The un-BBS

[Eli Brandt]

> When the costs are underwritten by others, and the marginal cost to an
> employee or student is zero or near zero, I call that a subsidy.

I call that "flat-rate".  Netcom charges $30 a month (I think) with
no marginal costs (right?); Harvey Mudd charges $20K a year with no
marginal costs (and certain other benefits, to be sure).

> The point is that this "free" (marginally, at least, and largely free
> even in overall terms) service will generally outcompete one which
> offers similar services but which requires the user to pay for his use
> in a standard sort of way.

The reason that most access providers don't charge by the packet for
Internet traffic is that it's not economical to do so -- a T1
doesn't care how much you put across it.  As a result, they do flat
rate service, users generate more traffic, and users see a slower
network connection.  But until people aren't willing to pay
per-packet fees in order to deter excess traffic, this will continue.

   Eli   ebrandt at hmc.edu
         finger for PGP key.
The above text is worth 
precisely its weight in gold.