pricing Distributed to TAP-INFO, a free Internet Distribution List (subscription requests to listserver@essential.org) TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT - INFORMATION POLICY NOTE May 7, 1994 - Request for signatures for a letter to NSF opposing metered pricing of Internet usage - Please repost this request freely The letter will be sent to Steve Wolff, the Director of Networking and Communications for NSF. The purpose of the letter is to express a number of user concerns about the future of Internet pricing. NSF recently announced that is awarding five ...