Re: Comcast Cuts Off Heavy Internet Users and Modems and Webcams and VoIP and web servers and ...

[David Farber <dfarber () cs cmu edu>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>
Date: August 27, 2007 12:56:05 AM EDT
To: "Bob Frankston" <bob37-2 () bobf frankston com>, <dave () farber net>,  
<ip () v2 listbox com>
Cc: "'Dewayne Hendricks'" <dewayne () warpspeed com>, "'Lauren  
Weinstein'" <lauren () vortex com>
Subject: RE: [IP] Re:  Comcast Cuts Off Heavy Internet Users and  
Modems and Webcams and VoIP and web servers and ...

At 10:11 PM 8/26/2007, Bob Frankston wrote:

> Brett is caught in the middle – he’s really a broker for his users  
> and not a provider.

Well, yes and no. I am not a provider of the Internet backbone  
itself. But I am a provider of the last (or, as you're fond of  
calling it, first) mile. I sell my customers the services of last  
mile connectivity, home and business network design, and technical  
support. I also sell them networking hardware (including radio  
equipment) and install it for them. I then resell backbone bandwidth  
to them.

I'm not sure that the term "brokering" is really accurate, because I  
don't charge a commission. Rather, I buy and resell. And I have a  
profit margin, razor thin though it is. But you can call it brokering  
if you'd like, because for the purposes of this discussion it does  
not much matter.

> The carrier pricing is his reality.

Alas, a very harsh reality. And the prices are artificially inflated  
due to the artificial scarcity of long haul fiber and onramps to the  
backbone.

> But it’s more fun to identify with the carriers rather than his  
> fellow users.

Believe me, it's not something I would characterize as "fun." It's  
not that it's fun; I really do face the same problems that the people  
you call "carriers" do, especially in terms of regulating and  
maintaining my network and preventing its abuse.

> His problems are real but must not be the basis for larger policy  
> decisions.

I strongly disagree here. My problems are key to larger policy  
decisions, because they throw the problems we face into stark relief.  
If I can't get reasonably priced wholesale bandwidth to satisfy the  
demand I am able to aggregate, how can the users expect to get it at  
retail? And if policies harm carriers like me, what will be left but  
a duopoly which can throw users only the scraps it deigns to dispense?

--Brett Glass

-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com