Re: IP: Pac Bell says Net use may collapse phone system

[James Love <love@tap.org>]

  On Mon, 28 Oct 1996, Dave Reid wrote:
  > Rates are based on CCS consumption.
  
     Why are rates based upon CCS consumption?  Is this something handed
  down from on high?  I assume that CCS consuption has been a useful rule of
  thumb in the past, for looking at demands.  But is a rule of thumb, and it
  doesn't follow that costs are imposed by CCSs, or by the length of the
  calls. 
  
     Costs are driven by investments, and investments are driven by the 
  need to build capacity.  Calls by residential consumers to ISPs are 
  clearly longer in duration that voice calls, but do they really impose 
  greater demands on the network, empirically?   As I have mentioned 
  before, the vast majority of ISPs only can support 5 to 10 percent of 
  their customers beinging connected at one time.  This constain on the ISP 
  side is important evidence that concerns about congestion may be way 
  overstated.  
  
     jamie
  
  PS...  This, of course, if a different issue than the congestion at the 
  ISP end, which is tariffed as a business line.
  
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  James Love / love@tap.org / P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
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