Re: Transaction Based Settlements Encourage Waste (was Re: BBN /GTEI)

[Brett_Watson () enron net]

On 08/25/98 03:48:29 PM Sean M. Doran wrote:

> > What about netflow ?
>
> [to Vadim Antonov who said that _metering_ traffic is intractable]
>
> Dear ISP - you have made an accounting error that I am able to demonstrate
> in my copious traffic logs.  Please credit $x to my account.
>
> or
>
> Dear Customer - our copious traffic logs indicate that you generated x
traffic
> last month.  Please pay $x net 30 days.  Thank you.
>
> Dispute resolution -- it's fun!

i think this point is the single largest barrier to doing proper billing.
isp billing needs to be as bullet-proof as telco/voice billing.  i suspect
that with many isp's (and certainly from some of my past experience) if
customers would ever have disputed an invoice we wouldn't have had a leg to
stand on.  i'm sure some providers have good billing systems but i know
many that don't yet they do some kind of usage based billing.

also, as useful as netflow can be, at oc-3 speeds and higher the sheer
amount of data exported can be overwhelming both to routers and trunks (in
agreement with vadim).

-brett