IP: some interesting observations on Telco bitching about the

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 13:49:28 -0500
To: farber () cis upenn edu (David Farber)
From: rjs () rpcp mit edu (Richard J. Solomon)


This reminds me of the railroad's bitching about highways earlier this
Century. Instead of changing to meet the competition when they were rolling
in dough, they bribed legislators to raise fares, cut service and stop
highway. Eventually the RRs went bankrupt, to be reinvented 60 years later,
but with a tiny share of freight, and no share of passenger traffic. The
telcos will do the same, whining all the way until all their growth
disappears (why do they think people put in multiple lines). Eventually
cream-skimming bypass for the concentrated business traffic and other modes
for the residence traffic will take all the new growth, when all they have
to do is put in net circuits today at the wire-center that avoid the CO
switch.


History does repeat itself. As Karl Marz said, first as tragedy and then as
farce. We are in the era of farce.


Richard




> > Lawrence San wrote:
> > > I heard some NYNEX exec whining about modem traffic on the radio.  Said
> > > they were going to have to curb it one way or the other . . .
> >
> >        Unfortunately, they do have a legitimate grievance in that ISP's do
> > take up a lot of usage time, compared to regular calls.  There are a
> > good many people that are continually logged, often for no reason and it
> > does tie up resources.
> >        Also, that is another reason for connectivity problems.  If
> someone is
> > logged on 24 hours a day even when they are out or asleep, that cuts
> > down on the number of others who can get on.
> >        Point being, someone that wants to drink the entire lake should be
> > charged more than someone who wants to drink one glass.  As Lincoln said
> > "Too many pigs for the tits"...so, I can see my having to pay more than
> > someone making regular calls.  Fair is fair.
>
>
> John:
.....