Proposed ComCast workarounds :-)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Daniel Dern <dern () pair com>
Date: August 29, 2008 5:27:52 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Proposed ComCast workarounds :-)



A. The Odysseus option

1) Start up new television channel(s).
2) Interpolate downstream data, through steganography or other  
techniques
3) Make popular stuff available through shows that are available
  via ComCast "on-demand" feature.

B. Comparison load testing

If the video downloads aren't part of the metering,
organize "on-demand-athons," where customers all request stuff
concurrently (but not all the same thing at the same time).
Does this create any loading problems for C/C?

Find a way that customers can meter their own usage, and
organize "use almost all of what you've got left"-a-thons
for the last day (or hour) of the billing month.


Daniel Dern


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On Fri, 29 Aug 2008, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Dan Lynch <dan () lynch com>
> Date: August 29, 2008 2:37:05 PM EDT
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, Tony Lauck <tlauck () madriver com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] do read !!!  Comcast confirms 250GB cap effective  
> October 1
>
> Thanks Tony.  Now I think it gets trickier here as a solution for a  
> single
> AS (like Comcast) may not be very helpful for customers who span  
> multiple
> Ases, if the intermediate systems do not also play by the same  
> rules. Maybe
> someone like Mike O'Dell can offer his deep experience here?  Or Larry
> Roberts whose new company, Anagran, is wrestling with this issue of
> "fairness" across a long haul.  We do need some "rules of the road"  
> that
> benefit everyone or no one will win very much.  Right now those  
> countries
> that are overprovisioning (like Japan, South Korea and Finland) look  
> pretty
> smart and don't have to address the fairness issue (yet).
>
> Dan
>
>
> On 8/29/08 10:13 AM, "Dave Farber" <dave () farber net> wrote:
>
> > Begin forwarded message:
> > From: Tony Lauck <tlauck () madriver com>
> > Date: August 29, 2008 12:55:28 PM EDT
> > To: Dan Lynch <dan () lynch com>
> > Cc: "'David Farber'" <dave () farber net>
> > Subject: Re: [IP] Re:   do read Comcast confirms 250GB cap effective
> > October 1
> > Dan,
> > Yes, a cap will solve the congestion problem if it is set  
> > sufficiently
> > low.  In the limit it definitely solves the congestion problem by
> > driving away all the customers. (The Prodigy solution.)
> > The problem is that congestion is caused by instantaneous load
> > exceeding capacity, whereas monthly usage measures average load. If
> > there are, say, four busy hours per day, an average based cap will
> > need to be set (roughly) six times lower than it would otherwise need
> > to be. The result will be unhappy customers. In addition, the bean
> > counters (who are unlikely to know any queuing theory) may suggest
> > that expenses be cut by reducing resources!
> > I have written many IP posts on this subject and you can find them in
> > the archive. Basically, a proper solution is to give higher priority
> > to users who create less congestion. Let everybody go as fast as they
> > want when there is no congestion. If people need or want more  
> > capacity
> > than others, let them pay more for more "shares" and adjust the
> > weighting accordingly, and use the money to increase capacity. This
> > approach is politically neutral, i.e. it will work in a capitalist or
> > a socialist society. Unlike the Comcast cap it follows the principle
> > of maximum utilization of resources.
> > Tony Lauck
> > https://www.aglauck.com
> > Dan Lynch wrote:
> > > Tony, can you teach me how a cap does not solve their congestion
> > > problem?
> > > In the limit it sure does...
> > > Thanks,
> > > Dan
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