The MPLS WG Archive

[Curtis Villamizar <curtis@fictitious.org>]

In message <3E64A690.D3BB8603@lucent.com>, Yangguang Xu writes:
> 
> 
> Kireeti,
> 
> Yea, you are right. You pay flat rate for a DSL.  [...]

Lets look up and down the food chain.  

  At consumer level, service is tiered flat rate.  DSL, cable IP, cell
  phone, now POTS.

  IP service at T1 or higher has always been flat rate or burstable
  tiered flat rate.

  Switched services such as FR and ATM have been flat rate PVC or
  SPVC.  SVC service is generally not available and where it is has
  almost negligible penetration.

  At the high end, leased lines, leased lambdas, and leased dark fiber
  is definitely not signaled dynamicly by the customer so there is not
  "call" or customer connection.

What has had a call model:

  X.25

  ISDN

Even ISDN, where it has been at all successful, is flat rate.  Where
it is metered, market penetration is zip.  (btw - Its still metered
where I live afaik and might as well not be offered).

> Furthermore, you are talking about billing. Indeed, one of the reasons operto
> rs
> choose flat rate is to simplify billing because the control/management plane
> can't generate accurate information. 
> 
> The bottom line is that as the building block of the overall management
> functions, control plane should provide adequate function to support high lev
> el
> services. Otherwise, everything becomes commodity.

So what does this billing and control/management plane nonsense mean
in a world with flat rate or tiered service with no customer initiated
connections to bill for?  It has absolutely no purpose except to try
to perpetuate a mindset and perpetuate a hope that services with the
X.25 and ISDN metered billing model will somehow gain penetration and
the SP will be able to milk huge profits from it.  Unfortunately the
customer isn't stupid enough, so short of a return to monopoly rule or
other exclusion of competition, it won't happen.

> Yangguang

Curtis