[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I think the ISPs have a point ... the ADSL network is (currently) like a > collection of country roads (narrow and fairly slow) which the BBC is trying > to drive it's supersize juggernauts down.
Actually, no -- that's a horrible misconception.
BT's ADSL network is perfectly capable of supporting high-bandwidth services
like the iPlayer. (If the current ADSL network can't cope, it's the ISPs
responsiblity to upgrade it. That's what their customers are paying them for,
after all.)
However, many of those ISPs are operating with a broken economic model. Whilst
these ISPs charge a flat-fee rate to their customers, they have to pay a
*metered* rate to BT for sending data over their ADSL network.
Previously, this didn't matter; most customers were only using a small fraction
of the bandwidth available to them, which meant that those ISPs using BT's
wholesale ADSL services could get away with it.
However, as customers have started to actually *use* the high-bandwidth ADSL
connections that they've purchased from their ISP, then those ISPs dependant on
BT's wholesale ADSL service have seen their operating costs rise whilst their
incoming remains static. And now, they're panicking.
The BBC are simply a content provider on the Internet. They are not the only
such provider, and you'd be a fool to bet that many more won't appear in future.
Asking content providers like the BBC to subsidize the bandwidth costs incurred
by ISPs for shipping data over BT's ADSL network is utterly crazy. Content
providers already pay a lot of money to support *their* end of the Internet, why
should they be charged for all of the other ends as well?
Tiscali have no right to charge *me* for Internet service just because one of
their customers accessed my website. Why should the BBC be any different?
ISPs are *already* being paid by their customers to provide internet access.
If they can't provide the service they've promised at the price that they
charge, then they will fail, and their customers will switch to an ISP who can.
There are several ways ISPs can try to adapt:
* Put up the price they charge customers for Internet access so that it
actually covers their operating costs.
* Negotiate with BT / OFCOM to reduce the cost of sending data over BT's
ADSL network.
* Follow in the footsteps of Be, Bulldog et al and deploy their own network
in BT's exchanges. (Also known as LLU, "Local Loop Unbunding.")
* Pay someone else, such as Be or Bulldog, to setup and maintain an unbundled
network for them.)
So, in summary:
1. Network provisioning: The ADSL network is capable of meeting demand.
(And ISPs are being *paid* by their customers to make sure that it will
continue to do so.)
2. Economics: Many ISPs have been operating using an economic model which simply
isn't sustainable any more. Those ISPs are now panicking.
3. Content providers already pay for the upkeep of the Internet backbone and
their local connections. Tiscali have no right to charge _me_ for Internet
service just because one of their customers accessed my web site.
4. ISPs who fail to adapt their economic model to reality will fail.
This is the future, guys. Get used to it.
Cheers,
David
--
David McBride <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Department of Computing, Imperial College, London
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