This seems like a bad business idea. The folk’s running NAT are most likely early adopters willing to pioneer new technology. Their success will expand demand for the service. Falling PC prices and broadband access is just crying out for a home network.
I'm involved in several home networking standards groups. We are talking about home networks with hundreds of IP addresses. Do you really want to pay $5 a month for every Internet toaster? No one would tolerate the electric utility charging for every motor or light bulb. Communication providers will have to adopt the same business model or become irrelevant.
They have identified a real problem with complexity of home networks. This is an opportunity to sell additional services. I think they would have been much better served by offering this as a value added service. That way they generate additional revenue without pissing off customer that want to manage their own network.
By doing this they are playing into the strengths of the Telco's. The Telcos have been forced to live with the notion of a Network Demarcation point. What is inside is the providence of the home owner, what is outside they are responsible form. The Cablecos on the other hand are used to charging for each device. If they do not change business model they will simply cease to exist.
Lets be real. Is it really NAT they are afraid of? No. Its just like any jury selection process, get rid of the smart people because they will reveal your deceptive activity. Thats their first objective.
Of course the 2nd is more legitimate. All you windowsNT and Linux users selling dial-up connections by way of NAT to your mom and pop must be stopped. That is a legitimate concern. Stop NAT and you stop the dialup. of course you can NOT stop NAT.
now if they adopt ipv6 I am sure there will be a way to stop it then, and there will be a way to charge MORE for quick ping times...The current internet is a free internet protocol. Ill take the good with the bad as long as no one can control which I take.
I agree that they should have added this as a service. And if they were smart it would be a $0.50 charge. That way they could at least identify those using NAT. [text was edited by author 2002-01-30 10:35:32]
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