Another Point Of View (Round 2)

[mikebw@bilow.bilow.uu.ids.net (Mike Bilow)]

  Fred R. Goldstein wrote in a message to Mike Bilow:
  
   FRG> Recently Bill has been arguing with Mike and me about
   FRG> traffic theory.  I don't think it's a particulaly useful
   FRG> avenue to pursue.  Why not?  Because it's a sham issue.  The
   FRG> reality is that the telcos are concocting a cock-and-bull
   FRG> tale for the benefit of the press and the government.  They
   FRG> can claim that long hold time calls hurt them, that
   FRG> non-Poissonian arrival rates hurt them, that HDLC idle hurt
   FRG> them, that modem tones hurt them, whatever.  It's all crap,
   FRG> designed to scare, no more based on reality than the "GL-70"
   FRG> in toothpaste or other "secret ingredients".  It comes from
   FRG> the PR side, not engineering.
  
  I do agree with Fred on this, and I have fairly directly said that I think the
  engineering is rubbish.  However, I would also be quick to point out that I see
  no evidence of insincerity on Bill's part, and that he is arguing in good faith
  as far as I know.  Fred's point, however, is valid: the local monopoly carriers
  do not really care what the engineering says, since they are just looking for
  an excuse that will sound good to non-engineers.
  
  It is also important to note that Bill is arguing a different issue than the
  local monopoly carriers seem to be arguing in the press.  Bill, for example,
  seems to regard nailed-up circuits as the great evil, and I think both Fred and
  I are prepared to concede that issue.  The local monopoly carriers, however,
  have been aggressively marketing both additional local loops and their own
  Internet access services at the same time they are complaining that competitive
  Internet access services are endangering their networks.  Their proposed remedy
  -- treating Internet access service providers as long distance carriers -- is
  just insane.
  
  Furthermore, as I have pointed out here in the past, customers will do what
  they are given economic incentives to do, no matter how foolish.  If the rates
  for frame relay and similar digital services are priced at rates which could
  only be fairly described as extortionate, customers will seek to synthesize
  this sort of service from other available services such as nailed-up ISDN.
   
  -- Mike
  
  
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