 funchordsHelloPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA
kudos:5
1 edit | reply to Zeke
Re: Have you ever heard of the free market? said by Zeke :said by WhyADuck:But the worst thing about metered billing is that the customer doesn't have access to the meter. The customer isn't even allowed to see the meter. In the vast majority of cases, the customer has no way of knowing whether the meter is accurate This statement is not accurate. First off, what ISP actually offers metered billing today? Probably none, which means that your primary objection is based 100% on speculation. Verizon Wireless offers metered billing by the data transferred. Many, many dial-up ISPs offer metered billing (usually by the minute, however).
The final assertion, "the customer has no way of knowing whether the meter is accurate," is true because of the best-effort nature of the IP network. At any point along the way, a packet can be dropped due to congestion, congestion avoidance, malfunction, maintenance, etc.. which results in retransmissions. If you use a product like NetMeter at the very last machine, that's going to display the final throughput -- it doesn't count overhead from certain headers, retransmissions, or errant packets.
That doesn't mean that it can't ever be done -- as long as the measurement method is clearly described as to what it counts and what it doesn't, and as long as that meter can be seen by both sides and is occasionally audited just to make sure it's accurate, then I think it can work.
(I sure don't want to see it, but it can work.)
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
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