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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: BBN Peering issues
There is a customer perception, dating from the earliest days of the Internet that when you connect to the Internet, you will be able to reach all sites that are up, everywhere. That this is still mostly true is a tribute to the hard work of a lot people on this list, and elsewhere. So far, the cases for which this is not true are small in both number and relative importance. If this perception breaks down, watch out. Theodore Vail was allowed to create the regulated monopoly AT&T in the early part of this century on the promise of Universal Service, which meant not only that everyone had a telephone, but that *all* telephones could call *all* other telephones - one big, happy, PSTN. The Internet presents this kind of universality today without the regulation, but don't doubt for a second that if the ISPs (of whatever size) begin destructive pissing matches of the form "I'm bigger than you, pay me or we disconnect" that the FCC will be pressured to regulate the ISPs in such a way to guarantee the universal connectivity aspect of the Internet. Your customers will demand it. Erik <[email protected]>
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