[AusNOG] ISP pricing in the NBN world

[Jake Anderson]

On 16/04/12 17:21, Rod Veith wrote:
> Sorry - we got too far off topic so new subject line.
>
> Not a just analogy.
>
> Do Australia Post charge the same for the same 1 cubic metre parcel to a
> neighbouring suburb versus the other side of the world? Will the charge for
> the  1 cubic metre parcel that weighs 1 kilogram be the same as a 1 cubic
> metre parcel weighing 100 kilograms?
>
> As an ISP, I don't care if you send a resume or a photo of your kid. I do
> care about existing business models and how I can continue to make money. As
> costs come down, competitive pressures will undoubtedly lower the price
> people pay for services but there always needs to be an adequate margin or
> the business goes down. Of course you can delay paying staff, not pay
> superannuation, avoid tax and follow other various dubious methods to try
> and outlast the competition. Do you really want a race to the bottom? If so,
> you'll win because I have no intention of following.
>
> There is nothing stopping you offering free voice calls in the NBN world -
> go for it if you must. Just remember that businesses want a reliable
> telephone service and they want someone to talk to if something doesn't
> work. Your billing system will be simple however you still need to route
> their incoming calls to the correct location and send outgoing calls to any
> telephone number in the world. You also need security to stop unauthorised
> use of your services and stop scammers/spammers etc. If you can do all that
> at an enterprise scale with no extra costs let me know and I'll sign up to
> your service.
>
> Rod
>
I think your missing the point somewhat.
A system wide enum service is more akin to a root DNS server than to a 
pstn interconnect.
You don't pay per DNS query, and it seems silly to pay for an enum lookup.

By all means charge for access to the pstn or mobiles or whatever else 
costs you money but enum services could be provided by nbnco and member 
updates handled through the data carrier. Its up to them if they want to 
charge for access to the enum registry, but I see it fitting in in place 
of local number administration now.

I can't see the carriers working together to make an enum service.

As far as reliability etc, I come from the PSTN world VoIP and PSTN 
circuits have about the same levels of reliability when it comes to 
international routes.
Heck half of the PSTN circuits your average low-mid level carrier gets 
are converted to VoIP for the international hop anyway.

If you want dedicated/uncontested bandwidth for your VoIP talk to your 
data carrier, that's their job and for that you would expect to pay a 
premium.